E30 Big Brake Kit – Endurance Racing Kit
$125.00 – $1,650.00June 2023: Calipers and Rotors in stock and ready to ship
Options:
——Full Kit:——
This is the ready to install Kit consisting of everything needed to install and race, with the exception of brake pads.
Includes 2 Adapter Brackets
Includes 2 Rotor Hats
Includes 2 Wilwood Calipers (120-13232)
Includes 2 Wilwood Rotors (160-13499 and 160-13500)
Includes 2 Wilwood Bobbins and Bolts (230-14845)
Includes 2 Wilwood Caliper Bolt Kits (230-13273)
Includes E30 Brake Line Kit including Adapters required for Front Calipers. Braided Stainless.
Does Not Include:
Pads – Wilwood 7420 Pad shape. Available in various compounds from Wilwood or from most popular brake pad manufactures.
Note: Original Kits included Wilwood Rotors (160-2898 (RH) and 160-2899 (LH)).
——DIY KIT——
This kit includes Two Hats and Two Brackets
The customer would be responsible for purchasing the other required components separately
——Hat Only——
This includes qty 1 Hat. Customers may wish to purchase an additional hat to have a backup rotor ready to swap on in case of failure during a race weekend. This listing is for you to purchase a spare hat to go along with a full kit purchase, or to purchase these individually for other purposes.
Most rotors that work with this are directional (and therefore you would need 2 extra hats if you wish to carry a spare set of rotors ready to hot-swap), however I wanted to give you the option to purchase a single hat if desired.
——Bracket Only——
This includes qty 1 Bracket. This listing is for you to purchase a spare bracket to go along with a full kit purchase, or to purchase these brackets individually for other purposes.
Kit Description:
This is a E30 Big Brake Kit designed for the front brakes on endurance racing cars. Proven 24 hour race winner. Rotors and Pads will survive with no concern and no need to go easy.
The primary components consist of a custom designed “Hat”, which is part of a 2-piece floating rotor setup, and a custom “adapter bracket” which allows for installation of the caliper to the vehicle’s unmodified spindle/strut assembly.
The hat is machined from 7075T6 Aluminum and hardcoat anodized for durability. This matches the hub bore of the E30 front wheel hub, and allows use of the stock rotor retaining screw.
The adapter is machined from 1018 CR Steel and powder coated for corrosion resistance. This mounts to an UNMODIFIED E30 front spindle using the stock brake caliper carrier bolts. The threads used to attach the caliper to the adapter bracket are 3/8-16.
I designed this kit because I was not satisfied with any other kit on the market for E30s. I researched many kits and found various issues: Custom consumables, threads into aluminum, undersized components, required modifications to spindles, unpopular calipers or pad shapes chosen, unpopular or expensive rotors chosen, and many other issues.
Although one of the various kits WOULD have worked for me, and likely would have been cheaper than developing my own kit from scratch, this endeavor was worth the challenge to ensure the best parts were installed on my personal race cars.
Every component of this kit is designed to be easily serviceable down the road. All of the consumables are available direct from Wilwood, and in some cases from other manufacturers. Other than the Hat and Adapter Bracket (for obvious reasons), all of the components are off-the-shelf and readily available from places like Summit or Jegs.
Brake Bias:
With stock brakes, the torque bias (assuming equivalent pad compounds) is 67.6% front.
With this kit in the front, using the recommended calipers, and stock rear brakes, the torque bias is 66.8% front.
The pedal feel will be stiffer than stock due to increased system rigidity and increased pad area.
This is designed to be used WITH the brake booster. Will also work with common E30 “Swap” boosters like 944, VW, E90, etc.
Weight:
The rotor is 9.6 lbs per Wilwood
The caliper is 5.4 lbs per wilwood
The adapter bracket is 1.2 lbs
The hat is 1.2 lbs
Total = 17.4 lbs per corner
Stock Rotor = 10.5
Stock Caliper and Carrier = 8.8 lbs
Total = 19.3
This kit is designed to last. The hat and bracket are designed with “worst case” panic stops 3 times a lap, every lap, for 30 years worth of racing (10^6 fatigue life). The worst case was established from actual braking data on my race cars. The bracket was then designed with a Factor of Safety of 2.5 times the worst case. There is VERY little deflection in any of the components, leading lower pad taper and increased endurance life for all consumables. At the same time, the whole assembly is 2 pounds lighter than the stock brakes.
This will clear VERY few 15″ wheels due to contact with the drop-center of the wheel.
Please use the following template to test fitment in YOUR wheels.
Fitment Template
15×7 TRM = does not fit, even with 20mm spacer.
15×8 TRM = does not fit. Would be close with a 25mm spacer.
15×8 Team Dynamics = fits with a 15mm spacer, but with VERY little clearance. Would not recommend for heavy use.
15×8 Kosei K1 = does not fit even with 20mm spacer.
15×8.5 Konig = does not fit, even with 20mm spacer. Hits drop center (just barely, but too close to run safely)
15×10 Basset Steel = Does not fit. Caliper hits mating face of wheel near lug holes.
15×10 Jongbloed = Fits with plenty of clearance. This kit was specifically designed with this wheel in mind.
