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130i to M135i Brake upgrade project

75K views 378 replies 41 participants last post by  Tdiquattro 
#1 ·
Ok as my stock brake calipers are getting on 10years old I thought it was time to replace/upgrade them, im currently running our track pads in stock setup and while it works very well on road and track im conscious that these old calipers can start to give sticking issues with age, as I found on my last 130i so a good excuse to upgrade :D

I was originally keeping an eye out for decent condition and priced E82 135i brembo setup but they are either poor condition or silly money, also as they are getting on a bit as well ive decided im going to be using calipers from the newer M135 models :)

Front is fairly straightforward and the M135 Fronts are 4piston caliper and use a 340mm x 30mm discs (compared to my 130i single piston 330mm x 24mm discs) and im told both discs and calipers are a direct bolt on for the earlier Exx cars, will be doing that soon as ive just received some good condition front brakes from BP on here thanks :)

Rears are little more tricky and as far as im aware nobody has been able to get these fitted onto earlier E8x cars, the M135i Rears are a 2 piston caliper using 345mm x 24mm discs ( 130i has single piston caliper with 300 x 20mm discs) so a lot bigger than 130i setup!, now from what information ive been able to get the calipers "should" bolt onto my rear hubs with just some small modications for clearance, that may not be required yet but until I get calipers I don't know for sure, looks like a small chamfer on edge of mounting lug is all that's needed, fingers crossed!

Rear discs wise is more complicated and why its not a simple swap, firstly M135 rear discs use smaller internal handbrake shoes so while they should slip onto hub flange looking at data but they wont go over the larger handbrake shoes from E8x models, after trawling though my disc data sources there a few different discs from various models of bmws that could possibly work and its just a case of working which way to go, im not confident I need 345mm rear discs so may go little smaller with a custom pad, but until I get calipers and get chance to prove that I can bolt them on with minimal fuss ive not ordered anything.

Couple of pics below of front setup ive just received from BP :) , rears ive got coming from another member on here and told they will be posted today so hopefully get this week, fronts will be going on very soon and rears I will have a tinker once they are here.



 
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#3 ·
bcraig1988 said:
I'm keen to see how you get on with this as will be looking at doing this in the very near future :)
Front are easy enough and a few on here have done it without issue, so if you see some for sale at decent money snap them up :)....rears are the unknown but i hope to find a solution for that as well once i get calipers here.

Ian
 
#4 ·
I was eyeing up the M135 calipers which were for sale a while ago (I suspect the ones you have brought) but wasn't sure regarding the fitting so I too am very interested to see the result here :)
 
#5 ·
THETYRANT said:
.......will be doing that soon as ive just received some good condition front brakes from BP on here thanks :)

Couple of pics below of front setup ive just received from BP :)......
Good to see these parts going to good use for a fellow forum member.

Hope the rears work out without too much grief.

Anyone wanting a set of used OE M135i rear discs and pads off the same car [mine] - PM me. No lips on the discs and plenty of meat on the pads [14k miles according to idrive CBS] - looking for £150 cash and collect.
 
#6 ·
ben m said:
I was eyeing up the M135 calipers which were for sale a while ago (I suspect the ones you have brought) but wasn't sure regarding the fitting so I too am very interested to see the result here :)
Front i bought wern't advertised i pm'd BP on here as saw he had upgraded to the bigger setup, rears ive got coming from Dan_88 on here and i believe he still has some fronts in for sale section, i nearly bought them as well but BP's had decent discs with his and looked a better condition so went with those, there are some delivery mileage ones in for sale secton as well, fronts as sensible price i think considering condition/mileage etc, but rears maybe a bit pricey for us as we cant use rear discs, genuine bmw discs are not cheap at well over £200 a pair for rears!

Ian
 
#7 ·
Blind Pugh said:
THETYRANT said:
.......will be doing that soon as ive just received some good condition front brakes from BP on here thanks :)

Couple of pics below of front setup ive just received from BP :)......
Good to see these parts going to good use for a fellow forum member.

Hope the rears work out without too much grief.

Anyone wanting a set of used OE M135i rear discs and pads off the same car [mine] - PM me. No lips on the discs and plenty of meat on the pads [14k miles according to idrive CBS] - looking for £150 cash and collect.
Thanks for the easy deal and parts being just as described :)

Ian
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
Nice easy upgrade fronts bolt straight up with the aid of a small wheel spacer, I went for the easy option with the rears and used the 135i setup 322mm x 22mm so a fair bit smaller than the m135i rears but still moving in the right direction + they look so much better than the old sliding calipers .

Mark
 
#12 ·
Ok fronts are on after work tonight, straight forward enough only thing I needed to do was a slight tweak/bend to rear stone shield plate that sits behind discs. it was just touching caliper body so just tweaked it out the way for clearance.

Had a quick road test to settle things in and bed pads and discs together again, brakes feel good even for stock pads, cant wait to get some of our XP pads in there :D

Pics below of before, during and after :)

First old setup


Then all off and hub flange cleaned up


Now new calipers and discs all fitted
 
#14 ·
What are you doing with old pads and discs?
 
#15 ·
0l0dom0l0 said:
What are you doing with old pads and discs?
Once ive got some miles on this setup and im happy with it I will be selling my part worn XP10 front pads for stock calipers, discs are nearly down to minimum though so not worth selling them on, will keep them and stock calipers in case I ever need to put car back to standard.

Ian
 
#16 ·
THETYRANT said:
0l0dom0l0 said:
What are you doing with old pads and discs?
Once ive got some miles on this setup and im happy with it I will be selling my part worn XP10 front pads for stock calipers, discs are nearly down to minimum though so not worth selling them on, will keep them and stock calipers in case I ever need to put car back to standard.

Ian
Okay, give me a shout about the pads.

Only reason I haven't got back to you about the other pads is I need discs as well, and then I started seeing M135 discs and calipers for not much more than it was gunna cost for the pads and discs.... so I've held off for now and am driving like a granny :lol2:

The obc has been saying '400' miles for about 2 months lol.
 
#20 ·
superram said:
Looking good! Look forward to see how they look behind the 208's.
Was too dark last night when I finished but took a couple this morning with my winter 208 wheels on, this is with my 12mm spacers so loads of spoke clearance, need to try my summer 217 wheel setup to make sure they clear.

Will probably get some different decals as well as not a fan of the M logo on non M cars :)





 
#24 ·
Look awsome, not sure how they look on a carbon black LE though.

If they were gold on the other hand!
 
#26 ·
Well thats a few miles on fronts now and all nicely settled in with no nasty noises or vibrations, i was worried i might have some vibration issues as i forgot to take my dial gauge home so i could to minimise the runout when fitting them, always a good idea especially on big discs like these but needn't of worried as all brakes up nice and smoothly, for stock brakes they do pull up surprisingly well on road but cant wait to get some of our Carbotech pads in for trackday next month.

Rear calipers have arrived this morning thanks to Dan_88 :)....they look as described just needing a good clean and to touch up a few chips which i knew about, not an issue though and i will have a trial fit either tonight or at weekend to see if its going to work out or not!....if all good will get some discs ordered next week once i work out which i need.

Cheers
Ian
 
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