That is an excellent piece of work, thank you, and utterly unacceptable. I knew BMW UK gouged, but that is beyond even my worst expectations.Bebs wrote:I did a little research on the subject of B5 brakes and Europe v BMW UK prices. Its quite the eye opener:
Front pad set for both sides:
BMW UK £253.44
Holland main dealer £163.38!
Front Discs EACH:
BMW UK £404.57
Holland main dealer £210.92!
Rear pad set for both sides:
BMW UK £122.64
Holland main dealer £87.69!
Rear Discs EACH:
BMW UK £337.29
Holland main dealer £168.32!
As I had a new alternator fitted last year in France I thought I'd add this as well - its a standard E60/61 BMW part:
BMW UK £636.00
French main dealer £420.24
B6S Brake Discs
Funny you should say that, I then started investigating that as well, as I had a hunch which was swatted fairly quicklyB10BRW wrote:Drilled discs look great, your next mission Rob, if you care to accept it, is to find an alternative front disc set up for the E39 B10 V8S
..... The size does appear to be unique to the V8s, and was undoubtedly a Bespoke Brembo BBK, the calipers appear to be the same 4 pots as those that were fitted to my E34 K38, although mine are cast with "Racing Dynamics" stamped in the metal face. The caliper to suspension hub fixing bracket is much larger than my K38 which spaces the caliper out further to accept the much larger discs that it runs.Then I found TAROX do make a two piece disc for the V8s, although not cheap.
I'll ponder some more at my leisure.
Alpina B6S Convertible
BMW E46 M3 SMG Coupe - Track Car - Gone
TVR Chimaera 400 - Turbocharged - Gone
Porsche Cayenne GTS 4.8, Oops, the dark side has landed!
BMW E34 Racing Dynamics K38 - Gone
Alpina B3S Convertible - Gone due to B6S
BMW X5 4.6is - Gone
Alpina Roadster 3.4S - Gone
BMW E46 330d M Sport Touring - Gone
BMW M3 Evo E36 - Gone due to B3S
BMW 840 Ci Sport - Gone, but what a car
BMW M3 E30 - sadly departed
Too little time...Too many cars!
BMW E46 M3 SMG Coupe - Track Car - Gone
TVR Chimaera 400 - Turbocharged - Gone
Porsche Cayenne GTS 4.8, Oops, the dark side has landed!
BMW E34 Racing Dynamics K38 - Gone
Alpina B3S Convertible - Gone due to B6S
BMW X5 4.6is - Gone
Alpina Roadster 3.4S - Gone
BMW E46 330d M Sport Touring - Gone
BMW M3 Evo E36 - Gone due to B3S
BMW 840 Ci Sport - Gone, but what a car
BMW M3 E30 - sadly departed
Too little time...Too many cars!
Robmarr and Winnie.
Thank you very much for taking the time to do the E6x B5/B6 brake disc study correctly. The information will be useful to all of us.
Some thoughts/opinions
- Alpina probably used the same size discs as the M5 to get prototypes easily during development.
- I guess Alpina used the standard (non drilled, single piece cast) brake discs to avoid handed brake discs
- If you have an issue with judder, it may be interesting to try the 2 piece discs from the M5, as the technology of this disc is to reduce the distortion caused by rapid heating in high speed stopping conditions. (though this will not give you any cost savings !). I think the design is called "pin drive".
- I am not convinced that drilling (or slots) in the brake disc surface improve the brake performance, but they do give a risk for increase in noise
I have to replace my front pads now and will let you know what I find
Thank you very much for taking the time to do the E6x B5/B6 brake disc study correctly. The information will be useful to all of us.
Some thoughts/opinions
- Alpina probably used the same size discs as the M5 to get prototypes easily during development.
- I guess Alpina used the standard (non drilled, single piece cast) brake discs to avoid handed brake discs
- If you have an issue with judder, it may be interesting to try the 2 piece discs from the M5, as the technology of this disc is to reduce the distortion caused by rapid heating in high speed stopping conditions. (though this will not give you any cost savings !). I think the design is called "pin drive".
- I am not convinced that drilling (or slots) in the brake disc surface improve the brake performance, but they do give a risk for increase in noise
I have to replace my front pads now and will let you know what I find
E60 B5 in Alpina Blue