Porsche Brembo 996 BBK conversion

[Titaniu//M]

I am the one who listed those calipers for sale. Let me start out by saying it is not my intent to swindle anyone in this community, or any owner of an E46 M3.

I did this conversion on my own car several months ago, and was unsatisfied with the painted finish. The red VHT caliper paint is too dark compared to Brembo red, so I had these powder coated ones made.

The powder coating & rebuild cost $720, and a good set of 996 caliper cores costs around $700. Plus this set needed 1 new crossover line and 1 set of new bleeder valves. At $1750, I'm basically charging someone $200 to do the leg work for them, if that. I listed them for sale because my car is currently sitting and not being driven much. I figured I'd list them for sale in favor of not tying up the cash over the winter, and just have another set made for me in the spring.

More power to you if you are resourceful and can save some money. I will advise you that if you choose a powder coating shop, make sure they mask the bores of the calipers off. I had another set ruined because an incompetent powder coater sandblasted the bores.

Also new Porsche calipers are $700 each for fronts, $500 each for rears. You'd pay $2400 and have calipers that say "Porsche" on them.

My pricing is high compared to DIY'ing the whole thing from start to finish, but compared to other offerings on the market, like this one (which 4 people have bought), I do not think the price is outrageous. At $1600, these calipers aren't even machined and the rear crossover lines still need to be flipped.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-CALIPER...cAAOSwJmJe6~HV

[maupineda]

I saw the post and also refrained from spamming his add. but for that money, you can get brand new Porsche callipers with the hardware (clips, pins, etc) included from FCPEuro. I thought it was a joke TBH

[Tbonem3]

I keep telling myself, "I'm not gonna say anything..."

[umichchris]

for those seeing that ad and listing...please do not get swindled by over-paying. i bought my full set of calipers for $400 off craigslist. cleaned them up with some brake clean. took them to a local machine shop (simple google search), paid $40 to have them machined down to work on the E46 and them painted them myself. I got quotes for powdercoating the set for roughly $200...but chose to do it myself.

do not overpay for calipers lol

[WOLFN8TR]

Oh wow I didn’t even see that! Man my entire Brembo BBK was just under $2k. That’s calipers, brackets, lines, rotors, new seals, brake fluid and machining of the calipers.

“Plug n Play” for $1800. Plus another $1800 for the parts that are missing to complete the kit. 🤪

[r4dr]

Same photo as https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/c...coated-rebuilt

[SWRT_M3]

LOL…

at least he listed the calipers here in the “Parts For Sale” section with a “NAM3forum” discount. $1,750 shipped… LOL

[WOLFN8TR]

Set of 4 refinished and rebuilt Porsche 996 brake calipers made by Brembo. The calipers have been professionally stripped back to bare aluminum, powder coated in Brembo Red and rebuilt with new seals. These calipers, along with Rally Road adapter brackets, Rally Road brake lines and ZCP front rotors come together as an affordable BBK upgrade for the BMW E46 M3. Calipers are plug and play on an E46 M3, no additional work needed.

Part numbers for the calipers

•996.351.426, 996.351.425 (front)
•996.352.422, 996.352.421 (rear)

Front calipers have been machined 5.5 mm, and rear crossover lines have been swapped from left to right for installation on a BMW E46 M3.

Approximately $1.5-1.8k of additional stuff is needed to complete the conversion in addition to these calipers. I have compiled a shopping list and can send this to the buyer. If your M3 is already a ZCP (Competition Package) car, and your rotors are still good, you can deduct $800 from the cost.

Calipers come bare as shown, with no pads, dampeners or hardware.

We can build calipers in many different colors, including "illusion" metallic powder coating. In addition, if you have a non-M E46 or E36 M3, we can build calipers to your spec as well. Lead time is approximately 4 weeks. These red ones are in stock and ready to go within 2 business days.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143752808077

[SWRT_M3]

I was able to take some photos of the Wilwood hat/rotor with the 996 caliper. Don’t mind the line and bleeders on the caliper, swap is pending.

The major issues I noticed while test fitting the Wilwood hat/rotor with the 996 caliper.

1. The Wilwood rotor brake/face surface is smaller than the OE rotor.
2. The Wilwood hat needs the offset changed (move the rotor further in). The outer pins on the caliper are extremely close to the rotor.
3. The outer brake pad does not fit properly, the pins are extremely close and the pad’s thickness becomes an issue. The bottom of the brake pad rubs on the outer edge of the hat, and the top of the brake pad is a few mm passed the top of the rotor.

If I was dead set on using the Wilwood hat/rotor, a custom bracket could be the key. Make the mounting surface a little thicker to move the caliper up a few mm, and move the mounting holes a few mm out towards the wheel. (Not sure how pad sweep would be affected)

Now that TMS released their two-piece rotors that promise OE fitment… I may just scrap the Wilwood project and go with the TMS setup. They are really tempting when TMS/ECS offers 10% off, but no free shipping is lame, they fit in the same box as the Euro/ZCP rotors (those ship for free) so what gives….

[SWRT_M3]

I would love to be able to use Wilwood rotor rings. But their SAE rotor diameters in inches don't seem to match up well to 345mm. Would need to get more technical.

I haven’t found a 345mm equivalent offered by Wilwood.

I think he was answering Tbonem3 question about “355 x 28” since Wilwood offers a 14 x 1.1 (355.6mm x 27.94mm) rotor.

[S14]

I would love to be able to use Wilwood rotor rings. But their SAE rotor diameters in inches don't seem to match up well to 345mm. Would need to get more technical.

14 inches is 355.6mm, and earlier your were ruminating about running a 355mm disc instead of the off the shelf 345mm disc.

[r4dr]

You could make special hats for these rotors

https://www.wilwood.com/Rotors/RotorProd?itemno=160-8402&appid=0

With FCP's warranty program, I don't see the point of purchasing the turner rotors, especially if replacement discs are an unknown.

I would love to be able to use Wilwood rotor rings. But their SAE rotor diameters in inches don't seem to match up well to 345mm. Would need to get more technical.

[SWRT_M3]

You could make special hats for these rotors

https://www.wilwood.com/Rotors/RotorProd?itemno=160-8402&appid=0

With FCP's warranty program, I don't see the point of purchasing the turner rotors, especially if replacement discs are an unknown.

Wilwood makes hats for the E46 M3 but the offset might be off a bit since the hats are made for their own BBK kit.

Prior to knowing that Turner was about to release their two-piece rotors, I purchased the Wilwood rear hat and a 12.88 x 0.88 disk, so far, test fitting has shown that the rotor brake surface is smaller/shorter than the OE disks and therefor the bottom of the caliper/pads hit the outer edge of the hat. Maybe a spacer between the 996 caliper and the RallyRoad bracket would solve the issue. Talking about “X” mm difference nothing drastic.

I’ll try to take some photos soon.

I agree, buying the Euro/ZCPs from FCP make the Turner’s look like eye candy only. You can buy both front Euro/ZCPs for the price of one Turner rotor (just about) and have the lifetime warranty from FCP.

Still waiting to hear back from TMS in regards to the weight of each rotor/hat/hardware to be able to compare them to the Euro/ZCPs.

[e46mpwrd]

Just got this install wrapped up. Took way longer than I wanted but is exactly what I wanted/expected. Calipers were completely stripped, seals removed, and powder coated black with blue flake. Only rear shots right now.

[S14]

Ya I don't know the difference, if any between, the pad faces of the OE 345mm rotor and any 355 rotors.

You could make special hats for these rotors

https://www.wilwood.com/Rotors/RotorProd?itemno=160-8402&appid=0

With FCP's warranty program, I don't see the point of purchasing the turner rotors, especially if replacement discs are an unknown.