Anyone track their new M3 yet?

I have a new M3 coupe that I'm dying to get on the track, which I suspect won't happen until March or April of '09, as I only have 1000 miles on it and winters in Pittsburgh put such activities on hold for a while.

My concern is that the brakes won't hold up lap after lap. I know the 335i brakes have already been criticized for serious fade after just a few laps. The M3 brakes aren't the best design either (single piston, floating caliper), which works great on a lightweight F1 car, but no so great on a 3600 pound sedan. My biggest concern isn't with the calipers or rotors though... it's with the pads.

has anybody tracked their '08-'09 M3 coupe or sedan, and if so, what was your experience with the brakes? How was pedal travel affected from the time you started to the time you were done? How bad did the brakes fade, if at all? If you experienced brake fade, what do you attribute it to (besides temp); pads, fluid, rotors?

This is all assuming you used everything stock. What I'm ultimately interested in finding out is if I should invest in a set of Hawk pads or the like before I head out.

Thanks in advance!
Dale

I haven't tracked one yet, but I did pass a couple at the track back in July.

I don't remember them complaining about the brakes tho. Maybe you could swap out pads for the track, then throw the stock ones back on when you're done.

Well, it could be that they were not pushing their cars near the limit, hence the reason they didn't complain about their brakes. I'd like to hear from those who own the cars and have tracked them with the stock brakes (including pads).

Pad swapping is what I have in mind, if necessary. But if it's not necessary, then I'd rather BMW pick up the tab for pad set after pad set

I think they were pushing it. Both were on r-comps running in an advanced group. Either way, I'd bet that the dealer would get suspicious after you keep going through pads.

From my experience, running in an advanced group on r-comps doesn't automatically mean the person is pushing it. In most cases, folks move into the advanced groups just based on how many times they've run in beginner, novice, and intermediate groups, not according to how far they push their cars. A lot of advanced drivers still like to play it safe, which makes sense in a lot of cases. I'm not likely to push my M3 to 10/10ths becasue it is a street car, and an expensive one at that. I plan to take full advantage of the free maintenance it comes with for all four years. When that expires, and I still have the car, you will find me off in the dirt exploring 11/10ths

So, back to the brake pad question.... will the pads a new M3 comes with hold up lap after lap wihout fading? And, if they do fade, when... after five 2-mile laps? After two 20-minute sessions? During one time trial run?

Thanks.

When I went to my M3 PC delivery program, I though the car hold up very well. even the instructor were pushing me to throttle up more before I hit the turns on the course.
I was pleasantly surprised how the car handle during those exercises. I was driving a e92 6MT m3 and it was not a whole day experience, so I cant really say what the difference would be if it was longer and if the OEM brakes would hold.
For a novice track driver like myself its enough to build my confidence. I'll be going back in Spring for the full blown M class w/ DCT, so that would be exciting to find out. I'll let you guys know then. take care on the open road!

It's good to hear you felt confident with the brakes when you went, but how far do you honestly feel you were pushing the car and its brakes? Do you know if they use the same pads on their school fleet as BMW does on the cars they deliver to customers such as myself? I'll be doing the school in the spring (what the heck, it's free and I won't have to abuse my car), so I was wondering if they said anything related to the subject in the classroom.

In reply to the other message, I know there are more variables that go into moving up into the next run group. My point was, there are folks in the advanced groups who don't push their cars to the limit. So the comment that assumes that, everybody who runs in an advanced group must be pushing their cars to the limit doesn't hold water. That's why I'd like to hear from those folks who have tracked their stock '08+ M3.

Thanks all.

I never said that he was pushing it to the limit, I just said that he was pushing it. I'd consider myself fairly experienced and I have never pushed my car to 10/10th's at the track. That's just stupid. Btw, one of the e92's was being driven by an instructor, and he was having a blast.

You'll probably get an answer to your question if you post it up on bimmerforums.com.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Yay, another forum