I would like to upgrade the brakes on my 84 533i to larger rotors and double piston calipers. Will any of the larger systems on other BMW models bolt up directly to the 533i hubs, strut housing, etc? Does the upgrade require any changes in the hydraulic system ie: proportioning valve, master cylinder, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
There is actually a pretty big selection of brakes from other BMW's that will "bolt-on" to our cars. Read this page: Big Brake Upgrade Parts List You might also want to read here Mye28.com. Great site with a TON on information for our cars. Good Luck! Jim BMWCCA 115551 1986 535i 2006 X3
E28 Big Brake Upgrade I'm a long time member of the My e28.com community and can't express the shear vastness of information about both the E12 & E28 models on this site. Most long time members border on expert status given the amount of repairs, mods, and uprgrades they've done to their (sometimes many) cars. Search the site and ask questions, most everyone's attitude is open and cordial so don't fear ridicule. I'm in the middle of doing a Big Brake Upgrade myself for my 1988 535i and am currently rebuilding a set of E32 750i calipers along with cleaning and repainting. There are many options for and E28 upgrade and are somewhat dependent on wheel size. Most upgrades of this sort require at least 15" wheels and more are available within the 16" range. The great thing about this type of upgrade is that most of these parts are interchangeable between the 5, 6, 7, and even 8 series cars. You don't even have to change the hydraulic system, so you can leave your master cylinder and hydro booster in place (and since you don't have ABS, you don't have to worry about that either). Check out the options listed here in this thread: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=43684&highlight=stainless steel brake lines Since your 533 is lighter than the 535, you would be very happy with the 750i upgrade option, but I think the best overall upgrade is the E34 M5 option, but the E28 M5 option is pretty good too (they both use the 4 piston calipers and heavier rotors). There are lots of sources for parts from rebuilts, new oem, to searching the parts yards yourself. There are a couple of members currently selling upgrade parts,just search the For Sale/Parts section. Check out Steve Haygood at Automobile Solutions (www.stevehaygood.com) for parts; he's really helpful and pretty cheap. Bavarian Autosport, Autohaus Arizona, Bimmerworld, and GetCoolParts.com are also good sources for parts. Be sure to use realoem.com for accurate part numbers. The whole operation is fairly straightforward and you can DIY, but if you have a cooperative decent mechanic, maybe they can do it for you for labor costs. Hope this helps. Good Luck!
