Adding Brake Ducts?

[3002 tii]

I'm doing a brake overhaul before my next HPDE but wondered if anyone has found a way to add brake ducts for their non-M? I've checked TMS and they only offer an expensive CF backing plate for the Z4, was sorta hoping to find a more budget friendly option...

[wrose]

Originally Posted by Dubbedown

I'm doing a brake overhaul before my next HPDE but wondered if anyone has found a way to add brake ducts for their non-M? I've checked TMS and they only offer an expensive CF backing plate for the Z4, was sorta hoping to find a more budget friendly option...

Remove the driving lights and cut out fender liner behind where the lights mount . That's what BMW does with the M -works well without ducting on my car and I track it most weekends .

[esqu1re]

Originally Posted by wrose

Remove the driving lights and cut out fender liner behind where the lights mount . That's what BMW does with the M -works well without ducting on my car and I track it most weekends .

I think that solution though it may be viable and effective makes the car kind of ugly.

[3002 tii]

I've sorta given up on the idea. I've looked at some if the DIY guides, and it seems that no matter what, the ducting/tubing will get in the way at full lock and considering this car is not a fully dedicated track car, it does not seem worth it. I'll just focus on higher temp pads & fluid, and better rotors.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by Dubbedown

I've sorta given up on the idea. I've looked at some if the DIY guides, and it seems that no matter what, the ducting/tubing will get in the way at full lock and considering this car is not a fully dedicated track car, it does not seem worth it. I'll just focus on higher temp pads & fluid, and better rotors.

This seems to be what most do.

Dark Schnitzer was thinking about developing ducts at one point. (See post 85 here.)

The rotors are really quite good (floating), and I'm not sure there's much to be gained there (see this thread with lots of input from The Hack). The key questions seem to be replacement cost, slotted vs. drilled, and so on. But since OEM and replacement are floating, I'm not sure there's a huge additional heat capacity with the PFs (I'm not sure, haven't scanned that thread in awhile, so check it out).

[v3.0si]

hey dubbe, i've got some ///m ducts at home... i'll play with them tonight and see if i can't figure something out.

i bought them because i believe they may be a cheap way to gain more clearance for tread width on the non-///m cars, as long as there's enough neg camber to clear behind the reflector location. the non-///m filler panel in the well (fog lamp access) is flat; whereas the brake duct for the ///m's are intergral to the flap itself. this causes a recess, and may provide an extra 5-7 mm of clearance for tires.

as a side effect, functional brake ducts may be possible.

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by v3.0si

hey dubbe, i've got some ///m ducts at home... i'll play with them tonight and see if i can't figure something out.

i bought them because i believe they may be a cheap way to gain more clearance for tread width on the non-///m cars, as long as there's enough neg camber to clear behind the reflector location. the non-///m filler panel in the well (fog lamp access) is flat; whereas the brake duct for the ///m's are intergral to the flap itself. this causes a recess, and may provide an extra 5-7 mm of clearance for tires.

as a side effect, functional brake ducts may be possible.

So I take it you bought the m liners as well? Also, I take it then I'd have to pull out my fogs so the air is fed into those ducts?

It might be worth looking into on my end but I actually wanted something more functional where the air is fed directly onto the rotor, but this would still be better than nothing.

[v3.0si]

no liners yet... i'm still in the fact-finding stage. i think the flaps for either liner are the same shape. if true, it's possible this will work quite nicely, with only a bit of modification needed.

option 1 would be to remove the fog lamps and use those as the intake for the ducts.

option 2 would be to knock out the center "diamonds" in the faux ducts left and right of the fangs (lower, outer grilles).

either way, a bit of trimming may need to be done to the ducts to fit the contour of the back side of the front cover.

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by v3.0si

no liners yet... i'm still in the fact-finding stage. i think the flaps for either liner are the same shape. if true, it's possible this will work quite nicely, with only a bit of modification needed.

option 1 would be to remove the fog lamps and use those as the intake for the ducts.

option 2 would be to knock out the center "diamonds" in the faux ducts left and right of the fangs (lower, outer grilles).

either way, a bit of trimming may need to be done to the ducts to fit the contour of the back side of the front cover.

I just wonder if those outer grills will route air into those ducts, 2 pictures on step 3 have me thinking it may:

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80009

Concern is those brake ducts extend so far out, I'm pretty sure the fogs wouldn't clear them...

[v3.0si]

exactly!

mister didn't change his liners either. i haven't purchased the brackets yet, but i really do think this will work.

[Twisted Six]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

This seems to be what most do.

Dark Schnitzer was thinking about developing ducts at one point. (See post 85 here.)
.

Yeah, I bought an extra set of front fender liners to test and trim for the whole KIT design. But everyone should keep on keeping on with their checking. I know that M or non-M....the final fender well fitments will be the same.....just the front approach will vary.

[v3.0si]

note: this is for the aero front cover. other solutions may exist for other products.

ok. option 2 is out. the faux ducts outside of the fangs are too far towards the center of the car to use with any great effect.

option 1 however is very promising if you don't mind destroying your fog lamps. the foglamp itself sits directly in front of the access panel. while this is great for changing the bulb, it's not so good for a fast retrofit of ducts.

the overall profile of the ///m and non-///m panels are identical. note the filler flap that covers most of the hole for the duct...

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the ///m duct only uses the lower half of the panel. this means that the top of the duct is squarely interfering with the fog lamp...

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simply removing the lamp shows that the bracing for the lamp is quite large, and also very much in the way...

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i believe it's possible to remove the guts of the foglamp (chrome) from the housing itself (black)...

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and then remove the lens. by trimming the majority of the duct away, knocking out the apparently unnecessary flap in the panel, and purchasing a tube/hose/duct to attach between the backside of the foglamp housing and the hole in the ///m panel, i believe this would be a very effective way to cool the brakes and to have a completely useless button on your dash. edit: the idea behind using the lamp housing is that it provides a clean solution to fixing the front of the duct to the back of the bumper with little fuss. why make a complicated bracket when BMW already did it for us?

this is a pic straight through the foglamp opening clearly showing the bottom of the strut and the center of the back of the knuckle...

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i am seriously considering trying this out, as i never use my log lamps. i need to think on it a bit before i jump into it though. i'll go to lowes tomorrow and see what kind of "duct" can be found to bridge the gap.

also, the only reason i'm considering the ///m ducts at all is for the extra clearance for tires. if you don't need the extra room, there's no reason the factory access panel can't be used to create the same effect... it'll just make attaching the back side of the new "duct" a little more tricky.

edit: mentioned above was the idea of simply removing the foglamp and the panel and calling it a day. personally, i find this a little too simple. a lot of air flows through there, but would then start cavitating behind the bumper before exiting out the back of the liner. cavitation is bad. especially on a track where time is everything. food for thought.

[v3.0si]

it's occurred to me that it may also be possible to split the air flow in the left-side duct... one branch for the LF brakes, the other branch for some sort of CSL-style ram air intake for the air box.

more air is more better.

obviously i'm going to need to devote some time to these ideas. to anybody following... chime in with thoughts - possitive or negative. it's all constructive criticism at this stage.

[Twisted Six]

I'm not sure the fog light height will provide enough pressure to be effective .....best to use the lower space where the grid exists I'm thinking.

Higher pressure nearer the lip perhaps.

You could cut out the grid to your liking..and figure out a way to modify the M dust to capture the flow.

I cut out the inner M duct panel fully and sanded it smooth. ( but I'm also making molds from them).

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by v3.0si

it's occurred to me that it may also be possible to split the air flow in the left-side duct... one branch for the LF brakes, the other branch for some sort of CSL-style ram air intake for the air box.

more air is more better.

obviously i'm going to need to devote some time to these ideas. to anybody following... chime in with thoughts - possitive or negative. it's all constructive criticism at this stage.

You might find this site useful. I was going to order some parts here to create my own brake ducting kit. I'm not sure if I'll go the /m brake duct route. I may remove the fog lamps, fix the tubing behind the fog lamp hole, and route the duct somehow to Turner's backing plate. And then again, I may just leave everything as is... lol. We'll see.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/ad...ryID=BRAKEDUCT