[agent_orange]

Have been making some further enhancements to this brake setup.

The first was a brake pad change away from the Carbotech 1521s a few months ago.
This was partly borne out of performance not being where it should be when having had to brake really hard a few times for suicidal wildlife, and also out of research to find the ideal street pads for my new M2C without losing too much of the factory initial bite.
Decided to trial EBC Redstuff on the X3, as a lower-cost and lower-risk experiment over risking them in the M2C.
Anyway I'm glad I did this, as the performance has been very substantially improved over the 1521s. In normal driving, pedal effort feels like it has been halved for a given amount of braking.
Very happy, and only then did the car finally feel like it had big brakes fitted.
Dust has gone up, but still much less than factory pads, and well worth it for the performance increase.
I said a few posts earlier that I wouldn't touch EBC, but will have to eat my hat in this case.

The pedal still wasn't great though, with too much drop before the brakes engage for my liking, which no amount of ISTA bleeding could fix.
Bought a 2015/08+ 27mm master cylinder for a good price from eBay due to being without the booster, and decided to see if it would fit without replacing the booster which also changed part number at the same time as the master. (not sure exactly what changed with it in terms of diaphragm diameters, boost ratio etc.)
Turns out the 27mm master fits and works just fine with the original pre-LCI booster, and has made a significant improvement to the height at which the brakes bite.
In theory the pedal effort will have gone up by 17% with the change from 25mm to 27mm master, but don't really notice this and still have more than enough braking power.

Very happy with the setup now, years after first fitting the front 50i calipers to the previous X3.

TL;DR Carbotech 1521 have no place in any Euro car, EBC Redstuff are great, 27mm master cylinder is great with this caliper setup.

[DenverSteve]

Completely unnecessary but Amazon has plenty of M stickers and decals you can purchase as well.

[bmwPower99]

@agent_orange think I'll give red stuff a try at some point. I've got yellowstuff and have done the bed in process a few times but the pedal felt soft with too much travel even after power bleeding. I've since covered over 1300 miles and I have noticed the pedal is a bit harder with better bite but still not as good as oem. I think think this is unacceptable and won't be buying yellows again. How many more miles do I need to do!

[MSport_Jon]

Originally Posted by agent_orange

Have been making some further enhancements to this brake setup.

The first was a brake pad change away from the Carbotech 1521s a few months ago.
This was partly borne out of performance not being where it should be when having had to brake really hard a few times for suicidal wildlife, and also out of research to find the ideal street pads for my new M2C without losing too much of the factory initial bite.
Decided to trial EBC Redstuff on the X3, as a lower-cost and lower-risk experiment over risking them in the M2C.
Anyway I'm glad I did this, as the performance has been very substantially improved over the 1521s. In normal driving, pedal effort feels like it has been halved for a given amount of braking.
Very happy, and only then did the car finally feel like it had big brakes fitted.
Dust has gone up, but still much less than factory pads, and well worth it for the performance increase.
I said a few posts earlier that I wouldn't touch EBC, but will have to eat my hat in this case.

The pedal still wasn't great though, with too much drop before the brakes engage for my liking, which no amount of ISTA bleeding could fix.
Bought a 2015/08+ 27mm master cylinder for a good price from eBay due to being without the booster, and decided to see if it would fit without replacing the booster which also changed part number at the same time as the master. (not sure exactly what changed with it in terms of diaphragm diameters, boost ratio etc.)
Turns out the 27mm master fits and works just fine with the original pre-LCI booster, and has made a significant improvement to the height at which the brakes bite.
In theory the pedal effort will have gone up by 17% with the change from 25mm to 27mm master, but don't really notice this and still have more than enough braking power.

Very happy with the setup now, years after first fitting the front 50i calipers to the previous X3.

TL;DR Carbotech 1521 have no place in any Euro car, EBC Redstuff are great, 27mm master cylinder is great with this caliper setup.

Hey buddy. Do you have a part number for this master cylinder? I think it is 34336871455 but all the pictures i see show that this part refers to a 25mm MBC.

[agent_orange]

Originally Posted by MSport_Jon

Hey buddy. Do you have a part number for this master cylinder? I think it is 34336871455 but all the pictures i see show that this part refers to a 25mm MBC.

Yes it is 34336871455.
The 27 is visible in the casting in my pictures.
Some aftermarket parts specify one master cylinder for all F25/F26, and these are probably 25mm.
I chose to buy a used OEM one after confirming the '27' in a picture.
Is your LCI built before 08/2015? Because if after, it will have a 27mm already.

[MSport_Jon]

Originally Posted by agent_orange

Yes it is 34336871455.
The 27 is visible in the casting in my pictures.
Some aftermarket parts specify one master cylinder for all F25/F26, and these are probably 25mm.
I chose to buy a used OEM one after confirming the '27' in a picture.
Is your LCI built before 08/2015? Because if after, it will have a 27mm already.

I too am looking for the solid 335i sport braking for my X3. It feels ok now and hopefully, this is what I am looking for. How is yours holding up after the BMC mod?

[agent_orange]

Originally Posted by MSport_Jon

I too am looking for the solid 335i sport braking for my X3. It feels ok now and hopefully, this is what I am looking for. How is yours holding up after the BMC mod?

I'm pretty happy with the current brake setup, although it's still not as good as you will have in most non-SUV BMW models.
In addition to changing to EBC Redstuff and the 27mm MC as detailed in this thread, I also changed the front setup from 365mm X5 50i twin piston steel caliper to 374mm 550i aluminium single piston a while ago, which improved pedal feel, pedal height, and ride quality a little.
https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1886582

[MSport_Jon]

Originally Posted by agent_orange

Yes it is 34336871455.
The 27 is visible in the casting in my pictures.
Some aftermarket parts specify one master cylinder for all F25/F26, and these are probably 25mm.
I chose to buy a used OEM one after confirming the '27' in a picture.
Is your LCI built before 08/2015? Because if after, it will have a 27mm already.

Yes sir. My build date is April 2014. I took a look at the car the other morning and it has 25 on the outlet of the BMC. looking on eBay for a used one since new ones are super expensive.

[335togo]

Wow I'm jealous since I'm only up to putting air in tire when it comes to repairs….but after all that work to take a pic with those dirty wheels….aaaaaaahhh. Finish they job 😂 lol