brakes Tii Big brake kit pros and cons

[Pstegner]

I am planning on going with the big brake kit that Ireland sells. (E21 rotors and hubs, e24 calipers). I have a Tii. I have already purchased the rotors. Today I called Ireland to to ask if I use e21 bearings or Tii bearings and was told to use my Tii hubs with the e21 rotors because the Tii had bigger bearings. I was super excited at this point. Less money spent, bigger bearings, with bigger brakes, and no hubcentric stuff to worry about. First thing I did when I got home was remove my Tii hubs from the Tii rotors and attempt to install the new w21 rotors on them. I quickly des covered that this does lot work. Now I am wondering if it's worth it to give up the larger bearings of the Tii hub for larger e21 brakes. Is there any way to keep Tii hubs and have larger brakes?

[Preyupy]

You have to use the early (77-79) E21 hubs with those rotors and bearings. The standard Tii rotor attaches to the back of the Tii hub. The E21 rotor sits on the front of the hub and is held in place with the lug bolts/studs (and a small set screw to just keep it in place when the wheel is off) The early E21 used the same bearings as the Tii and the later E21 used the same bearings as the standard 2002 (except the 6 cylinder E21's)

[Pstegner]

Thank you! Explains it all. I already bought the bearings for the Tii hubs, so good!

[Preyupy]

You just need to find some early E21 hubs.

[Pstegner]

Ireland sells them

So, should I get hubcentric wheels now? Lol

[JohnS]

Ireland sells them

So, should I get hubcentric wheels now? Lol

 

I believe that the E21 reproduction hubs that Ireland Engineering sells are the later E21 style which use the smaller bearings.  These are for doing a vented brake setup using standard 2002(non-tii) struts.  Check with them before you order. 

 

The only CON that I can see with the vented brake setup is that you might not be able to run stock 13" wheels (depends on the wheel and its offset).  Also you will probably want to upgrade your rear brakes at the same time to balance out the increased braking in the front. 250mm rear drum upgrade is common to match the vented rotors in the front.

 

John

Edited January 30, 2015 by JohnS

[M3M3]

the info you seek and the list of parts you need are all in the faq article about this upgrade to VENTED rotors.

[AceAndrew]

I heard the phone conversation, you've simply misunderstood what was said.  As Marshall mentioned, there is an article covering what it involved in the articles section here on the faq.

 

And John is correct, IE does not sell the Big Bearing version of the e21 hub (the market is 1/4 that of the standard 2002).

Edited January 30, 2015 by AceAndrew

[JohnS]

I heard the phone conversation, you've simply misunderstood what was said.  As Marshall mentioned, there is an article covering what it involved in the articles section here on the faq.

 

And John is correct, IE does not sell the Big Bearing version of the e21 hub (the market is 1/4 that of the standard 2002).

Drat drat and double drat!  I was hoping that I was wrong. I can understand with the slim market and all ... IE has always treated me right.  No complaints.  Just dreaming of $60 new hubs .. crap!  Thanks Andrew,

John

[Preyupy]

You can always send the ventilated E21 rotors back and order a set of turbo Rotors from W&n and use your Tii hubs

[LarsAlpina]

Order a set of turbo Rotors from W&n and use your Tii hubs

 

How does that work? Any parts around I don´t know about or maybe special hubs on US spec tii? I always had to buy the turbo hubs to get the turbo rotors running on the car.

 

Best regards, Lars.

[B-Merry]

Lars - I haven't seen you on the board recently, welcome back!

I'm running turbo hubs and rotors on my tii. I believe they are compatible with the tii struts/bearings. I am using e12 calipers.

Jim

Edited January 31, 2015 by B-Merry

[JohnS]

You can always send the ventilated E21 rotors back and order a set of turbo Rotors from W&n and use your Tii hubs

Very interesting.  I wonder if I could get that setup using calipers from my E9 (which are the same as used on the Turbo) to tuck under stock tii 13x5" alloys or stock tii (13x5") steel wheels?  Are the Turbo rotors ventilated?  I do see that the Turbo uses a unique hub (part #31-21-1-103-797).  Will the Turbo rotors also fit on the tii hubs? (part #31-21-2-634-002)  Thanks,

John

Edited January 30, 2015 by JohnS

[Preyupy]

The Ti, Tii and Turbos used the same hubs.I could not find any difference between the Tii and Turbo hubs when I did my turbo. The only difference was the ventilated rotor and the caliper had a spacer between the 2 halves to make room for the wider rotor. The rotor bolts to the back of the hub just like the non ventilated rotor.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Preyupy

[LarsAlpina]

The Ti, Tii and Turbos used the same hubs.

 

That´s wrong! TI and tii use the same hubs. turbo hubs are different. At least it´s like this on EURO cars.

 

Strut itself is identical on TI/tii and turbo. Different part numbers at BMW dealer though, because BMW only offers (offered?) the struts complete with the shocks and original turbo shocks do have a different set-up to deal with the bigger front sway bar, wider track and aerodynamic differences. Wheel bearings are the same, caliper is Ti/tii with spacers as you´ve written.

But if you put a TI/tii hub upright beside a real turbo hub you´ll see that a turbo hub is some millimeters higher. That is in order to deal with the increased thickness of the turbo rotor because of its ventilation. A stock tii hub with a turbo rotor on it will get stuck on the brake dust shield (is that the correct term in English?) while you´re trying to put the unit on the strut.

 

Best regards, Lars.