First Track Day!

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by Steviebee

if this is a regular question may not be a bad idea.... unless you are are a polisher,,,

Polish but not polisher

[glendog74]

Originally Posted by terryb

Stevie - best recommendation I can give is to get a 2nd set of wheels with Cups for track days - they are so much better than normal road tyres on track...

Agreed

Originally Posted by Steviebee

I have a set of 19s from my old CS I had a few years ago, these should do then? Will I notice the heavier wheels much ?

The CS fronts are slightly narrower than CSL wheels and on track you'll want more wheel/tyre width. You could always space them out to increase track width.

[Steviebee]

My old CS came with the bling 19s as per std M3. Can you believe mupet ordered it with them rather than the CSL style wheels?! Hence why I fitted a set of Linea Course wheels and now have the bling rims sitting in the store at the garage.

Tried to sell them for 400.00 for AGEEEESS on eBay, but there were no takers.

Think I'll have them refurbed a mad colour and have them for track wheels, only concern was that they were heavy?

[titan]

If you are buying a nice set of CSL alloys for the road, then sell the bling-a-ling M3 wheels and put the money towards...

18x9 team dynamics (black FTW) (approx £650) and stick on 265 tyres all round. Federal 595RS are a good cheaper alternative. You'll find the extra track and rubber at the front great for turn-in plus running a square setup you can switch tyres front and rear to get the most for your money.

The minimum brake spend for track is braided lines, RBF660 fluid and some decent pads (Pagid RS29). This is much better but ultimately the problem here is that heat dissipation is poorer on smaller brakes and RS29s will generate more heat than stock pads due to their stopping power. You'll be avoiding boiling the fluid for only so long...

Get the RTAB kit and if thats your budget spent then you've done a great job.

Past that its all about brakes and suspension on track cars. Don't go wasting money on APs which get so many duff customer feedbacks (rattling, warped/cracked discs) as well as good, so straight for the Alcon kit which *only* gets great reviews. 365 up front (bigger than AP) and 348 rears I think. Either buy from an Alcon place, or get the CSL Cup kit from Thorney, its the same thing.

Whack on a set of Intrax 1K2 or KW V3s and you are done.

Avoid doing anything to the engine because NA engines just can't be tuned significantly without significant spend. Plus you'll only break the thing ;-)

Past that, or along the way, a decent set of seats would be a bonus but you're now starting to interfere with a daily drive. Especially harnesses.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by titan

Past that its all about brakes and suspension on track cars. Don't go wasting money on APs which get so many duff customer feedbacks (rattling, warped/cracked discs) as well as good, so straight for the Alcon kit which *only* gets great reviews. 365 up front (bigger than AP) and 348 rears I think. Either buy from an Alcon place, or get the CSL Cup kit from Thorney, its the same thing.

Lee, when I asked you recently about the Alcon/CSL 'Cup' brake kit you yourself only described them as 'good', that's not the best advertising so unless you have changed your opinion on them now you've had them a little longer I cannot see any particular difference between these and AP's except price?

I was wanting them to be amazing and unrivalled as I love to look of them over AP's. however it's NEVER form over function personally

[titan]

Sorry Dan, its just that I'm a glass-half-empty kinda guy ;-) And also, a lardy M3 with alcons and stock suspension isn't going to stop anything like my evo with alcons and race suspension, so its difficult to rave about a product when "you've had better", albeit on a different car.

Not having had the (mis)fortune of taking a standard brake M3 on track, I can't comment.

I make that comment based on my own experiences and what I read about APs. Over on the lancer register (evo) forums, where there are more people doing trackdays I've lost count of the number of people who have posted up with disc issues. AP have had production issues in the past...talks of new foundries etc.

On paper, if you assume the same types of pad compound, the APs use a 356mm front and 328mm rear, the alcons use a 365mm/343mm (I checked) so although bigger isn't always best, when comparing two premium brands I think its fair to argue the heat dissipation will be better on the alcon, presumably also the surface area/braking force also.

Alcon build quality is superb and their kits don't rattle around (lots of AP owners complain about noise on the floating assemblies)

I'm taking my CSL fitted with the alcon kit to snetterton on Friday, so will be able to see firsthand how they fare on a not-so-lardy M3, albeit with stock (CSL) suspension...

[Dan]

Hi Lee, cheers for the explanation, I see what you mean about the Evo!

Let's wait until you've done Snet and perhaps you can give a glass half full review?