When the BMW M3 E46 chassis hit the shores in 2001, this was the car to have. It soon became a beast on the track and was a favorite amongst club racers. However, one of the main weak points is the brakes. Unlike new performance cars, BMW was not outfitting it with Brembo Brakes from the factory. So the standard brakes did not cut the mustard. Our customer recently took his E46 to a new level by equipping his car with a set of front and rear Brembo big brakes. The front is a 6piston 355mm slotted rotor and the rear uses a 4piston caliper. Adding some flare he did the calipers in yellow. The Brembo kits always come with steel braided lines to give you better pedal feel and unless specified, include their street pads. Having used this same big brake setup on our 2001 Porsche 996 Turbo, these street pads can take some serious track abuse thanks to the floating 2 piece rotors that use McLaren hardware. In addition to the brakes, he also equipped his M3 with some Volk Racing TE37SL wheels in gunmetal with a polished lip. The Volk wheels are 1 piece forged and extremely light. All 4 corners are 18×9.5 with a +22mm offset to give it an aggressive stance. Typically the 18 inch Volk TE37 weighs only about 17-18lbs! Wrapping these wheels is a set of the new Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires. 275/35/18 gives this BMW some serious meat to grip the track. Watch out for this monster taking apex’s in the southern states good old USA! Enjoy the pics!
