How to determine which parking brake shoe size is on my E92
 

Hi All,

Is there an easy way to find out which parking brake shoe size (i.e. 185mm vs. 160mm) is used on the rear axle of my 2012 328i E92?

(From what I hear, some E92s have 160mm shoes, while others have the 185mm shoes.)

Can this be done based on my VIN, or will I actually have to take a rear wheel off the axle and look at the brake shoe directly?

Thanks!

I am not 100% certain but 185mm disc is on 335, and 328 has 160mm due to 335 having larger breaks by default.
Check realoem.com (you can pull up all relevant information for your car if you put the last 7 characters of the VIN)

Makes sense; almost suspected that. Looks like my VIN shows a 160mm supporting ring brake shoe (part no. 34216771429) on realoem, whereas a 335 shows the 185mm one (part no. 34216771430)

Someone in another thread did some cutting and welding to replace the 160 with a 185 shoe. Is there an easier way to change it to a 185mm one?

(The reason is I'm currently thinking about getting a performance brake kit for my rear axle, which seems to require the 185mm shoe.)

why do you need a performance brake kit? My standard OEM brakes work really well, Whats the upgrade suppose to do? drop a second off the stopping time?

Hondo

I agree that brake performance improvement is irrelevant in this case - it's only a 328.

But I'm looking to get 19" 313 rims, and there's a chance that the OEM brakes (calipers, rotors) might not look all that great behind those.

So it'd be for visual effect only. A set of either BMW Perf brakes or (more likely) 135i brakes (black calipers, plain rotors, but AFAIK otherwise identical to the Perf kit) would be nice to have.

Assuming that what realoem shows for my E92 (160mm supporting ring brake shoe) is correct, so far it looks like the following would be needed for an upgrade from E92 stock brakes:

- BMW Performance brake kit or 135i brake kit, for front and rear axle
- 185mm rear parking brake shoes
- Most likely rear axle hub carriers (to fit the new shoes), probably with bushings and bearings

Are hub carriers what BMW calls wheel carrier (parts 33326774807 and 33326774808, $470 each)? Or is this something different?

Before this turns into more of a cross-post, here's what I'm really getting at: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=669201