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(There's a typo in "steel" in your sig, too, BTW)
Hey Hack! How do you like your steel brake lines?
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Are you happy with your brake feel? When I first went from the Z3 to the 323Ci, it was a shock to my system how soft and MUSHY the brakes felt...And not very linear. The effort put into the brakes doesn't reflect the rate of deceleration.
The first thing I did was put in the stainless steel brake lines, and MAN what a big difference it makes. The SSLs take the flex and bulge out of the rubber hoses and made the pedal feel and pressure CONSTANT and it gives a lot more feedback. It almost feels like the Z3 brakes.
However the degree of difficulty with the brake lines is FAIRLY high, and the returns isn't great enough in terms of performance (it greatly improved feel, but does not improve your stopping speed and distance) to warrant a change. If you're doing a brake job and wanted to take advantage of the fact that you'll need to bleed the brakes anyway, then it's a good time to do it.
The first thing I did was put in the stainless steel brake lines, and MAN what a big difference it makes. The SSLs take the flex and bulge out of the rubber hoses and made the pedal feel and pressure CONSTANT and it gives a lot more feedback. It almost feels like the Z3 brakes.
However the degree of difficulty with the brake lines is FAIRLY high, and the returns isn't great enough in terms of performance (it greatly improved feel, but does not improve your stopping speed and distance) to warrant a change. If you're doing a brake job and wanted to take advantage of the fact that you'll need to bleed the brakes anyway, then it's a good time to do it.
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Hmm. The brake feel is pretty awful... That said, I checked the fluid in my system (a little leaked out when I was toying with the CDV, but not removing it) and it was black. My hope is that fresh fluid in the system will help a fair bit. 
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BLACK brake fluids? They're suppose to be pissed color. Duude, you NEED to flush your brake fluids ASAP. Check the brake fluid reservoir man...You are getting a contamination somewhere.Nick325xiT 5spd said:Hmm. The brake feel is pretty awful... That said, I checked the fluid in my system (a little leaked out when I was toying with the CDV, but not removing it) and it was black. My hope is that fresh fluid in the system will help a fair bit.
I'm surprised that you haven't experienced a complete brake failure yet.
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12,907 Posts
Speaking of brake bleeding, the Bentley talks about hooking the car upto DIS/MODiC and running the bleeding program on top of conventional bleeding to fully bleed the system. I assume what this does is cycles fluid through the ABS valves and solenoids. Anyone have any idea if this is something that actually should be done or just a buncha hooey?
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The impression I got was that it makes it a lot simpler. One of the brake fluid changing guides suggested changing the fluid, bleeding the brakes, going out for a test drive and driving hard enough to activate the ABS quite a bit, then bleeding the brakes AGAIN. It does seem to indicate that this would make the job a good deal simpler.
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