Brake Cooling ducts covered??

[andrewbuch]

Hi guys,

This weekend I noticed that on the E46 318i the brake cooling ducts are covered in front. What is the reson that they are covered?


Duct without cover:

Close up of brake cooling duct

Stupid cover thats over it?

Why would this cover be over the Duct??

 

[freerider]

The brake ducts on all the e46s are non functional.

Take the M3 CSL for example, its the track version of the best version of the e46, and it doens even HAVE brake ducts.

 

[andrewbuch]

Its just the Ducts are there but covered up with a solid grill. Why would they build them into the car and then close them off?
Will it have an advantage to have them open?

 

[Hellas]

Normal road-going sedans rarely gets driven in a day-to-day scenario to a point where you need additional cooling for the brakes. It's a nice-to-have.

 

[andrewbuch]

I would like to have as i use the brakes pretty hard most days.
It just seems really stupid to me that they built them into the car then sealed them off.
The E36 has them open to the world.

 

[freerider]

Sometimes heat retention is not a bad thing. I personally am extremely hard on my brakes, discs last on average 40k kms, and I have never once experienced brake fade on either of my e46's.

 

[clutchplate]

hmm, even with brake ducts, I experience brake fade at least about once a week... but normally only after 210+ to zero stops in quick intervals... doubt that 316 is gonna reach a speed where it can acctually experience brake fade tho. I'd open it up anyways.. can't do any harm I guess

 

[Twinz]

I removed my front mud flaps over the weekend and the car is definitely 0.1 sec faster...

Andrew, remove the covers and help your car breath better.

 

[andrewbuch]

I removed my front mud flaps over the weekend and the car is definitely 0.1 sec faster...

Andrew, remove the covers and help your car breath better.

Only problem is it will look like this on both sides

will try get hold of another set of covers sometime and cut the gaps out so it will have the 2 main horizontals still

 

[Twinz]

ah...see your concern. Hope your creativity pays off.

Would be interesting to see an aftermarket bumper for the e46 318 and the design of the airducts...if and how they might have changed it.

 

[andrewbuch]

ah...see your concern. Hope your creativity pays off.

Would be interesting to see an aftermarket bumper for the e46 318 and the design of the airducts...if and how they might have changed it.

I am also going to do the same to the covers where fog lights should be, then put a tube from there to the airfilter area, depending what I do about the filter

From the aftermarket ones I have seen, it seems like they cover up the vents!!