Brake pads ENDLESS or OEM BMW
M3 stock brakes are better, the GTI gets a little tail-happy under hard braking above 110-130mph.
Seems like there would be room in the market for a slightly detuned S55 base model without the fancy seats, brakes and wheels for about $5-8k less like the M3/M4: M3/M4 Competition.
I really love driving it though, particularly the brakes and the handling.
Have yet to find a better street pad than BMW's OE compound. Ceramics dust less but feel terrible.
Great cars. They like to eat brakes in regular intervals. With 70k make sure there is no front end shimmy that is the result in worn control arm bushings/warped brake rotors.
Brakes are excellent
The OEM brake pads were painfully inadequate for anything more than street driving. Interestingly enough, the rest of the brake components were designed very good and they have a lot of capacity. A simple pad upgrade and brake fluid flush proved sufficient for more serious track days.
I vastly prefer my R to the BMW. I think the R drives better, its more tossable, i feel like the steering is better weighted and the brakes are much better.
The way the brakes begin to grumble during heavy braking is less impressive, but they work well enough.
the steering lacks the consistent weighting and tactile communication that a Porsche offers. For a car this rapid, it's not as talkative as it should be. We've also got reservations about the brakes. Our test car was fitted with competition-grade brake pads to cope with track use, but they still faded badly after a handful of hard laps.
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