MZ3.net

BMW Windscreen

After installing the BMW windscreen, I quickly threw the tools back onto my work bench and took the roadster out for a spin. Unlike the Remus, the benefits of this install were immediately noticed. At speeds of under 25mph the difference was noticeable, but small, as I slowly got faster I noticed that the wind inside the cockpit hardly increased. I headed towards the Dallas autobahn (also known as the Dallas Tollway), to give this wind screen the ultimate test. I paid my fifty cents and then quickly accelerated to…. well lets just say I gave the wind screen a good test and it passed with flying colors.

Before I go on with this glowing review, let me point out a negative comment I have about the wind screen. It took me a couple days to get use to it, but the visibility through your rear view mirror is substantially reduced. As I said, I think I’ve gotten use to it, but I’m still a little concerned that the decrease in visibility might cause a problem in traffic.

Okay that said, let me now point out some more good points.

1. My roadster is parked in a parking lot at work and the windscreen (in the up position) with the top also up acts as a excellent sun shade. I make a point to park the roadster with the back window facing west so in the afternoon the sun’s heat is blocked by the wind screen. This has made the roadster much cooler to enter after work.
2. The decrease in wind has made the stereo more audible and cleaner at high-way speeds.
3. The decrease in wind has also made the environmental controls (AC and Heat) much more efficient. In the mornings a little heat keeps the cockpit nice and warm. While after work the A/C keeps the Texas heat at bay.

Since purchasing this windscreen BMW has released two other windscreen designs. Do date I really haven’t had a chance to compare the other two, but visually it would appear that the 1st design (this design) will block more wind. The 2nd design appeared to be harder to install but did not occupy the mount towers that the 1st design did. The 3rd design I have only seen on pictures. It is designed to work with the BMW roll-hoops which became stand with the ’98 models.

I ended up purchasing the HMS rollbar and selling this windscreen to another Z3 owner, the HMS windscreen has it’s good and bad points in comparison to this design. However this design is seems to have a real good balance of form and function.

BMW Z3 Dirty Wheel from Brake Dust

After 60,000 miles on the stock brake pads I assumed I was getting close to needing to change them. I’ve been pleased with the performance of the stock BMW brake pads, but the brake dust was always a mess. The photo to the right is for real, this is how my wheels usually look. I wanted to find some replacement pads that offered equal performance but without all the brake dust mess.

The Porterfield brand caught my attention, it appeared it may be what I was looking for. MyRoadster.Net carried the Porterfield brand so I asked some questions via their info@myroadster.net address. I learned that Porterfield makes three different kinds of brake pads depending on your needs.

• R-4 for track use only
• R-4S for street and light competition
• R-E for endurance racing events

The “Porterfield R4-S Carbon/Kevlar Street Brake Pads” matched my needs, and the feature list impressed me.

• Low Dust
• Light Pedal Effort
• Rotor Friendly
• High Friction, Hot or Cold
• Low Wear Rate
• Fastest Stopping Road Pad Available!
• Friction Coefficient:
• OEM: Between .2 and .3
• Porterfield: .4
• Temperature Tolerance:
• OEM: 500-700 degrees F
• Porterfield: 1,100 degrees F

After installing the pads (see ///MZ3.Net’s brake pad installation article for details) I resisted the urge to make any judgements until I knew the pads were really broken in. I was also cautioned to avoid excess hard breaking during this initial period. When new, brake pads have a slightly rounded surface that ensures once broken in you get a maximum contact patch. But until they get fully broken in you are concentrating the friction to a smaller patch. This means that when brand new the friction/heat is in a smaller area so you should avoid overheating the rotors. At least that’s how a BMW tech explained it to me, it wasn’t something specific to the Porterfield brand, just a general caution for all new brake pads.

8,000 Mile Update: How does the saying go, if I knew then what I know now….
I put up with the stock brakes and their mess for 60,000 miles. From my experience, the Porterfield R4-S brakes offer at least equal performance (maybe even a little better) but with almost no brake dust mess. That was exactly what I was looking for so I am very happy with the Porterfield R4-S pads brakes. My only complaint with them was some initial brake squeal, but that was easily fixed (see Stopping Brake Squeaks article for details). For the cost ($94 front, $75 rear) and backed with MyRoadster.Net’s money back guarantee, the Porterfield R4-S pads seem to be what most Z3 owners should be looking for when either they need to replace their stock pads, or are just fed up with cleaning up after the BMW pads.

MZ3.net Photos of the Month 2002

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