I've had a set of UUC's new "Very Serious Brakes" on my 2001 325it for a couple weeks now and am impressed. The components and bracketry look well designed and were simple to install. The 2 piston aluminum caliper is MUCH lighter than the stock E46 caliper. Although the UUC rotor is larger in diameter and thicker, the aluminum hat gives the rotor a weight about equal to the stock rotor so the whole package is a few pounds lighter than stock. The setup fits under the stock 17" type 44 7 spoke sport package wheels with a little less than a pinky's width to spare between the caliper and wheel. Installing the bracket required trimming the stock dust shield. I trimmed way too much off the first side I worked on because I eyeballed the amount of trimming required instead of starting small and trimming where needed. The 2nd side looks much neater. I bled the brakes after everything was bolted up and drove the car for a few days.

The first few days the brakes felt noticeably softer than stock although the stopping power felt better than stock. I bled the brakes again thinking there was air still trapped in the system but pedal feel did not improve. After trading e-mail with Rob @ UUC, he suggested bleeding the calipers while unbolted from the brackets. Multiple piston calipers when installed dry tend to trap more air bubbles in all the extra nooks and crannies. Sometimes, the caliper has to be rotated around to get out all the trapped air. This is not usually necessary for later brake bleeding once the caliper is fully bled. I did as he recommended and bled with calipers removed (and a small block of wood in the caliper to avoid popping out the pistons). I also tapped on the calipers with a plastic faced hammer to help dislodge trapped bubbles. This made a huge difference. After bleeding this way, the pedal felt as firm as stock.

Now the pads are bedded in and the brakes feel very strong. They inspire a little more confidence when slowing from 90 to 40 for off-ramps and feel the same after multiple hard stops. The stockers seemed a little weak after mutiple downhill braking zones at more than legal speeds.

I'm running Hawk HPS pads on the street but may consider a race pad for a driver school at Roebling Road in November. Roebling is a light/medium braking track and may require a pad with more heat capability. If it was a Lime Rock Park school (light braking), I'd definitely run the HPS pads.