[blueaudis4]

I have two questions for you guys.

1) Brakes Brembo or StopTech and why? I have read alot and I know we all love both but is one truly better than the other. I have researched quite a bit and it seems that the Brembo GT's come in a 4,6 and 8 piston. StopTech looks to only have 4 pistons. What is really needed and are there advantages of one over the other? StopTech has a nice write up of their bridged piece in the center of the calipers. I have a BMW motorcycle that came with Brembos and they are nice, infact they stop quicker and better I would say than other bikes I have ridden. I currently have brand new L&R M5 calipers and the Euro floating rotors. I have 174,000 miles now so it was time to replace the original calipers. Both seem to be relatively priced the same unless you go crazy and buy the brembo GTR's for a mere 13k.

2) I have a valentine ! detector I seem to remember that Beastpower use to sell a small device that hid underneath the sunroof switch that basically took the v1's out put and put it onto the nav screen and or the dash. It would show in both places where the cop was sitting. I contacted beastpower and they no longer carry this. Wasn't sure if anyone new of one new or old or could get one.

 

[Kelster]

Audio Design in NYC does a concealed Valentine installation. Not cheap.

 

[blueaudis4]

Any pricing available? Is the hiding for the whole unit or display?

 

[gobuffs]

2) I have a valentine ! detector I seem to remember that Beastpower use to sell a small device that hid underneath the sunroof switch that basically took the v1's out put and put it onto the nav screen and or the dash. It would show in both places where the cop was sitting. I contacted beastpower and they no longer carry this. Wasn't sure if anyone new of one new or old or could get one.

The Invisimirror (IIRC) take thes remote display and hides it in the rear view mirror. A Stealth One takes the V1 signal and routes them to the Nav or MID. Unfortuantely, they are no longer made so your best bet for that is to look of here in the classifieds or Ebay. they don't come up for sale often. Expect to pay at least $500 for it (but $700+ is not uncommon)- all for an item that retailed for $200...but it is really cool.

 

[Kmac]

Good brake thread here

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=85479

 

[ard]

You are specifically asking about the "stealth one" interface for the V1. It is a small box that converts the V1 signal that is output for the v1 remote display into a signal that is sent over the BMW I Bus and shows up on the dash or on the nav screen.

It was made by Jaric Design. It is no longer made. You SHOULD have bought one.

They now sell as high as $500 (IIRC) on ebay.

Personally I think Stoptech and Brembo are pretty much equivalent for most users.

 

[blueaudis4]

I had an internal talk to find out why bmw uses the brakes they do and I was told from the inside that they didnt want to use brembo bbk because it would make too much noise for the average driver. Where as Porsche comes stock with Brembo's from the factory Porsche is a detuned race car for the streets. I guess those guys don't care about noise. I personally don't care about the noise either but one would think BMW would put BBK on their "M" cars. Only logical since an M driver isn't your typical BMW owner. We expect more and pay more so why not provide us with more. Honestly its like when some of the M's came with runflats people complained and only dunlop or pilot sports are used now.

 

[Kelster]

Stealth Valentine 1

Any pricing available? Is the hiding for the whole unit or display?

The whole unit is hidden, with the guts of the Valentine 1 installed in the square box on the ceiling above the seats, which also contains the parking distance control. The mirror is etched on the left side and converted to be the display. The Off/On/Mute button is on the console. I don't have my car with me at the moment so I'm doing this from memory. Expect to pay $1000 plus using your Valentine 1.

As I said earlier, it ain't cheap but there was no way I could tolerate having that big Valentine 1 stuck up high on the windshield. I had this done in conjunction with a Blinder installation.:hihi:

 

[blueaudis4]

Do you get a good signal by having the v1 detector mounted up in that hidden nook? I have held back from tinting my windows because from the research I have done it can limit the distance that the radar detector can read. I just want to make sure I am getting an accurate reading if I mount it up there and it doesnt limit the range front or rear. Was the 1000.00 for a kit or is that to have some one professionally do it? Also considering the blinder anything good to say on that behalf?

 

[ard]

Do you get a good signal by having the v1 detector mounted up in that hidden nook? I have held back from tinting my windows because from the research I have done it can limit the distance that the radar detector can read. I just want to make sure I am getting an accurate reading if I mount it up there and it doesnt limit the range front or rear. Was the 1000.00 for a kit or is that to have some one professionally do it? Also considering the blinder anything good to say on that behalf?

You do loose signal whenever you place the detector where it may be 'shadowed' by the roof. If you are on an incline, a location up on the roof will be 'sheielded' by the edge of the frotn or rear window. It is physics.

Beware of comparisons of 'works fine'... unless you use elaborate tests your will not know how much degradation you get.

While one doesn't like a V1 on the windshield, I didn't want to trade one iota of detection signal away. I believe that centered, high about 2-3" below the roof line is the best tradeoff.

The benefit of the 'stealth one' as compared to Kelsters "steal install with mirror display" is that you have no lights/displays that are visible.

A

PS The $1000 is for them to install it, as I recall. Plus a $400 V1

 

[DouglasABaker]

You can put a radar detector behind fiberglass and plastic, but not metal.

Since many window tints contain metallic particles I would a) avoid getting my windows tinted (for rear protection) and b) keep my detector mounted a couple inches above the dashboard. Can't remember where I read the test results, but low on the windshield finished better than high on the windshield.

d-

 

[ard]

Can't remember where I read the test results, but low on the windshield finished better than high on the windshield.

d-

and I seem to recall just the opposite... pretty sure it was Mike Valentine.

 

[DouglasABaker]

and I seem to recall just the opposite... pretty sure it was Mike Valentine.

I'm more interested in the answer than being right, so here are the results I found:

Here is Radar Roy - mount it low...

Escort says "low for laser, high for radar, but windshields are short enough it doesn't really matter"

Valentine says "high on the windshield to allow the front and rear antenna to see clearly"

That's the end of my searching for the evening. Sounds like Mount it HIGH is the winner

d-

 

[Cantresjr]

You can put a radar detector behind fiberglass and plastic, but not metal.

Since many window tints contain metallic particles I would a) avoid getting my windows tinted (for rear protection) and b) keep my detector mounted a couple inches above the dashboard. Can't remember where I read the test results, but low on the windshield finished better than high on the windshield.

d-

get ceramic tint.

 

[BMWMPWR]

I believe that centered, high about 2-3" below the roof line is the best tradeoff.

A

+1

For those of you that wanna mount it low for "laser" Get Blinder or equivalent laser jammer. If your laser warning goes off- Its really just saying "BUSTED!"

JMO

 

[M540i]

Check this thread with recent posts that cover this very issue of what is discussed in regards to integrating the Valentine One. http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=112437 You will see my post in there that has all of the Ai Design information. In regards to price, that is unknown. However, I did contact them via e-mail today. Hopefully that will return some positive information.

Also, in the e-mail I did mention that there may be some interest in doing a group buy. If that's something that is possible then I will create a thread and then everyone PM me from there.