1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Front brakes

R53 vs. R56 makes a big difference here.
The R56 front calipers & pads have almost twice the braking surface area of the OEM R53 front calipers. The R56 front calipers are equivalent to the 1st gen JCW calipers.

I've seen a friend set his R53 front pads ON FIRE at the dragon.
I could never find R53 front pads that would stand up to my dragon runs. Once I changed to R56 calipers, problem solved.

 

If money is tight I would put the money in good pads. Regular rotors are fine. I would never run drilled rotors especially on track. I run slotted because I feel they help wet braking performance.

 

Well, that could explain things.....

My wife's always complaining about my late braking.

 

I run EBC REDS all year round and I have no bite issues in cold weather. I am in the burbs of Philly and it gets cold here in the winter.

 

Call one of M/A's sponsors. We could give you a bunch of suggestions, but a vendor could help you narrow down your choices and give you a couple targeted price points.

http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/vendor/list-by-alpha

 

Post #3 here, has links for my front rotor, pads, and fluid recommendation for street use.

I see the front rotor link is broken in the post mentioned above, so I'll try again. Front rotor, brake pads.

 

Get a set of R56 front calipers and rotors, they fit the R53. You will essentially then have what was the JCW upgrade on the 1st. Gen.

 

I would recommend a set of Zimmerman rotors. They're made in Germany and wear very nicely. Pads are a matter of taste in my opinion. I prefer a pad that's as dust free as possible, without compromising stopping ability.

 

I have the Hawk HPS on stock rotors, and found they're slightly better than OE performance all around (slightly easier to modulate, a slight increase in braking power), with MUCH less dust and MUCH less fade.

I won a set of EBC Green Stuff pads and want to try those out, may change 'em this weekend just for grits and shins.

Who sells Zimmerman's?

 

Ughhhh.........I hated my Hawk HPS. Couldn't keep up with my driving, faded consistently. Love my Cool Carbons!

 

I put Akebono ceramic pads on zimmerman rotors on the wife's Audi allroad as I was tired of cleaning the damn wheels, that was 5K ago and they're as clean as the rears.......stopping, feel etc all very good.

I may try those on my MINI next time I change pads on it.

If you don't track race your car and don't live in the mountains, I can't imagine a need for anthing better than stock brakes for your car - you don't need fancy cross drilled cyro treated rotors to drive on the street, nor do you need high end pads except to eliminate pad dust. The stock brakes on these cars far exceed normal driving conditions and normal driver's abilities....

 

Brakes are a funny thing. What works well for one person another says don't work for them. People have very different styles of driving & especially braking.

west7- what kind of use will your MINI & its brakes see? I'll give you recommendations on what I've used. For street use.

If it is a good street pad with low dust you are looking for the Hawk ceramic may work well. Less initial bite than oem, but more heat resistance & very low dust. I have used them on the track, but they are not ideal there. I am not a late braker so the best track pad is not needed by me.

I've also had good luck with Akebono pads. About the same as the above as far as performance. Have not used them on the track.

For rotors I have been using Stoptech slotted & cryo treated rotors. They have really worn well. I'd say I've gotten twice the life out of these compared to the oem rotors.

My Miata has EBC greenstuff pads & Centric rotors. Great bite & performance. They do dust like crazy. If you buy those be prepared to wash your wheels a lot.

One more thing. Make sure you flush out the old brake fluid with new. I use ATE super blue.

 

Sorry, none exist except in subjective opinion. For much better than stock performance especially when hot, with equal dust, Stop Tech Street Performance pad. Equal performance compared to stock, same dust, but easier on the rotors EBC Ultimax at a lower price point.

Zimmermann coated R53 rotor

 

I have a 05 I had Akebono ceramic pads on zimmerman rotors on all fours and they were great and very low dust. I got Zimmerman rear rotors from WMW. All with Goodrich stainless steel lines.

I have since switched to EBC Red Stuffs on all four corners and they are just as good as the Akebono's dust-wise but with better stopping bite. The EBC Reds stand up to a full WOT run on the Dragon where the Akebono's would start to fade near the end of a run. (one way)

For the front I run EBC Reds with Power Slot Alloy Cryo Treated slotted rotors.

But if you really want to stop faster paint your calipers red. Everyone knows red calipers make a car stop better. :ihih::lol:

 

... but if you do, upgrade your pads, and possibly your rotors. OE pads faded after one relatively easy smooth Dragon run. Aftermarket ceramics (the best Mister Tire had in stock) faded after 1.5 Dragon runs. Hawk HPS's faded, well, nowhere near as fast as even the Mr. Tire ceramics. They will fade, however.

And agreed that brakes are extremely subjective. I don't use my brakes near as hard as some do, and understand the differences in fade characteristics as a result.

So... greenstuffs dust? Worse than Hawks? Hmmm....

Absolutely! +1!

 

Go with the Zimmerman (or equivalent) rotors and the pads of your choice.

But you really should check out the Cool Carbon pads......cool carbon brake pads review - Google Search

 

You guys that are having brake fade on the Dragon.....seriously?

I've never had fade on my stock brakes, and I run several road course events each year.....and yes, I'm going fast - ask any of the guys who run with me.

What are you guys doing, riding the pedal?

I'm very surprised that you guys can have brake fade driving anywhere on the road, are you sure you don't just have old brake fluid?

I can't imagine that you're overheating the pads, but I can see a case where old fluid could boil giving you a long pedal......

 

Commonly this is a result of not braking hard enough. You end up braking a long time at lower pedal pressures instead of high pressure over a much shorter period of time.

I did this exact thing when I raced e30's and then a friend of mine coached me on what I was doing wrong.

Started braking much harder and spent much less time on the brakes. Never had an issue after that.