Brakes Wheels 2nd Gen Tires Most liked posts in thread: R56 Brake Pads for 75% Track Use and 25% Street

I don't know where to find the pads you're looking for but I would like to offer an experience based opinion.
Keep the stock pads for street use and use a 'race' pad for the track. Swap the pads when necessary.
The reason for this?
There is no pad that is perfect for dual use. A street pad and many street/track combo pads will fade or fail under track abuse. A Race pad, when not heated to its performance range can be very abrasive and with street use will squeal but more importantly, may cause excessive rotor wear.

If you are a track beginner, you may get by with a combo pad, depending on the temps.

As you progress, you will find that the combo pads aren't up to the task.
I know that swapping pads is a pain, but can be worth it.

JMHO YMMV

 

For my case I took Way's suggestion and got a set of Carbotech Bobcat's for the Street and a set of their AX-1's (I believe thats what their called) for the track

Both work great and create little dust (know does not matter to you but other might)

When I asked Way if I could use the Bobcats on the track the answer was 'yes' but I would likely go through the pads on a single HPDE

Go through street pads quickly (with chance of brake fade) or swap out for track ones seems to be the heart of the question

 

A disc option offered from Performance Friction and available through Werkin Mini.



Here is what Randy of RSR Motorsports has to say about them:
"Last year, RSR teamed up with Performance Friction to develop an improved front brake rotor for the Mini's.

Grand Am rules require us to run stock factory calipers. For the R53 supercharged cars, that means the JCW brake package available from '03 through '06, including the GP series of cars. For the R56 Turbo cars, that means the standard brakes as delivered on cars except the JCW cars that use an upgraded package.

The PF rotor that we developed is now available and we highly recommend it. It saves +1.3 lbs PER SIDE, almost three lbs of unsprung weight and rotating mass compared to the factory rotors. In addition, it is directionally vented so it decreases the rotor temps dramatically. Our testing has shown racing temperature drops of over 200 degrees improving pad and rotor life.

Another great benefit is, the rotors are two piece and use an aluminum 'hat'. The hat reduces brake heat transfer into the hubs, prolonging bearing and hub life. On the R53 the lower ball joints are also very close to the rotor. The lower rotor temps save the rubber ball joint boots which melt under high temps allowing the grease to escape.

The rotor material is more durable as it lasts longer and extends pad life. When the rotors do need replacing, only the disc needs to be renewed, the hats are reused. As an example, it was not uncommon for the team to use two sets of stock rotors at an event weekend. We just replaced the first set of disc's that started life last year at Miller. That includes, Miller, VIR, the Daytona test weekend and the Daytona race.

Like any high quality part these are not cheap but they are worth the investment (and quite a bit less than you might suspect). As the driver of a GP on the street, I've found it much smarter to use the PF rotors rather than spending extra money on a full brake system. No worries about wheel fitment, spacers, etc. No problems with brake bias, warranties, etc. . . .

Lastly . . . RSR is not a speed shop. We don't sell stuff, including these rotors. I have nothing personally to gain from recommending these rotors other than helping a supplier who helped me. If you are interested and your local Mini Performance shop can't help, check with some of the vendors on these forums. If all else fails, send me a PM and I'll direct you to someone who can.

These rotors can be installed by the owner as they do not require opening nor bleeding the brake lines. A new set of pads should be installed with a rotor change. It's very simple and very cost effective.

If you have questions, post them here or send a PM. I would be happy to help.

Randy

Finally . . . a little disclaimer. . . These are high performance parts and probably not suitable for everyone or all applications. You need to make your own decision if it's right for you. My comments are based upon my personal experiences which may not apply to all."

Less expensive alternatives are available like these from EBC. DBA has rotors for more mula, and the list goes on.

In the dual use pad category, MA member kimberlein, is running Stop Tech street performance pads with great success. There is no squeal on the street and they handle the heat on the track very well, while other pads failed. The price of the Stop Tech pad is on the lines of street pads. I will have feedback soon on Performance Friction's Z-Rated pads for the R56 caliper. They've been used in the BMW community for some time already.

 

Keith,

I looked at Werkin Mini website, but there is no link for those rotors. Do you have one? How much are they?

 

The Performance Friction rotors are $700 for a pair of fronts. I have them in stock and I'll be installing them with an R56 brake caliper swap on my R53 soon.

The attachment method on the two piece design allows the rotor to expand and contract independent of the hub.



New items and changes are to come on my web pages.

 

PFC's are hella-expensive but hella good. (We put PFC pads/rotors on all 4 corners of our e36 LeMons car, and after two full races, including one at brake-heavy ECR, the front pads are barely down to the bevels.)

I swap pads out for every track event. Since I'm already having to jack the car up and put on r-comps, it's only a matter of about an extra 5 min per side to swap out the pads. FWIW, I am still running OEM pads on the street and Hawk DTC-60's for the track.

I know one person who runs Hawk HP+ on the street and track, but then again, he's in a Justa so it's not like he needs to scrub off speed. :devil:

 

Pricey, yes but like many performance rotors, you are paying for the rotor hat and mounting system one time. Replacement rotors are less expensive since you are only replacing the rotor and not the hat.

 

If you are going to continue down that line of thought, you should really just get a BBK now. A fast driver in a MINI will need a BBK setup if the car has been modified from stock, power wise. Vader and I both have the TCE Wilwood setup, he has the plus 3 and I have the plus 4. I had many many brake problems before this kit, both with and without ducts, and since having this I have had zero issues.

I say this having stepped through some smaller BBK's and wishing I had just gotten one of these 2 kits right from the get go.

 

I have the TSW KW V2's, you will like them! They will force you into a pretty descent drop in your suspension, but the R56 can definitely stand for that. You should also include lower rear control arms into that order, as you will likely need them to bring the rear camber back into spec.

If you are going to hold off on a BBK for now, I would get some Carbotech XP 12's up front and some XP8's for the back. The front will require switching with some street pads, but you can leave the rear pads on all the time.

 

Excellent advice.

 

+1 for that advice. I am running the XP-10s up front and wish I had the 12s, will get them next time.

Also, installing brake ducts is likely more important with no BBK.

 

Well then you have given up on 15s for sure then running those huge brakes.

 

Unfortunately yes. I loved the 15" wheels, but ultimately I could not stop the car reliably with the largest brakes that I could stuff under them. I had a couple of pretty high speed off's because I boiled the fluid so severely that I completely lost any resistance on the brake pedal.

I was originally thinking that it might just be the way that I was using the brakes, but on my lemons team I have proven to be no harder on the equipment than anyone else. In fact quite the opposite.

 

The TSW BDM does work great, and allows for fifteens, but I don't know if it works on an R56. I love fifteens, and the BDM was my fourth set of brakes that FINALLY worked (OEM, JCW, Wilwoods with 0.81 rotor were my other attempts). If the BDM hadn't failed, I would have gone to a larger diameter rotor--but they've done pretty well so far, and now that I've added brake ducts, I'm hoping to get a bit more pad/rotor life out of them.

 

The TSW BDM is actually the kit that I was vaguely referring to as "the largest kit I could stuff under a 15" wheel". It is a great kit and worked for me for a while. As both my car and I got faster, I found that there were a couple of tracks that I run that it just couldn't keep up with the heat loading. I even added some custom brake ducts that brought the air all the way to the center of the rotor.

I made the decision to go to the bigger brake kit after a particularly close call off where I came within 1 foot of putting my car into the armco. I lost brakes after a 100mph straight, heading into a 180 degree turn. I managed to get the car slowed to 70mph before going agricultural, even that seemed VERY fast when approaching the wall.

The one other person that I know who is fast and runs the BDM is right on the verge of what the brakes will do. If his car gets any faster he will exceed the ability of the brakes.

For the record, I have an R56 that makes just over 200hp/230tq. I think if you keep your car under this threshold (mostly the torque) and are running R-comp tires you will be OK with the BDM. Anything more and you will likely run into issues.

YMMV