Suspension Brakes Most liked posts in thread: Walking the line... street & HPDE car build

Both Dave and I have modded R53's, I'm at about 250 WHP I think Dave is roundabout that too. The fifteens help with acceleration. I am never in 2nd gear, 3-5 that's it, my car is too squirrelly in 2nd, and I have plenty of torque in 3rd as long as I maintain momentum. You'd have to check the gearing on the R 56 compared to the R 53--I can tell you that acceleration and gearing is better on my car on 15's versus 17's.

 

Wheel spacers are not big deal. I run a 12 or 14 mm in the front and a 5 mm in the rear and will not hurt the wheel bearings as long as you buy the longer lug bolts. I get mine from Turner.

Wheel Bolt for BMW, MINI - 12x1.50 - Silver - fits most BMWs - Turner Motorsport

 

^^^^ sorry I have no idea about 15 inch wheels.

 

I agree that the fear of spacers is a bit out of proportion, just run them with the right length bolts or convert to longer studs (what I did). The force on the wheel bearings will be ~equivalent to that offset wheel. For my new wheels I specced them to not require a spacer to save on weight but their effective offset will be <5mm difference from the spacer-ed ones so the wheel bearing will be undergoing a similar load. I will say you can feel the difference in the steering weight, scrub radius etc running lower offsets so the difference isn’t negligible but I haven’t had any wheel bearing issues yet.

I will your agree to you point about, at least for me that is, my mini is track car first and back up street car second so take that into account. That actually reminds me, when I was daily driving the mini with one set of wheels I ran 16x7 and 205-50-16 on street and track. I bought a bbk that fit under 15’s because I knew when I got a set of track only wheels I would want 15s. It seemed like a decent comprise to me.

Lots of my friends run 6ULs so I have test fit the 15x7.5, 15x8, and 15x9 on my car. Due to the backspacing differences you are correct that in some cases you can run a smaller or no spacer on the 8 and might need one on the 7.5. I haven’t tried the 7 but I think that should be easy to figure out with an online offset comparison tool. With oem sized brakes I would GUESS you could run the 7.5 with no spacers.

For the gearing question, I wouldn’t get too worried. Ambient temperature has almost as much of an impact in shifting for FI cars in my experience, when I run in the spring/fall I have to use 6th on the 3000ft straight at summit main. But in july I just keep it in 5th. I actually used a session when only 5 cars were out to test leaving the car in gear for a shorter straight versus up and downshift and according to the data it was faster left in gear (for that specific sector) but the next day it dropped almost 20 degrees and shifting up was faster because the car was making more power and running out of gear earlier. On normal tracks I get to ~125 without trouble. Running the oval at MIS I can peg the top speed limiter on the oval before hitting the redline, maybe some folks have removed the limiter but I haven’t messed around with my ecu yet, the R56 might have a higher top speed too, but for the tracks around me I don’t see getting far over 130 which is not a struggle for my gearing with the 225s.

 

I don't have any technical advice but I've learned a lot from this thread.

 

Very good info in this thread and it is nice just to sit back, read and learn from those that know. Kudos to all you guys for the insight.

Oh as for the rims you are looking for you may want to try finding a set used on eBay or Google. Someone has to have them.

 

You may not need ducting now, but you will at some point, count on it. The good news is you know which brake ducts to get, and where to get them.:smilewinkgrin:

You're going to want to do that sooner than later. It saves rotor life, pad life, and brake fluid life. Nothing is worse than calling it a day, when you're kicking butt, because you need to bleed the brakes.

 

^^^ Yup I have a brake upgrade sitting in my garage now along with a bunch of stuff I do every Spring before the Dragon.

 

More EBC red pads eh??? :ihih:

 

Great thread!

Just finished up installing my tc kline suspension on my 09' JCW and am trying to figure out the best ride height.... Currently 10" F, 11" R, To bottom of metal body panel.

I found the mini challenge min ride height and it is 9.5" F, 10.5 R figured .5" higher would be a good start.

Currently the car is pretty low.... Have any of you guys experimented with ride height? Rake amount?

This is my track car so no street compromise...

Yay for track day season to get going!