Just over 75k on my mine now and it's time for another brake job. First one was covered by the service contract but now thats expired it's game on!
Looking for anyone who's run anything different from stock, what's your experience been, what brand, and how long did they last?

Personally I'd like a little better then stock without shelling out the 1800-2k for a 4 wheel nigh brake kit. Any input fellow justa owners?

 

i went with zimmerman rotors and ebc red pads. got them both from WMW for under 700 including shipping. i installed it myself which also saved a pretty penny and it's easy to do as long as you get the right tools.

i've been on them for about 10k miles and no problems at all. the pads do squeak a bit when its cold out (<~50 degrees). they stop a lot better than stock and dust a lot less but still doesn't get rid of it completely. i have heard people like the hawk ceramic pads too.

 

Check out these WMW rotors they are super high quality, and affordable
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-bra...per-non-s.html

 

I just put on some SP Performance slotted rotors and Hawk HPS pads from Detroit Tuned.

I've only got about 2k miles on them, so I can't much about how they wear or handle yet, not even fully broken in yet.

 

Zimmermann here too from WMW!! Can't go wrong with Way on this thread and chiming in!!

 

Zimmermann Z-Coat rotors here too, and Akeebono ceramic pads. Purchased everything including front and rear wear sensors, and disc retaining screws for all four wheels for around $400 from Pelican Parts. Did the work myself. Stops fantastic and no brake noise.

 

Hey guys( and possibly gals)

Just wanted to post an update, I took the plunge and bought the sport caliper hangers and ended up going with a stoptech drilled and slotted setup as an upgrade. I will be installing on Saturday so fingers crossed all goes well.
Thanks to everyone again for sharing their combos and advice

 

Good luck with the installation! Let us know how you like them after you get some miles on them.

 

Are the ebc red/yellow/greenstuff compatible with the stock wear sensors? I'm just lookin to get less brake dust. My dealer said they can put them in (as I still have my maintenance plan) when I get my brakes changed as long as they can fit with the sensor.

 

EBC red and green have slots for sensors. I've used both. Red give less dust then green

 

Is it ok to run them with the stock rotors?

 

Yes, you would be fine running ebc pads with stock rotors.

 

any update on how you like the stoptech brake upgrade?

 

I just did the bed in this weekend. And so far I have been very impressed. A little more noise on light breaking, but I was expecting that going from solid to cross drilled and slotted rotors.

Down side I guess is the pads put out about the same level of dust as stock pads, so if you were looking for less dust I would recommend different pads.

When I did the install I was under the impression that the caliper hangers were different on the front on an s then a base. Turns out I bought s caliper hangers and didn't need them. Rotors fit with my stock caliper hangers. Which was a huge plus. Also a side note on install is be very carefully with the stainless steel lines, the will cross thread in a heartbeat if you are not paying attention when you put them on.

One thing I will say is spend them money and get quality break fluid. I just bought what was on sale and am not happy with my pedal feel, and will be switching fluid I'm the near future.

If I had to bet I would say my stopping distance has improved considerably, however I was running on basically completely dead breaks for over a month before I put these on so anything would feel better then that. I would love to find an cooper in the Lawrence ks area and do a stopping distance comparison with then to see if that's the case or not. Maybe when the weather gets a bit warmer ill take a day and do a sixty to 0 distance measurement.

My last point it they look absolutely killer, and who doesn't like to improve the look of their mini?

Overall I would recommend the kit because of the price and what you get. Ss lines, rotors, and pads, on sale, ran me right around 500 bucks. Stoping distance feels great, but I will be switching to ebc pads whenever these pads ware out.

Hope this helps anyone and feel free to ask away if I didn't cover anything you had in mind!

Jay

 

Also to clarify what I said about break fluid, I bought break best dot 4 and am going to spend the money and get dot 5.1

 

I am confused about the wear sensors. I noticed on way's website that most rear pads do not have the sensor slots, and that you should wire tie them up out of the way. Will this cause any error codes? Also I have a 2007 Justa with 23k miles, how long do the stock pads last normally with spirited back road driving?

 

I can only speak about stoptech pads because that's the only thing other then stock I've personally installed. When I installed them they did have the slots for the sensors in the rear pads.
However, I took the old sensors out and did not replace them. They didn't come with the stoptech kit and I was on a tight budget. As a result I can't turn my break light off on my dash. It doesn't really bother me too much, because I know I've got new breaks down there, but for someone who is more easily annoyed by the light then that could be an issue. I've been reading up on a program on your computer that allows you( with a USB to obdII cable) to program lights/ chimes on and off. I'm going to look more into that this weekend when I have more free time.

As for your second question. My first break light came on at about 28k. At the time I was still in college and using my mini to delivery drive for between 30 and 40 hours a week ( also originally the reason why I opted to get a justa) luckily I was still under the service, and my mini dealership changed my breaks all the way around without a fuss.

The 2nd time I had the light come on was right at 70,000 miles. I had switch to my current job at about 32k and commute 120 miles a day all highway. I also drove almost 5 k after the light turned red. The pad wear sensors were cooked but the pads still had a little life left on them. However the calipers on the back were very near completely bottomed out and were a bear to twist back into place.

My best advice would be to go to the dealership before your free service is out and see about trying to get then to install new breaks while you are covered by your free service. Then save your money and do your research on a bigger break kit if that's the way you'd like to go.

If the dealership changes them and you absolutely can't wait to upgrade, take your new components from the dealership and sell them here on NAM, I know that the base r56 brakes are wanted by r53 and r50 guys as an upgrade.

Just my .02, and hope this helped answered your questions

 

Jay,
Thanks for the response. My "justa" is a 2007 that i purchased used with 23k miles, it must have been a second car for someone, I have all of the service records and the po was a fanatic about service. I really want to start doing some upgrades on it. First will be a rear sway bar, but I was thinking after reading some other posts that the brakes were going to be needing replacement soon, so I will probably upgrade the rotors and the pads at that time. I have limited auto mechanic skills but I am pretty hand with tools so I am going to try doing all of the work myself.

 

Awesome! Just do your research before hand and make sure you have all the tools before you start. As far as the sway bar, I haven't done one on my car yet( it's in the list) the write ups I've seen say you have to drop the rear subframe, so make sure you've for enough jack stands.
The only hang up I had on the break install was the rear calipers have to be twisted to compress, I know there's a specific tool guys get at harbor freight for them i have a kit from mac but i ended up tossing my Mac tools kit asides and just Using a pair of needle nose pliers. Also, make sure you have a normal piston compressor for the fronts, and a friend handy to help bleed the breaks. Pm me if you have any specific questions about anything.