Hey, Gang — Here's one for the books. For the last 4 years I have been running mismatched calipers! When I purchased the Wilwood BBK from TCE four years ago I was sent a wrong caliper (the calipers were drop shipped from Wilwood; it was their mistake).so my driver side pistons are slightly larger than my passenger side pistons. This explains some of the funky things I have felt on the track and seen with pad and rotor wear. On a heavier, faster car I'm sure the problems would be amplified. I discovered it because I decided to replace the seals. What a screwup! Working with my brake vendor now (you know who it is Eddie07S) to sort out the mess.

UPDATE: Three thumbs-up to Todd at TCE Performance for going to bat for me. Wilwood is shipping out a replacement caliper at no cost. Two thumbs up to Wilwood (-1 for making the mistake in the first place) for rectifying the mistake FOUR YEARS LATER!!

 

I hope he does right by you. Was that a “Wilwood” kit or a vendor kit?

Hey, is anyone taking SCDA up on their track day deals to pre-purchase 3, 5, etc. days for a bit of a discount?

 

I bought the kit from TCE Performance (a great company to do business with) but the calipers were drop shipped from Wilwood so it was their mistake. TCE is going to bat for me with Wilwood and I hope to get a resolution today.

Is that SCDA deal still available? I may take a look.

 

I forwarded SCDA’s email with the info.

Hope it goes well with Wilwood.

 

Egads!
https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/di...ts-to-be-free/

 

That has shown up on NAM if I remember right. Can’t say I have ever heard or seen that it is a systemic problem.

 

Eddie07S — You run the RE-71Rs, don't you?

 

Yes...

Why?

 

I need new track tires and this year I'm going back to 200 tire wear (I made some money over the winter ). I remember you saying you liked what you are running. For me it's Direzzas vs RE71_Rs vs the new ADVANs. After researching, I'm leaning to the RE71-Rs. The new ADVANs are asymmetric, which I like because I can move tires round, but the Bridgestones are proven. And cost less.

 

You might be interested in this:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...van-a052s.html

The ‘Stones (RE71Rs) are really good for LRP. Their down side is they get over heated with long use and the wear quickly. With the short sessions at LRP, the over heating usually is not an issue. They are a great tire handling wise. They are as good as the Tokyo R888s I have, IMHO. They stick like crazy, until they get over heated. They are precise, predictable and quiet. Well, they don’t squeal in corners. They are very much like an R Comp in that respect, unlike the Dunlops. The wear is really fast at first. The last 1/4 takes forever to wear off.

Depending on how the car control clinic goes on the 28th, I plan on getting a set of the Yokos for the JCW. I want to see if they do a bit better with longer session track use. The review I posted gives me encouragement. But I want to see how the JCW handles when pushed before I spend a ton of money on it. It will need new wheels to go with new tires. A couple of grand probably. I have read some stuff the JCW maybe be a handful on the track. I don’t need that. But maybe that will be tamed by the JCW pro coilovers I put in.

 

Thanks. I'll figure it out in the next day or two. Either way, RE71-R or A052, I'm sure I'll be pleased. I also just read up on the Hankooks. TR dry lap time same as RE71-Rs and they may wear better.

 

Well, we have the chance to wear out virtual tires now. SCDA is hosting a league on iRacing. I don’t have equipment, but that may be something to do while we are looking to get back on track (get it? ) in real life... I am strongly thinking of taking the plunge. For past SCDA drivers, he has arranged a discount for people new to iRacing and there is a free track day if you win races.

Also, SCDA is looking for people to commit to sign up for real events this year as a way to keep cash flow going. I already have an event paid for the is on hold. Your money will be held as a credit good this year or next if the event that you sign up for isn’t held. That is what happened to me.

Hope everyone is keeping spirits up and staying healthy...

 

I have signed up for my first track day of the season... June 20 with Patroons. This will be an “open” track format as how to have an instructor in the car for novice and intermediate drivers has not yet been figured out. I am looking forward to it, but with Smokey, not Albert (the JCW). My thought is to do my first day of the season in the car I know really well. Albert will have his turn, later...

 

Hey, a BIG high five to Todd at TCE Performance for Wilwood brakes. I put an order in on Saturday for brake fluid and got delivery on Monday - Yes, yesterday. Nothing special, but done and prompt!

I am well on my way to prepping the R56S for our first track day of the season. LRP a week from next Saturday.

 

Glad I could help. But given it was Postal I wouldn't count on this!

 

That's who helped me out over the winter when I discovered I was running calipers with two different piston size. The best!

 

And it was TCE who put together a 1” thick rotor kit for me that could handle the likes of WGI.

Speaking of which... I have multiple people who are interested in hearing how the JCW does on the track. I feel bad that people have to wait, myself included, to find out how it is. However, I know doing it this way is the best. I need to get my mojo going first and then a new car.

The R56S is all prepped and ready to go. Tires are in good shape and the track pads (Poly H front, DTC60 rear for LRP) are in. Check the rotors for cracks and thickness, and the wheels for cracks. I used about 20 oz of new brake fluid with the brake fluid change, having first sucked out as much as I could out of the reservoir, filling it up with fresh fluid, bleeding about 6 oz through the lines, filling it up again and bleeding another 6 oz through the lines and then topping it off. New oil filter and oil in the pan. Checked belts, hoses, ball joints, shocks and everything else I could think of. Cleaned the rodent nest out of the air filter.

Life is good.
Motor on...

 

All shiny and looking brand new

Got the new-to-me factory JCW out on track finally at NYST running open laps and time trial with NECC this weekend! Stock brakes definitely weren't aggressive enough for this technical track but with a cool down lap every so often it was ready for more.

Ran a 1:50:09 which put me 15 out of 35 drivers for the day so I was pretty happy with that being first time at the track and with stock setup with RS4s. The best compliment was a friend hearing others in the paddock talking about someone in a stock Mini that's just hauling !

This guy may make an appearance at WGI in August for the Advanced Open Lapping HPDE with GVC BMW. Definitely will have track pads and stiffer control arm bushings but for now those are the only upgrades on the list.

 

Nice!

That track is close to me, but I hardly ever think of going there. How did you sign up for that, or did you just go to the track?

I do plan to be at WGI in August, too. Maybe see you there.

For brake pads, I would recommend the G-Loc R10s.

 

We ended up hearing about the event on Facebook and it was out on by the North East Corvair Club NECC. It was funny there were only 4 Corvairs out of 45 cars at the event but it was a great turn out being the first track event in the area.

Thanks for the recommendation on pads. Those seem like they may be a bit too aggressive reading the specs. I was looking at Hawk DTC-70, or 60 where they'll still work well at lower temps. I ran DTC-70s on my BMW 330i ZHP at WGI which has 500lb and 30hp over my JCW and they performed really well.

 

I'm going to give those a shot. I think I've pushed the Hawk HP+ beyond their limit.

 

OscarDG - The G-Loc are much nicer than the Hawks. These are the same as the Carbotech XP10s, which I have used. I am currently using the DTC-60s for WGI (Wilwood Poly H for LRP). In comparison I would take the G-Loc pads over the DTC-60s. They have better modulation and a very linear friction curve which the MINI can use nicely, especially for trail braking. As for aggressiveness, there are people I know who take the DTC-60s over the Carbotech/G-Locs just because they find the Hawks to be more aggressive. This is from people who race E36 Bimmers. i also found that there is a lower temperature wear issue with the Hawks. On a slower track like Palmer the DTC-60s almost ate up a set of rotors in 1 1/2 days (not enough heat in the pads), whereas at WGI the DTC-60s are great and rotor wear was acceptable. The G-Locs don’t seem to have that issue. In fact, overall the G-Locs are more rotor friendly. I would suspect that the DTC-60s would be too much for NYST. Why am I not running G-Locs? Cost, for a long time I was burning through pads because of an incompatibility between the Wilwoods I put on and the car’s eLSD - Ugh! That has been basically fixed with the addition of the Quaife.

Thanks for the info on NYST. I need to look into them again. BTW - I am located near Albany. How about you?

 

That would not be hard to do. They claim to be a “Street/track” pad, but much like an all season tire, they are not good at either (too aggressive & noisy for the street and not enough temp range for the track). They would be good on the track for a first time novice only. I tried the Yellowstuff pads, which make the same claim, and they only lasted 2 sessions before I put in a set of Carbotech XP10s. No comparison, the XP10s are that much better. I don’t know why I even thought of trying the Yellowstuff, when I already had the Carbotechs.

Note: the G-Locs are made by people involved with starting up and make Carbotech pads. They are even numbered the same. So, get whichever is easiest to get. I know Way Motors has the G-Locs and I plan to get a set for my JCW.

Oh, another thing. Get a matching set for the rears of the same number as the fronts (Eg: R10s front and rear). I know, that defies conventional wisdom. But that is what I do. I am running DTC-60 pads in the rear of my R56 to match the DTC-60s in the front. This will take some of the braking load off the fronts which will help them to not over heat.

 

I had terrible results with Glock I tried the 12s in the front and they only lasted a weekend and they delaminated from the backing plate they did stand behind their product and sent me replacements but I promtly sold them. There's a whole bunch of us using ST43 or 45 or 47 pads The endurance racing crowd really likes them too

 

Yeah, Eddie, I don't know what I was thinking lol. I'm really leaning toward the DTC-60s