I'm looking to get rid of some of the brake fade and increase initial bite with my MCS' brakes. I don't want to spend $1800 on a big-brake kit. So I'm thinking of the following:

Gas Slotted Rotors
EBC Green Stuff
Stainless Steel Brake Lines
ATE Super Blue brake fluid.

Does anyone know how much of a difference, if any, the gas slotted rotors will make to the above? Forgetting the fact that they look pretty cool?

Paul

 

I just did this exact setup. It is the Stage 1 Brake kit from Helix Minisport.
I've just finished the break-in period (~200 miles) and the change is noticeable. Better bite and more confident stopping. Of course this is just seat of the pants, but I can feel it.
Total cost for parts and labor came to about $540.

_________________
'03 MCS - Liquid Yellow

 

If you don't increase the mass of the rotor then slotting and/or cross drilling will actually reduce the efficiency of the brakes because it reduces the mass of the rotor which means the rotor cannot absorb and disipate as much heat as the stock rotor.

In my opinion, the only things that will make a difference are better pads and brake fluid. The brake lines will make the pedal feel firmer but will not have an effect on the fade resistence of the brakes.

I've gone with Castrol's brake fluid and Ferodo brake pads (2500 compound; they also make a full race compound).

I doubt EBC Greenstuff is good enough, I'd go with the Redstuff if fade is the thing you are trying to reduce.

 

I think I'm going to start with pads first to see if that makes the difference that I'm looking for.

Paul

 

Sleepless

We and EBC do not think the Redstuff pad is a good street pad choice. For daliy driving the redstuff pad has very poor bite untill up to temp, once there the pad needs to be kept pretty warm to work @ it's most effective area. They are no fun once they cool off. Street driving rarely meets the need for that type of pad. Race pads are much louder once up to temp tham street type pads. I am sure that most of us know the sound that a race brake pads make as a car comes off the trake and drives though the pits. It is like a howl. The Greenstuff pad has a higher brake friction than do the stock pads. We have seen a few new MCS in the shop that the owners comment that the brakes feel soft and we have found that bleeding them almost always reveals air in the system. If you are braking hard enough to boil your stock fluid than I would suggest moving up to a better fluid. The first thing that I think anyone thinking of upgrading should do is bleed your brakes, you may find that the some air in your system is @ fault.

 

On the subject of brake pads, I contacted Porterfield about their R4-S pads for the new Mini. They said that they do plan to offer them as soon as they can get factory baking plates.

For those not familiar with the R4-S pads, they have a relatively high coefficient of friction that, unlike that of racing pads, changes very little with temperature. This is extremely useful for autocrossing where your first run will be with cold pads and your last with hot pads.

As soon as I hear that the pads are available, I'll post it here.

 

paulmon didn't say if he is looking for street or track solutions. I assumed that since he is experiencing brake fade that he was talking about a track solution since I find it hard to believe that anyone driving even close to anything legal and safe on a daily basis is experiencing fade on the street. If my assumption is incorrect, then yes, Greenstuff is more suited to street driving.

BTW - EBC should stop advertising Redstuff as a street compound if it needs to be warmed up to be effective. Currently, they clearly advertise it as a Heavy Street/Track pad.

 

From personal experience, the R4S pads are not a good track/lapping pad. They may be fine for AutoX, but I would not recommend them for lapping days. I found them to be only marginally better than stock BMW compound (I'm assuming that the MINI stock compound is pretty much the same as on BMW 3 series).

I'll be trying out the Ferodo 2500 compound at Pacific Raceways (Seattle area) on the 10th and will report back with my impressions. So far, on the street they are better than stock, but at the expense of being a bit noisy (I'll try some high temp grease on the backing plates to see if that will quiet them down).

 

>>paulmon didn't say if he is looking for street or track solutions. I assumed that since he is experiencing brake fade that he was talking about a track solution since I find it hard to believe that anyone driving even close to anything legal and safe on a daily basis is experiencing fade on the street. If my assumption is incorrect, then yes, Greenstuff is more suited to street driving.
>>
>>BTW - EBC should stop advertising Redstuff as a street compound if it needs to be warmed up to be effective. Currently, they clearly advertise it as a Heavy Street/Track pad.

The pad will be used primarily on the street with around 3-4 track events this summer. I'm not about to buy a second set and switch at the track hence my desire for a little less fade. Less dust is a bonus! And god knows that pads made out of coal would dust less than the BMW OEM pads. :smile: Granted I won't get better fluid that way.

On another note has anyone ever tried EBC's gas slotted and dimpled rotors? They're only $150 for a pair and performance aside they look sweet.

BTW Chris, I've got a thread in the "Canada" forum over at MINI2 about a road trip from Toronto down to Philly to stop at Helix. So far no takers.

Paul

 

>>>>paulmon
>>BTW Chris, I've got a thread in the "Canada" forum over at MINI2 about a road trip from Toronto down to Philly to stop at Helix. So far no takers.
>>
>>Paul

EDIT

 

>>>>>>paulmon
>>>>BTW Chris, I've got a thread in the "Canada" forum over at MINI2 about a road trip from Toronto down to Philly to stop at Helix. So far no takers. :smile: More or less any time though.

Perhaps we should bring some good Canadian beer for the Helix guys to replace this:

 

We would be happy to welcome both you and some fine Molson XXX @ our shop. Give us a heads up when you lock in a date. There are quite a few Auto X's in this area and if this happens during a weekend we could all go beat on the other cars.

 

>>We would be happy to welcome both you and some fine Molson XXX @ our shop. Give us a heads up when you lock in a date. There are quite a few Auto X's in this area and if this happens during a weekend we could all go beat on the other cars.

You're on Chris. However the biggest problem I'm having right now isn't getting others to drive down it's that they know once they're at your shop they'll have to spend money on upgrades for their MINIs.

Once I have some interest and we agree on a date I'll give you a call with the details. If you want to intice others to join go add to my thread in the "Canada- Meetings and Events" on mini2. I've had to resort to a "triple dog dare."

Paul