I was motoring spiritedly yesterday when I notice severe brake fad coming into a sharp 90 degree turn (lucky the turn was uphill) . So I came to the conclusion that it is time to upgrade my breaks. Now my question is should I go with a big break kit (stoptech) Or just get pads rotor and ss lines from moss (they have it as a kit). Let me know what would suit me better. I auto x and love driving backroads.

Thanks , Dan

 

prob get better answers in the brake forum.

however, I can answer as i've just gotten a stoptech kit. BBK's are pretty sweet. Althought for most cases typically overkill. Chances are you could benefit from:
-High Performance Fluid
-SS Lines
-New Rotors
-New Pads


This setup would generally be a very functional autoX setup and great daily driver setup as long as it doesn't mess up your classing. (Although you already have a pully) This would probobly eliminate brake fade on the street and autoX although you could probobly still get them to fade on an open lap track day.

I was faced with the same dilemma. Massive brake fade during hpde events and moderate fade while tearing up deals gap. I tossed around the idea of upgrading oem or going bbk. I eventually went with a used stoptech kit as a got a deal on one. I am very happy with my purchase however it has made things much more difficult then an upgraded oem setup or even a different brand of bbk. For 1 I had to put 5mm spacers in to get my oz Ultraleggeras to fit. My slights will no longer fit on the car unless i run a massive 20mm spacer. Also pretty much no 16" wheel will fit over the stoptech kit. This limits you to expensive 17" rcomps and wheels to match. (which it looks like you are already running)

To me it was a no brainer. It would have cost me about 500-700 bucks to upgrade the oem setup the way i wanted to. In contrast it came in right around 1000 to do a bbk. So i just bit the bullit and got the bbk upgrade.

Was it worth it? I guess. The bling is definitely awesome... and I can't get these bad boys to fade for the life of me. (granted i haven't done a real track day with them yet)

If you do go bbk I may suggest staying away from the stoptech bling in favor of more functionality and wheel choices.

IE:
-DT BBK
-A Wilwood kit from TCE
-The new TSW Kit.

hope this helps.

 

All depends on how much money your willing to spend. Since you track your car might be worth spending the money. I would like to have a big brake kit, but the driving I do does not warrant the expense. If you upgrage your rotors, pads, fluid, and like you said, install SS lines, you will get better braking performance, but I don't think as good as a full kit as they normally have multiple piston calipers.

 

$1000.00? seems cheap, what bbk did you get?

 

its brake.

not break.

GT

 

I ended up going with the fluid, pads, rotor route and I am very happy. I do track days and have not had any problems with fade.

 

click to enlarge/buy [FONT=Arial][/FONT]



MINI Cooper S Wilwood Big Brake kit




Prime your right, here is one . Not their best kit though.

 

Uhm, dumb question, but when was the last time you flushed your brake fluid?

give AutoX and DEs, you should be doing it a min. of 1x/yr.
you *should* be doing it after every event.

If that's the original fill, then I'd bet serious money that the water that has been absorbed into the fluids boiled out (vapor) and caused the fade.

Being a cheap SOB, I'd first flush the fluids, then I'd change brake pads, then I'd add some ducting to the brakes to keep them cool.
then, lastly, I'd up the caliper/rotor size...

Bigger brakes, means more unsprung mass, which means worse handling.

(BTW, the Mini is stock, but my track beast is running larger calipers, pads, rotors, fresh fluid, and has additional cooling ducts).

Just my $0.0173 (adj for inflation)

 

Thanks for the info guys

 

I'd start with pads and fluid also...

I drive the twisties HARD - including the Dragon - and have had NO fade with my Hawk ceramics on an otherwise stock brake setup. I'm going to go to SS lines, SuperBlue fluid, and bronze bushings - those and the pads add up to about $400, and will be good enough for anything but heavy track driving...

 

I bought a used stop tech setup with 2500 miles on it. it was too good to pass up.

 

If your just autoXing then think about just upgrading the stock setup with new pads, maybe aftermarket rotors (I have no experience with them), fluid and bushings. In autoX smaller wheels are a bonus and larger brakes may prevent you from staying small.

Otherwise if you do decide to go with BBK, then please contack TCE and talk with Todd about this. I do and will use him as a supplier and brake expert when it comes to my race Mini. You'll save a bunch of money if you do.

 

I'll ditto the call for new pads (my choice was Hawk HPS) and regular fluid swaps. Stainless lines and brass caliper bushings (Tyrolsport - see Detroit Tuned) are 'nice-to-haves' and will add to your feel of the braking action, but aren't 'must-haves'. New rotors would be nice, but only if you need 'em... the stock rotors are pretty solid. Not worth the upgrade, IMHO, unless you need to replace 'em anyway, in which case, why not?

Wilwood does a great BBK for the more hard-core user. They have several setups to fill the need from 'bling' to heavy track user. I'm picking up a used Wilwood setup and going that direction in the next week or so. I found a bit of extra cash and felt like treating myself to something cool or else I'd still be on the Hawks and lovin' 'em.

The guys at Texas Speed Werks are about to release their BBK with a MASSIVE rotor. It's supposed to be above and beyond most BBKs because of the size and venting... larger rotor = cooler rotor = less brake fade for REALLY hard brake track users. It's probably way overkill for 99% of us, but that 1% is going to have some serious fun, I'd bet. :D

 

I just installed a stoptech stage 2 kit last month (slotted rotors, axxis pads, sslines, and fluid). got it from jscspeed.com. The kit is working out great! I didn't go with a BBK because it would bump me into SM in autox.