Ok here is the deal... right now I have slotted and drilled rotors and mintex red box (brand new about 2 weeks old) front and back...

But my car is not braking anywhere as good as it was before.

When I break hard at about 70mph or so... it feels like my back tires are gonna go lose, very scary, almost as if I was pulling the E-brake...

Also under slow speed braking I hit the breaks hard and I get this weird feeling the pedal like kind of grinding... only up front, weird... and the car would not brake well either...

It feels like I take a lot longer then usual to brake...

at first I figure it my be that I have more power then stock and it is a little too much for the stock brakes but I think I’m wrong about that...

I think my front calipers are messed up...

Or maybe I need new brake fluid?

 

Sounds like you're running racing pads.

The noise would be because they haven't warmed up yet (and you're running slotted rotors). The "light" feeling in the rear is typical when you install higher-grab pads in the front.

 

Warchief, I have the exact same problem. I have 12.9" Ireland slotted rotors up front with Mintex M1144 pads, stainless lines, Racing Blue brake fluid and EBC Redstuff in the rear. The setup looks good with the car parked, but practically speaking the brakes are worse than the stock setup.
When I lightly brake, I get a lot of squeal and when I brake hard it seems like I'm not getting enough bite. Through the brake pedal, it feels like the pads are "jumping" on the front rotors. I figured they'd glazed over really quick, so I popped the pads out and roughed 'em up, but that didn't help.
I realize that I'm not driving at the temperature needed, but it's a pain to swap the pads in and out of the calipers depending on my needs. But hey, at least I'm not churning-out brake dust all over my Momo's. Suggestions, ideas, etc?

 

Thanks i thought my brakes were going bad...

but how about the part about the back feeling lose under heavy braking... how can i stop that?

is very scary when you hit the brakes at 70 80 and the rear starts to kinda swing side to side...

 

Bleed your brakes and switch to a pad that works when cold.

 

Did you make sure to properly bed-in the brake pads? If you didn't you would get the exact symptoms you're describing. In short, you haven't transferred a film of the new pad material on to your rotors so you aren't getting the benefit of the adhesive portion of the pad/rotor braking system.


As for the back skipping around under heavy braking, the MINI is known for that. There are threads here that discuss it. It used to happen to me (but we're talking true heavy braking, like from 110 down to 50), but it went away. I can't tell whether my H-sport anti-sway bar fixed it or perhaps the H-sport springs.

 

If you don't properly bed the pads at first, will they eventually bed themselves after thousands of miles??? Just curious.

 

My hunch is that yes, over time they will eventually get bedded-in on their own such that they will perform as they were intended (especially for street use). However, for certain dedicated track pads or even high performance combo street and track pads if you never get the pads up to the high enough temperature -- even with thousands of miles of street use -- you might never get enough material transfer to get the pads to operate at their optimum.

 

Any suggestions on the best high-performance brake pads? I'm looking for optimal braking, as little brake dust as possible (it's a pain to always wipe down my rims) and not having my rotors shredded to bits. Thanks!

 

Are you asking for some track use, or just street use alone?

 

Street use w/ as little fade as possible. I tend to ride my brakes, which is why I went with a higher temperature pad. Thanks!

 

Thanks! I'm also running Mintex Red Box pads. Definitely lower dusting that OEM. In fact, my fronts and rears seem to dust about equally as much now.

 

GAlaxie500, yes i had to do a nasty stop from about 100 to 35 mphs and it was like holy crap scary...

i have the mini madness 22mm sway bar and H&R springs... and it doesnt help

in any case... do you guys think that maybe by make the back brake less this might get fixed? im talkin about doing something like... brake lines front and mintex1144 front and stock back...

 

I get that looseness in the rear sometimes at the track, even on the highway occasionally. I have ss lines, super blue fluid and Ferodo DS2500s for pads, front and rear. Also a 22mm rear sway bar set on soft, though I experienced the back end looseness when I didn't have it, but not on the highway w/o the sway bar. I like the Ferodos, good street/performance pad, high heat tolerance, holds up well on the track, not too rough on the rotors. Also less brake dust.

Good luck!