What can I get to reduce the brake dust? It seriously feels like driving 10 miles will get my rims completely black

 

Swap pads... There are a lot of choices out there, but I favor Porterfield R4-S - low dusting, great performance.

 

Yep - new brake pads. The only way.

 

Hawk ceramic pads

 

Yep - I got the Hawk ceramics and brake dust is almost nil - nice pedal feel and braking too

 

I'm not familiar with those; street or track?

 

x2 Very clean pads

 

+3 i've heard very good things about them

 

Here they are installed....NO DUST. OK, fine...I haven't driven on them yet....salt on the road.

 

Green Stuff EBC pads have worked well on my MC.

 

Remember, though, that OE pads are part of the warranty/scheduled service option. Aftermarket pads aren't, nor is any rotor warpage or other brake issues that can be (even remotely) traced to the usage or replacement of OE pads with aftermarket pads.

Some of that is dealer-dependent, of course, but caveat emptor.

That said, if you're changing your own brakes, that probably doesn't hit your radar...

 

Porterfield R4-S work great for street and autocross, light track duty... Very low dusting...

A more aggressive pad for a hardcore AX'er and track car would be the Porterfield R4... dusty, for sure, and can be a bit loud, but an excellent performer.

 

I've never had a warranty issue with brakes and I've replaced the OEMs on both my MINIs. I can see where some SAs may want to get into the warranty thing with engine stuff, but brakes? I don't think so...and ditto exhaust systems.

My MC has low/no dust on white wheels that have seen six track days and 3 four day trips to the Dragon, as well as to other spirited driving venues. For my money, they cannot be beat, and have been on my car for 30,000 miles now...and are still in great shape.

 

I like the Greenstuff too, and will be replacing with those sometime soon (have 'em on our Honda Odyssey, had 'em on my Mazdaspeed), just wanted to point out that some SAs and dealers are sticklers for that sort of thing...

 

At gatherings people ask me how I keep my wheels clean - even cleaning b4 they leave home their wheels are a mess by the end of the day.

Change pads - especially the fronts. I went EBC - but others are just as good, or in your opinion better.

But I also have made a funny observation. I've a Miata too and to increase brake performance people recommend changing the pads and EBC and Hawk came up often. But while the adds for these pads in MINIdom say 'less dust', the adds on the Miata world caution 'you may see an increase in dust'. My Hondas and Toyotas have never had the kind of dusting my German cars have....all a matter of perspective

Putting a set of EBC on a friends S this weekend.....he hates cleaning the wheels....

 

I don't know about the Mini's but EBC Greens changed compounds for the Viper pads. I have a set on mine from 2 years ago, perfect, less dust. I got a set for my dad's last year and he has 500 miles on them. They dust more than OEM, terrible. I found out EBC changed the Green compound a year or so ago and the recommendation is now to use Red. It would be nice to get a reply from a EBC rep here.

 

I haven't been a dealer since 03 - sorry

Alex

 

I haves the Greenstuff pads on mine, just fronts. The wheels are clean even after 3 weeks of driving and no cleaning. Highly recommend.