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*this is the correct thread for the car, please ignore the f56 street/track build thread. made it twice by accident*
This is where I’ll be documenting the build for my f56 2015 Cooper S, Moonwalk. most recent picture of Moonwalk
*I really have no set direction I’m going with the build at the moment due to financial issues. Originally, I was wanting to build it as a daily/track car.* Edit: I've been adopted by the track nuts in my Mini club, so Moonwalk is going to be a track car now.
*End power goal is 300 bhp.*
Drivetrain/Performance
K&N Typhoon Intake (I want to replace this with an Eventuri intake and add a blowoff valve at some point)
Custom exhaust- stock downpipe and first cat straight piped to a 12 in Cherry Bomb glasspack and a shotgun style dual tip resonator (going to get a Milltek catless and replace the stock one)
Brakes
plainface rotors from WayMotorWorks (going to upgrade stainless steel brake lines and JCW brakes)
Akebono ceramic pads from WayMotorWorks (going to upgrade to Hawk HPS pads when needed)
Suspension
OEM 16x6.5 alloys 17x7.5 Sparco Asseto Gara ET 45mm
195/55/r16 Bridgestone DriveGuard runflats (runflats, enough said) (haven't decided on a specific tire yet but will be 215/45/r17 ) 205/45/r17 Hankook Ventus V12 Evo 2
stock suspension (swapping to Godspeed coilovers)
Cosmetics
gloss black chrome delete kit from killallchrome.uk
gloss black pre-lci badge covers from KillAllChrome as well
challenge style scuttle decals from Sheratt Custom Parts
gloss black Mini logo decals from Sheratt Custom Parts
f56 LED smoked sequential side indicators from Sheratt Custom Parts
Last edited by moonwalkgreymini; Apr 7, 2022 at 06:53 AM.
Reason: updating some stuff
I'm super excited to see where this goes! You'll find a lot of insightful advice here, @Eddie07S tracks his F56 and has done a lot of research and experimenting with tires and brakes. We also have a local guy in the FCM group that tracks his F56 pretty regularly, we have to get you two together at the next run.
Hmmmm... My name pops up and it is connected to Scotty and I am curious...
I suppose this one is of interest as it is in his neck of the woods...
What is your track experience?
My biggest comment would be to use 17” wheels and tires. They will be better for the track. There is a better selection of tires in that size. The tires are less expensive. The 18” are for looks, the wheels are heavier, the tires are heavier and the car’s suspension needs a certain amount of compliance in the tires to work well. The added weight of the 18” wheel and tire alone will hurt performance.
There is tire/wheel fitment issues in the rear to deal with. The stock wheel (JCW) has a ET54 offset (not sure on the S). There are wheels with ET40 and are 7.5” wide. This is good for a 215/45x17. I had some rubbing on the wheel well liner with this size and wheel offset. I would suggest, with the S, to not go larger as the added tire weight and larger diameter will hurt performance. However, you can fit a 225/45x17 on a 7.5 or 8.0 wide wheel but it will need an ET 45 or higher offset. Again that size tire will rub the wheel well liner in the rear and it may rub the wheel well metal. That would need to be watched. Any lower offset (eg: ET40) with that size tire will likely need fender rolling.
For the track, get some 200 TW tires. The Hankook tires Scotty is on is a good option and they will do well on the street. If rain is an issue, there are other tires Where you live, I am not sure there is any reason to get A/S tires...
Don’t use street or street/track pads on the track. I’ve been there, done that. Not good. Get a real track pad, especially for those stock S brakes. Those brakes will cook any street pad. Carbotech XP 10s both front and rear. Or the G-Loc equivalent.
Motul 600 brake fluid for the track... Nothing further to say if you want to drive your car home.
There is no reason to not use the stock MINI rotors, unless they are worn out. Then, I am sure the Way replacements are fine. The JCW brakes are a really good option.
Unless you are a very advance driver with experience driving FWD, stay away from the really big RSB. I know the conventional wisdom is to do that mod, but controlling MINI understeer has as much to do with skill as it does with possible mods to the car, and that one mod can cause problems (car wanting to swap ends at the wrong time).
Hope that helps... Looking forward to your build. Motor on and have fun...
Hmmmm... My name pops up and it is connected to Scotty and I am curious...
I suppose this one is of interest as it is in his neck of the woods...
What is your track experience?
My biggest comment would be to use 17” wheels and tires. They will be better for the track. There is a better selection of tires in that size. The tires are less expensive. The 18” are for looks, the wheels are heavier, the tires are heavier and the car’s suspension needs a certain amount of compliance in the tires to work well. The added weight of the 18” wheel and tire alone will hurt performance.
There is tire/wheel fitment issues in the rear to deal with. The stock wheel (JCW) has a ET54 offset (not sure on the S). There are wheels with ET40 and are 7.5” wide. This is good for a 215/45x17. I had some rubbing on the wheel well liner with this size and wheel offset. I would suggest, with the S, to not go larger as the added tire weight and larger diameter will hurt performance. However, you can fit a 225/45x17 on a 7.5 or 8.0 wide wheel but it will need an ET 45 or higher offset. Again that size tire will rub the wheel well liner in the rear and it may rub the wheel well metal. That would need to be watched. Any lower offset (eg: ET40) with that size tire will likely need fender rolling.
For the track, get some 200 TW tires. The Hankook tires Scotty is on is a good option and they will do well on the street. If rain is an issue, there are other tires Where you live, I am not sure there is any reason to get A/S tires...
Don’t use street or street/track pads on the track. I’ve been there, done that. Not good. Get a real track pad, especially for those stock S brakes. Those brakes will cook any street pad. Carbotech XP 10s both front and rear. Or the G-Loc equivalent.
Motul 600 brake fluid for the track... Nothing further to say if you want to drive your car home.
There is no reason to not use the stock MINI rotors, unless they are worn out. Then, I am sure the Way replacements are fine. The JCW brakes are a really good option.
Unless you are a very advance driver with experience driving FWD, stay away from the really big RSB. I know the conventional wisdom is to do that mod, but controlling MINI understeer has as much to do with skill as it does with possible mods to the car, and that one mod can cause problems (car wanting to swap ends at the wrong time).
Hope that helps... Looking forward to your build. Motor on and have fun...
Thank you for the response. I don't have track experience which is probably pretty obvious lol. I wanted to wait until the car has a little bit better suspension setup before I tried to take it. Thank you for the suggestion with the wheel and tire size. I've been going back and forth on it and that helps a lot. What would I need to do to remedy the rubbing for the rear? Do you have any solid recommendations for coilovers? I haven't heard anything about Godspeed for track use. I've heard that Carbotech squeaks a lot for street use and the f56 is my only car at the moment. Would you recommend swapping pads for track days and just putting street ones back on? If there is a good in the middle pad, I'd love to try it. Sorry for all the questions, but do you know a good RSB then?
Thank you for the response. I don't have track experience which is probably pretty obvious lol. I wanted to wait until the car has a little bit better suspension setup before I tried to take it. Thank you for the suggestion with the wheel and tire size. I've been going back and forth on it and that helps a lot. What would I need to do to remedy the rubbing for the rear? Do you have any solid recommendations for coilovers? I haven't heard anything about Godspeed for track use. I've heard that Carbotech squeaks a lot for street use and the f56 is my only car at the moment. Would you recommend swapping pads for track days and just putting street ones back on? If there is a good in the middle pad, I'd love to try it. Sorry for all the questions, but do you know a good RSB then?
Don’t be sorry for the questions. It just means you are willing to learn.
First - don’t try and fix a car when you don’t know what is broken on it... MINI did a pretty good job with designing the suspension for the S model. It is great to learn on as-is. It won’t cause you problems. If the car is pushing (understeering) in a corner, you are over driving it; there are driving techniques that will help to mitigate that, but that is for another day. There is a ton of other stuff to learn before you need to worry about understeer, suspension setup, more HP or any of those other sorts of things.
The best thing you can do is to get an instructor in your car who will show you the line, then the braking points, where each corner apex is, where you need to turn in and track out from each corner. I don’t know what clubs you have around there that have instructors for beginner and intermediate drivers, but you need to find one (BMWCCA is one that should be doing this for everyone). There is a lot to learn. On the first day, it will be like drinking from a fire hose.
For brake pad, any good race/track pad will be noisy on the street. Even the Hawk HP+ (their street/track pad) will make some noise. But like everything else, something that is specialized in one area is likely not going to be good in another. A track/race pad works really well on the track; not so much on the street. A street pad works really well on the street; not so much on the track. I know that people have used the Carbotech XP8 on the street and it is a track pad. That would be my only choice. If that is too noisy, then you will have to change them out. However, what I used to do was to leave the track pads in the rear brakes and only change out the fronts.
Other than the tire size and wheel off set I recommended above, there is nothing else you can do to prevent the rubbing other than major body work...
Don’t worry about coilovers or other mods for now. Learn to drive on the track first. Get a decent set of brake pads, and tires (new wheels if you want) and change your brake fluid. Get about 10 days on the track then, maybe, think about mods. I have a friend who drives a base Cooper on the track and harasses the likes of Porsches and Corvettes and the only mods he has done is pads, brake fluid, wheels and tires...
On the street I run NM wheels with ET40 and that size tire with no issues. The Trofeos are ET48 with 215-45x17 tires with no issues on the road. On the track with those, I have a slight rub in the rear. I think the difference is loading of the suspension on the track flexes the bushings more than would ever be seen on the street.
