Has anyone swapped their front R53 calipers to the rear to get a bigger brake set up? Is it possible? Does it make sense to even think about doing it? I know the rear does a very minimal part of the braking. I'm doing the R56S front caliper swap and it made me think about what I was going to do with the front calipers.

 

i believe the mounting points would be way off

 

There really is not much of a point but if you want to do a bit of upgrade to them:

Rear Brake Upgrade c0op3r.com

 

Co0p3r, I've got all but the brass bushings to do the swap/upgrade like you did in your write ups. Thank you again for those! I haven't been able to get out to look at the mounting points to see what they were like. It was just one of those things that make you go huuumm? Wonder if it can be done?
I know I would lose the e-brake. Guess I was more curious than willing to try. Don't even have time to go out and look. I am still working on cleaning the R56S calipers, 10 minutes at a time. at this rate I should have them done by January 2015.

 

IT CAN BE DONE, but its not easy, Ian Stewart who runs Maitland Importers a Mini Specialty shop here in Orlando ordered all the part to do it, and the level of work that was required cause him a MINI shop owner to scrap the project.

But it can be done, he said it was just not worth it, he runs that same basic brake setup I run on his track car, but with the cross drilled rotors or the paint.

The track guys do not like the Cross Drilled, as they have them crack sometimes, they will run the slotted though.

 

I have tracked quite a few cars and wanted to point out that the rear brakes are only doing a fraction of the braking compared to the front brakes. So unless you are trying to balance out a much bigger front brake setup, have a full blown race car or want the "look" provided by bigger rear brakes, not much gained in upgrading them.

I use a track pad and stock type rotors on the rear and have never had an issue. Agree with cOop3r in that drilled rotors are not the way to go it tracking...stick with slotted or just plain rotor.

 

front brakes wont have the equipment needed for the handbrake cable

I agree with everyone else that the rear brake upgrade will not yield you high increase in your braking since most of the braking is done by the front brakes ... but i will admit that larger brakes (front or rear) do look awesome