I know the R53 has a poor mans upgrade by going to the R56 brake calipers. Well I have an R56. The problem is my car was a Wisconsin car prior to me purchasing it. And from the looks of the back side of the calipers they probably never washed the thing during winter.


Now realistically if the calipers were in ok condition, I would have been fine with upgrading rotors, pads, lines, and painting the calipers then calling it good. But these are all sorts of crusty and scaly. Not sure if they're worth the bother.


So any known caliper kits? I daily this car so BBKs are over kill. I do not track and I hit an occasional AutoX. Other than that No super hard braking. I do have a bit more power than stock so I would like something slightly better than stock. Just not overkill.


That all being said, if there's any good cheap cooper S calipers I can just take those and paint them too.


Oh and I'd have to be able to fit my stock 16's over anything I do for winter time.

 

I would just watch for a clean set of stock calipers on e-bay. The alternatives are all pretty expensive. Of course one man's expensive is another's deal so I'm making assumptions.

 

Looks like I'll be searching then.


Does anyone know if I should be rebuilding anything I get? Or should it be plug and play?

 

I'm in a similar situation....a bit more power, daily driver, winter 16's. I found a set of clean calipers in the marketplace, painted them, installed cooling ducts, new pads and rotors, and called it a day. The calipers that I found are pretty new, so I didn't rebuild them, but I would have rebuilt my old calipers if I didn't find those. Intend to put my old calipers on our R52 after I get them rebuilt.

 

Here's a nice upgrade!

http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NMK2091/

Also, a nice selection!

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Resu...%20upgrade/All

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

What is the pad of choice? Again, couple AutoX sessions a year and frequent spirited driving.

 

take a wire brush to the calipers .... you can make em shine like new. They are not painted or polished so you can wire brush em to look like new

 

I would go with the reds or yellows. Some are on sale right now. Here's a great application guide that can help!

http://new.minimania.com/Mini_Cooper...lication_Guide

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

as I recall, it's been said that when you go to the EBC Yellow the dusting increases ....

I've been very happy with RED over the years ... low dust, good bite, decent life ...