I have had the TSW rotors with EBC greens on for about six months now. I daily drive and have 5 track days so far. The pads and rotors were very slow to break in, very soft in cold but worked well when warm. After several weeks I didnt have any more problems. Good feel when cold and very good on the track. I have never had any fad with OEM or TSW. The stock calipers seem quite adequate, I only changed from Oem because I had 95,000 miles on the original rotors and pads. ABS hs never come on on the street with sane driving but does come on on the track under extreme braking.

 

i have hawk ceramic pads & powerslot rotors in the front, oem rotors & pads in the rears (i DID buy hawk for the rears but the installer said i "got the wrong set". still to be confirmed why exactly)

should i be worried?

 

Update: after about 3 weeks, the front brakes/rotors have worn in and give much more initial bite. This is not my imagination, because I can feel the difference in heel/toe shifting. The brake pedal no longer needs to be pushed past the gas pedal like it did when I first installed the TSW rotor/HPS pads. Still, the OEM set-up gives more bite and requires a lighter brake effort, but I no longer feel the current set-up gives any issues with emergency stops. Sorry to have dissed the Hawk HPS prematurely. I think with SS brake lines pedal feel would be firmer, and a better match to the somewhat lower friction HPS/TSW combo.

 

A quick trip in the way-back machine might help out a little here with some insight:

Stop 1: Garages at Mid-Ohio.
I perform my first ever brake job after day 1 at Mid-Ohio... My ride: Porsche 924S (with sliding calipers)... Everything went OK, and I was rolling the car out of the garage to bed in the brakes... and forgot to 'pump' the pedal back up after squishing all the fluid into MC.... I hit the brakes rolling out of the garage to slow down, and it went 'thud' to the floor... the pucker factor jumped an order of magnitude when I saw I was aimed at a trailer more expensive than my car. E-brake saved my @$$ (it has a drum e-brake unlike our Minis). I then pumped up the brakes and bed them in properly.

Stop number 2:
Location: Summit Point, end of front straight, heading into turn 1.
Time: End of August, end of day (air temp high 90s, track temp was over 110, nearing 120)
Car: Porsche 944 Turbo.

I was ******* this 911 SC around Summit Point, and here it is the last run-group, last day, my next-to-last event of the season... its really friggin' hot... After the LLOOOOONG front straight, I stepped on my brakes and there was no 'whoa', I mean the pedal was firm, but I wasn't slowing, nor was I going to make turn 1.
This is what you call a classic 'oh $h!t' moment.
I pulled to the inside and flash the guy infront of me so he knows something's up... the turns LEFT up the run-off road under heavy braking, and I go off and visit GrandMa on my way to turn-2. Brakes now seem to work fine.
I limp around to the pits, and after talking to people (and borrowing an IR pyrometer) I figure out I over-temped the pads and outgassed (built up a boundry-layer so the pedal was firm, but was pushing on gas, so it had no bite...)

Moral of the story?
I have brake ducts now sticking through the nose of the car connected to backing plates and street-race pads that need a serious push when cold (which they get after driving on the highway, unless taped up).
I now go faster, and have never had an issue with brakes.
BTW, I'm running Pagid Orange, which dust HEAVILY... but hey, they slow me down from 172mph on the back straight of Watkins Glen for the bus stop.

Happy Motoring (and braking!)

 

To second what john is saying here, I am also using stock (JCW) brakes and even stock (JCW) pads on the track. I did need to upgrade to a really good brake fluid (using motul 600, although I'm sure that ate blue would be good enough). With the stock fluid the pads were fading almost immediately.

I tried carbotech pads and got about the same stopping ability but they lasted 6 track days instead of 8 and cost more, so back to stock.

I don't have real ducts. I did open up the decorative almost-air-vents on my GP, so there is more air blowing through the brake area.

I did have a big brake kit on another track car and I did like the improved modulation. If the brakes lock with 20 pounds of pressure, it's pretty easy to give 19 pounds and brake at the threshold. If the brakes lock with 200 pounds of pressure, it's pretty hard to stop at 190. However, I'm not really having a modulation issue with the mini. If anything, I have to back off on the brakes because the rear end is too light before the fronts lock.



I get about 8 track days out of these pads

 

That would be in Sparky? I don't think my mcsgp would go 172mph if you dropped it out of an airplane. Ditto for Daisy and probably Dusty.

It's too bad that the PO aren't available for the JCW calipers. I'd like to try them sometime. Maybe after the inevitable (but not currently imminent) big brake kit.

 

Brakes stop the wheels, that has absolutely nothing to do with their ability to stop the car. Yes certain brake setups will feel better than others, but most stock braking systems are fairly good (Especially on BMW's). A simple pad and fluid upgrade is plenty to combat brake fade. If your stock braking system (with stock pads) can activate ABS, then your problem is traction (Tires) not brakes. Yes, granted after 2 stops you CAN'T lock them up anymore because they've faded so badly, but my point was that people place far too much emphasis on enormous brake kits and not enough on the brake SYSTEM. Tires are part of the overall braking system. The other parts include pads, rotors, fluid, and suspension (In no particular order).