I'm looking at MiniMania's Brake Cooling System. I have also seen Way Motor Works air ducts to the braking system. I like the MiniMania set up, but I'm curious as to whether anyone has any experience with either of these systems. I am particularly interested in whether or not the systems are really that practical for street applications. I'm planning to work on my brake system so i figured this might provide the opportunity for a little bit of extra work. Any opinions or experiences with this matter are appreciated.

 

You could do it like the racing trucks and flush the rotors with ice cold water for maximum cooling, lol.

 

2x -- those racing trucks are awesome!!

 

The Way system from what others have said appears to be fine for day to day driving. The Minimania setup should only be used at the track--good chance you could bottom out those suckers driving on the street, or worse, get road debri directed directly into your rotors. It's the better of the two setups for the track though, as its directing air directly to the hub, but again, you can't leave the ducts on all the time (you can leave the backing plate on though).

The ideal setup would be a combination of both--air ducts that utilize the foglights (like the Way setup), so it's permanent and doesn't have to be installed/removed with each track day, and air directed to the hub via a backing plate (like the Minimania setup). What I've been tempted to do is buy the Minimania backing plate (you can buy pieces of the kit individually), make an air duct for the foglight, and connect the two with flexible pvc tubing. Then you 'd have a permanent solution that you could drive on the track and not worry about on the street. There is a good thread about this somewhere, with more (and better) info....

 

I've considered that same approach... but I really don't want to give up my foglights, nor do the cutting mods necessary to route from the foglights to the wheel well.

I'm wondering if something could be done with NACA ducts on the bottom of the car... similar to the MiniMania setup, but eliminating the need to have something protruding...

Some stuff is available here:
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/adv...ryID=BRAKEDUCT

How effective is a NACA duct if it isn't installed in a flat panel? Where under there might you be able to put a duct that would be effective?

Edit: Some interesting stuff from the Subie forum here:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1479376

 

The only problem with that is you're still going to have to have the ducts under the car, pretty close to the road. I think you'd still have to worry about damaging them by bottoming out, or with road debri getting into them and on to your rotors (although you could put screens on them). I looked at doing something like this too; you're right in that it does take a bit of modification to get from the foglight to the hub.

There is a lip underneath the front skirt, and to get them flush, you're going to have to cut into that, so either way there is going to have to be some modification of the car. It wouldn't be that hard to do though, but I think they'd still be sitting too low for everyday driving.

I'm either going to bite the bullet and take out the fogs, or go with the Minimania kit and put it on each I go to the track...I guess I better buy stock in zip ties...

 

Wish Turner would make backing plates like the one's they do for BMW's for the Mini's. With those you would be open to putting a duck anywhere you want and run a hose to them....

 

Minimania does, it's part of the whole kit, but you can buy the backing plates seperately then run a 3 inch hose of your choice (well, within reason that is ) to where ever you want. You could also take a brake duct shield and do it yourself--someone on here has done that as well, but it would take a bit of work.

 

We use our cooling kit on the track and it really helped prevent fade from heat. I was going to make a kit with a hose going all the way to the rotor but due to clearence with the axle and different size tires I didn't want to have any chance of the hose getting in the way. If you search you'll find a whole install on our ducts, I'll see if I can find it and post the link.

WAY

 

Way, i've got you're ducts on my car and would like a backing plates. have you got any for my 17" wheels with wilwood 13"?

p.s. now that I got my car aligned that front swaybar is great.

 

You could also look into the Sneed Speed ones. They are mounted via fog ducts and are streetable. Not sure on clearance on smaller wheels though.

http://www.sneedspeedshop.com/MINICooperParts.html

 

I personally like this kit and the price it is selling for.

http://www.sneedspeedshop.com/MINICooperParts.html

It's in the middle of the page.

 

For the Sneed:
- you do have to do some significant cutting to fit the duct behind the wheel well liner (nothing structural and all plastic, but still might not be for the timid),
- of course you do lose the fogs
- and replace the stock rotor dust shield with their hose bracket,
- but it is streetable and I would expect very effective

I had the hose brackets installed, but had to return to stock config for a dealership warranty visit, so have not attacked the plastic behind the liner yet.

Definitely one of the better kits available.

 

I've got the Sneeds kit, Cutting was a bit but minor. We made a couple modifications to it (ie didn't drill out the bumper) but it fits nice and seems to do the trick. Couldn't really beat the price.

 

Having worked with the fender liner before, couldn't you just cut a hole in it for the duct (which would also give it a bit more support, or do you still have to do trimming? Any rubbing issues with the ducts?

My dust shield is long gone anyway, so that's not an issue. When you install these, do you have to take the brakes/rotors completely off, or can that all be left alone? If so, I'm mighty tempted....

 

From my experience with big *** heavy subarus, you want a 3 inch hose, and you want to direct air to the center of the rotor.

NACA ducts on a flat splitter or something like that is not as good as just getting air from the foglight housings.

Brake ducts are SUCH an important piece of kit that so many track guys/gals neglect to run. It's solid insurance against brake fade and extends the life of your rotors, pads, and wheel bearings. Every REAL "track" car runs brake ducts and you should too.

If you have to spend a half hour the night before an event reattaching the hoses, that's not a big deal.

- andrew

 

Support comes from zip ties, that is all you need. I will be cutting behind the liner. I think it is best to keep the liner in one piece and let it do it's job of protecting everything behind it, including this duct, when installed. If you let the duct come through the liner and out into the wheel well it will take a beating from road debris and will not last long. The ducts are much less robust than, say, the liner.

If your dust shields are already gone it might be possible to install the duct brackets with the rotor in place, but it will a very tight squeeze if it can be done. Of course, if the rotors have to go then so do the calipers and the carriers.

 

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. If it can be done by leaving everything in place, I'd probably do it now. I'll probably wait until fall.

At any rate, let us know how the install goes; looks like these should work out nicely on the track.

 

As stated, I expect they will work nicely on the track. And as far as inlet location, the fog light holes are an excellent location. That area gets plently of positive air pressure.

 

Hmmm... I'm interested. I wonder if adding ducting would let me back down my brake pad aggressiveness a little. Of course, I don't know what pads I'd go to. I'm currently using Carbotech XP10 / XP8 and love them, except for the price.

 

Snid, I don't know if you've tried Raybestos ST-43, I've switched to these when I got the BDM, and they're fantastic, not to mention quite a bit cheaper than the Carbotech's. They seem to hold up just as well too (one of the things that has always been nice with the carbotechs; although they're expensive you seem to get more out of them with regard to pad life). I'm still running the carbotech's on the rears, but I might swap to something cheaper (whatever Mike at TSW is using, can't remember which pad it is) there too.

 

Are the Raybestos pads available for the stock caliper?

 

Good question--I assumed they were available for the OEM front calipers, but a quick search didn't turn anything up--maybe try Jeff or Mike at TSW; they're hooked up with Raybestos, and if no one is making them, they may be able to grease the skids--all you'd need is a backing plate sent into the company if they'd be willing to make them, similar to how carbotech got involved in making pads for the MINI. Long term, from a cost standpoint, it'd be worth the effort, the Raybestos really is a nice pad at a great price.


Might be worth TSW's while to see if they can get them made and sell them, they've got a lot of irons in the fire though.

Another place to try is brakeshopper.com, they might know too.

I suspect it'll be a supply/demand type thing, but at the prices I've gotten the Raybestos, for that level of performance at that price I think they'd have a nice little market. The carbotech's are great, but they are a bit pricey.

 

Hmm, that's a problem for me if they need the dust shields in place. I had to remove mine when I installed my Wilwood BBK. I'll have to shoot them an email if it is required or is there some way of attaching the ducts.

 

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The Sneed brake duct brackets at the rotor require the dust shields to be removed. The top two mounting points for the dust shield will be replaced with bolts from Sneed to attach their hose bracket.