Relative to costs, below is a list of the essentials. Many of us that do our own wrenching have anti-seize, misc. hardware and tools. I am also not going to include any costs for wheel offsets.

Two SS Cobalt Calipers + $356, one caliper pin kit + $19, two rotors + $78, brake pads + $19 (Amazon had EBC Reds on sale), four caliper bolts + $10, two banjo bolts + $10, copper crush washers + $5, and caliper shims + $15 = $512.

 

I may do this swap on my jcw, not sure yet. Pad prices are kinda high

ST43 cost 259 $
RSL29 are 315 $
DTC60 are 269 $
R4 is 195 $

HP+ for autocross are 185 $

 

Pretty impressive considering the cost involved!

You used GP2 rotors?

 

Yes GP2 rotors.

 

On pads, while doing some research I came across an article excerpt that noted the 125 mm brake pad the Cobalt uses is a Brembo GT kit part and is used on BMW and all Gen1 and Gen2 MINIs. The caliper is a "Lotus" caliper design. I have also read where people have cut pads down and as the GP2 rotor is deeper I am wondering whether a bigger pad could be cut down to fit in the 125mm slot. The key element is the pin hole spacing, something you cannot get from basic pad shapes.

 

Nicely done!

Now the question is - how do they work?

 

But if the pads last longer than the Wilwoods, then the pad price difference may be a wash.

 

Very nice, unconventional and cost-effective brake kit with right pistons' size!
What is the required exact thickness of the washers between the calipers and the steering knuckles?
What concerns the pads with bigger radial depth - is't not a good idea since the didtribution of pressure over the pads would be uneven. And the wear of the pads would be uneven. The outer part of the big pad (equal to the outer part of the smaller pad)would do the same job. The inner enlarged part would wear out more slowly.

 

They should. Cobalt pads are bigger than Wilwood pads.

 

You have to have at least 15" of inside wheel diameter for these to work. On the spacing remember I am a tape measure guy but talking about 3 to 3,5 mm.

On how they work, I need to get some miles on the car before I start really pushing on them. There is close to 2 1/8" of pad surface in contact with a 12.99" rotor. The Gen2 JCW pad would have another 1/8" of contact but the rotor is only 12.44" With a bigger pad than the Gen1 JCW and a larger/thicker rotor than the Gen2 JCW, heat mitigation should be much better.

 

they would have to last almost 3 times as long as wilwood to be cheaper (most of those are 100 $ for wilwood) and I do not see that happening as the rotor is just a tiny bit bigger, torque will be about the same, the amount of energy you are converting to heat wont change at all, every time you hit those brakes it vaporizes pad material (track temps). I do not think pad surface area has a notable effect

are the brembo's quick change? Or do you have to take the caliper off every time you swap pads

 

You do not have to remove the caliper to replace the pads. They are held in place by pins and from what I have seen the pistons do not take a lot of force to retract.

 

Would think either a Gen2 JCW or a GP2 have knowledge on pad wear. SquawSkiBum is a moderator here and pretty sure he has the Gen2 JCW brakes and also tracks his car. I will drop him a PM and get him to add some input.

 

I thought if you are going to track you have to change the ceramic pistons to stainless steel that are not cheap, correct?

This is a low budget Track Wannabee brake thread. No flame proof suits here.

 

if they are ceramic then yeah you have to change them to stainless unless you are slow lol

 

IMO as I do not plan on tracking the car but only do some Dragon and Mountain runs this should be quite sufficient.

Below is a drawing I made up on what this is suppose to look like in cross section. By rotating the filing diagonally, the material removed is from the more massive knuckle instead of being from the bolt outer ring material. The washer tab also helps back off the bolt from the original hole radius.

 

I do track but my jcw has stock brakes on it

 

It would not be that difficult to make a bracket that is welded to the knuckle, then a longer caliper bolt passes through the bracket and the elongated holes before threading into the caliper.

 

Looking good WnW. They’d work a lot better if they were red though. You need a touch of red on your car.
I’m looking forward to your evaluation of the new setup after your first mountain twisty run.

 

Going to leave them black. Most MINI aficionados would not look twice at a red brake but a black caliper that says Brembo, should make them a little curious.

I should be hitting Squirrel Spur and Orchard Gap in a couple of weeks.

 

I agree, red is too flashy

If your driving impressions come back positive, I’ll likely start piecing together a set for next year.

 

I ran some numbers on the weight. Appears the Gen1 JCW/R56 brake set up (caliper, rotor & pads) is approximately 28.2 lbs (12.79 kilos) where the this Brembo/GP2 rotor package is 32.2 pounds (14.6 kilos). The GP2 caliper would add another 3 1/2 lbs (1.6 kilos). The big weight gain is the 330x26 rotor that is approximately 20 lbs (9.2 kilos) whereas the Gen1 294x22 rotor is 14 lbs (6.4 kilos). The Gen2 JCW 316x22 rotor is approximately 16.75 lbs (7.6 kilos) so that set up is just a little heavier, 1/2 lbs (0.2 kilos) than the Gen1 JCW/R56.

 

WNW asked for my comments on pad life. I get very long pad life in my daily driving since my commute is mainly highway on cruise control. Track is a different story.

My first track days were with the standard R56 brakes. I had changed to SS brake lines, bled with Motul RBF600, and swapped in EBC yellow pads. The brakes were great, no issues. I decided I needed to upgrade to the JCW Brembos, while I was at it I installed the Sneed stainless piston kit, there's a thread about it. On my first track day with the new JCW brakes I also used EBC yellows. My son was with me running in A group and I was in B, the group rotation was B-D-A-C so the brakes had about 20 minutes of cool down time alternating with 20 minutes of track time. By the end of the day the pads were about 1/2 gone and were totally cooked, the brakes barely worked. I drove home very carefully and swapped the stock pads back in. That's what got me started on my long running project to build some brake cooling ducts, I have a thread about that over in the R56 forum.

I'm planning on another track day in August, so I need to decide on a new pad. I have seen a lot of recommendations for Carbotech XP10 front, XP8 rear so I have been considering those. Carbotech also has the 1521 street pad, I was at the point where I needed new pads and front rotors so I installed the 1521s with Centric rotors. I'm really unhappy with the 1521s, not a whole lot of stopping power though a lot less dust than the stock Brembo pads. I guess I need a new street pad as well.

 

While I'm thinking of it - this tool: makes swapping pads really simple.

 

I have read in other posts that after a Brembo "upgrade" the pedal travel was different. Yes I can say it is, not as stiff as with the single piston units and I bled them again after I took it for a short run. I think one thread the guy said they felt like an older car with no booster. Now the question is does more travel and the "feel" affect the overall ability of the system to stop? I have not pushed mine at all yet as the pads have not bedded but the thing will stop. I have also asked a friend that changed to the JCW Brembo Kit what his peddle was like after the change.

On the EBC Yellows, they say they are for both street and track but from posts for guys that track I seem to recall that all the comments were not positive. MrBlah has told me that the yellows once over 1/2 worn are garbage and once you get them really hot you have to really push the pedal.