Hi All,

I recently purchased a new-to-me 2005 Cooper S, love it so far. My only gripe with the car is the braking, it just flat out sucks. I got home and took it around an industrial park, got the brakes to fade on emergency stops and couldn't get much of ABS to kick in either, fluid is likely old but I read the same story all around - brakes are subpar. Naturally, going to change the fluids, but I figure this time I'll pony up for a BBK. The car will be used primarily for a time attack series that's ran on a go-kart track. It's about 0.75 mile in length, around 4-5 minute sessions with no open/cool down lap - so it's get out there, run it hot, back in the pit, like an extended autocross running 4 laps in a row. I suspect speeds for the Mini will get up to around 65-68 mph on the main straight. Something like a Tesla or M4 will do upwards of 85 mph. Brake zones are only some 15-20 seconds apart.

Prior cars ran EBC Yellow Stuff with Motul RBF600 and usually some sort of oem brake duct. Never had an issue short of someone running an S197 Mustang on a fresh bottle of Prestone discount off the shelf from Autozone - that knuckle head put it through a barrier halfway through the second session; brakes went from a fade to failure in a lap. Luckily the only thing hurt was a radiator, lower support bracket, lower bumper and pride, but a good lesson learned.

For the R53 I've got my crosshairs on the Wilwood 11.75" 4 piston setup primarily for it's lightweight appeal and frankly it's the cheapest 'BBK' I can find at around $1,025 shipped. But now I've got analysis paralysis. Has anyone regretted getting the 11.75" Race BBK Kit or seen someone post something to that effect? I'm also unclear if the 11.75" Race kit comes with or needs SS brake lines. The kit on WMW states it does, but maybe they bundle it themselves ($1,225 shipped). Would these work with the 11.75" Race kit https://www.waymotorworks.com/stainl...s-r50-r53.html or do I need Wilwood specific units? Brings me to the paralysis point.. if I'm barking at $1,200 wouldn't it make more sense to jump ship to the 12.88" 6-piston kit which includes ss brake lines for $1,200 shipped?

For reference I've got OZ Ultraleggera 17x7 wheels in an ET37 - I think they should clear either kit no problem.

I'm open to other ideas that get me a fixed caliper design (assuming this'll be the threshold for adequate for use case, no interest to take the mini to a 'big' track) for under $1,200 and/or to have my eyes opened to the notion of buy once, cry once with a larger kit. Not concerned about the rears.

To wit - on a prior fun car (997) I upgraded the master cylinder to a GT3 unit and enjoyed a very stiff brake pedal, along with GT3 brake ducts. Are there any slightly larger MC units that fit for our cars and/or oem brake ducts? For example could anyone confirm if the R56 GP2 master cylinder unit will work and/or is a meaningful change?

Alright, million questions over. Thanks all.

-Colin

 

The Wilwood kits are great as we use them all the time on builds we do and even have one on my personal car. They are much lighter than stock and provide so much more clamping force to really improve braking. Plus the pads are super simple to swap.
We include stainless lines with the Wilwood kit as the stock lines won't work, and honestly the lines Wilwood makes don't fit well either. So yes when you get our kit we include lines so it's ready to install.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wilwoo...1.75-race.html

And yes they will fit behind the OZ wheels as I've used them before.

 

I would say before you go full big brake kit, get new EBC Yellow pads and fresh brake guild in there, and see how they feel. If you just bought the car, the pads are probably el cheapos just to get the car sold.

 

Thanks for the input WMW. I'm torn and for a dumb reason - the 6-piston 12.88" kit appears to cost the same as the 4-piston 11.75" kit so I'm gravitating towards larger is better thinking. However, I'm comparing a street kit to a racing kit - with the right pad the 12.88" will be suitable for my use but the 11.75" particularly with BP30 pad and a pair of ss lines would be turn key out of the box. I assume the 11.75" kit is lightest of the bunch, too, and if I de-power the steering rack in the future my gut says I'll be happy I went as light as possible - may also be a good omen to go with a smaller wheel/tire setup in the near future, too.

Nik - cheers, I'm gonna try to buy once, cry once, so to speak and just get the upgrade done. I had read some shops preferring Brembo and StopTech over Wilwood and was wondering if the 11.75" (or 12.88") kits had a notoriety I wasn't aware of or if it was simply a preference - hence the thread, and to appease my neurosis that I didn't do enough due diligence before committing $1,000+. For my use case on the go-kart track I could probably get away with pads, rotors and fluid as has been done before but again, cost factor - ~$400 to spend on a potential stop gap vs ~$1,200 doing it right and if there is an extra benefit to taking some 10 pounds of un-sprung mass out of the equation, it starts to seem reasonable enough. Were these kits in question 6x the cost I'd be singing a different tune for sure.

I love car forums - I drive my wife crazy with this picky, ticky-tacky, BS quibbling over which aftermarket caliper kit to buy.

 

I briefly had a chance to drive an R53 with Wilwoods. Braking in it would plant your face in the dash 😂

 

ive been doing a lot of investigating into brakes for tne r56 and there are a lot of options if you use tne brackets like tne gp2 bbk mod, you can take your pic from some of BMW's best 6 pot callipers from M3, M4, M5 calipers and apparently they will fit depending on what wheel you use ....some of these callipers are made to pull up big v10 saloon cars very hard and every time so they would probably flip a Mini or put you into a spin if you step on them to hard but if they are set up properly you could build an amazing diy bbk and probably cheaper or the same as a pre fabbed kit