Hi,

new JCW on order, but even with the "upgrade" I was thinking about moving to an aftermarket solution. I plan on 15+ track events a year, and the simplicity for pad changes and little fade over time means I need to upgrade. Brembo is the word, but the stoptech stuff looks VERY good. ANyone have any experience with it? Feedback or recommendations are apprecaited.

thanks
Matt

 

Just call Randy (Webb), Eric at Helix, Detroit Tuned or other aftermarket vendors and discuss this. There are some good front kits for under $1000 and many others more than that. Brembo is pricey but of courtse very good. Avoid drilled rotors for track.

 

I can tell you this, I have the Wilwood 13.0 rotor with the FSL caliper, and when it comes to changing pads it does not come any easier!! I do not believe that the stop tec changes pads they way wilwood does. You simply remove the locking bolt in front of the pad and they slide right out and slide the new ones right in. Todd at TCEProformace is the best. Great customer service and tech support. Just my two cts!!

 

I have the Wilwood kit with DynaPro calipers, and while pad changes are super easy and lightning fast, only about half of the Wilwood compounds can be used with those calipers, and none of the high-test race compounds.

Redbaronf2001 runs Stoptechs, and they are colossal. The stopping power is mind-boggling, the entire range of Stoptech pads are compatible, but there are very very few wheels that will fit over them. He's gone through 2 sets of SSR GT-7's (none are damaged, but one is for track days and the other is for the street) because they're among the few.

Stoptechs are massive overkill for the MINI. I think even he'd agree.

 

I have StopTech's on my Spec MINI. They work very well on the track. You will not go wrong with them.

 

If you do that and decide to seel the JCW brakes the car comes with, I might be intrested.

 

I might be interested as well.
Jeff

 

I may switch to Stop Techs on our next MINI. We have Brembo's on the current one, and they are awesome on a track day. They certainly are massive overkill driving to work though. I usually have the urge to look behind me when I have to brake hard in traffic. I usually can stop way ahead of where I have to, I don't wanna get rear ended

 

This is incorrect. While pad choice in the Polymatrix line are more limited than the larger FSL calipers and other manufactures do not offer many choices for this relatively new caliper, there are two very hard core track pads for the DynaPro caliper. Both Poly A and Poly B are available. Poly A remains one of, if not the, highest Cf pad on the market today. Gross overkill for nearly all owners. The B pads are more than ample to meet the needs of the MINI and a tad more rotor friendly. keep in mind that either of these have NO PLACE on the stree....unless you like replacing rotors.

 

Well, I'll call it a misrepresentation. The H and J pads aren't compatible, and those are the only two pad compounds from the race-line that would interest me. C isn't compatible either, but that's not really significant.

A & B aren't recommended by Wilwood for any application where bias adjusters aren't available.

I'm not complaining, just pointing out that some of (what I consider to be) the best pads aren't available for the DP caliper. My understanding is that the larger 13" kit doesn't use this caliper, though.

 

Interesting thoughts, but I'm not sure where you are getting this information.

The H pad is probably one of the most popular pads now for hard track use in the larger caliper. (yes the 13s do use the FSL and not the DP) However I'm not aware of any statments of A and B requiring the use of bias adjusters. While any change in pad will effect bias numbers this statemement really doesn't make sense. The H pad is a higher Cf than the B in fact. J is only slightly higher than C as well. I'll agree that if I had my choice that both C and H would be in the picture as well. Not A and J in fact.

I think you may be terribly underestimating the value of the B compound. This pad ramps up well with temperature. I'd stronly suggest against the use of air ducts with it also. The pad 'could' be driven to the track but like the others (of which J will eat a set of rotors a weekend if run cold!) they really belong on the track only.

*sorry this has gone a bit OT from the original post

 

If you go to the European Car mags web site, and read about a Mini build up, they put an early StopTech kit on, and found no reduction in braking distance. To be fair, StopTech did commit to improving on this, but I haven't seen any data (other than Webb's quotes of reduced braking distance). You'll get more heat capacity, and more weight than some other kits.

My neighbor has StopTech, he's very competent on the track, and he loves them. FWIW!

Matt

 

From Wilwood's 'J' pads page: When I started shopping for new pads to be my track/street/autox pads, I really got excited about the H pad for its high initial bite and durability under high heat. The thought was that even if it weren't very appropriate for the street, I could at least leave it on until after I got home.

Back on topic (mostly):

In support of Dr. Obnxs's post, I will say that when my Stoptech friend and I went mountain driving, we got out after about 20 miles of intense switch-backs and put our hands near the brakes. His Stoptechs weren't cold, but they were nowhere near as hot as my Wilwoods (which were, in turn, nowhere near as hot as my stock calipers when I put those back on -- I could feel the heat of one hard drive from 5 feet away on my face).

We didn't have a pyrometer, but the difference was noticable.

I reassert that the Stoptechs are serious overkill. The Wilwoods have never shown any appreciable fade (even at the track), stop at >-1.10G with good tires and the base Q pads, and fit after many more wheels.

I'm only back on stock calipers to do one season of auto-x in STS and to avoid winter-wear on the calipers.

 

Now I understand where you are getting this.

"popular tuning compound to reduce bias over A,B,H when addiitonal hydralic ajustments are not available"

This means that the J pad has less bite, thus less bias over the other pads. If one were to use it in a four wheel application the J may be better suited to rear use over using A on all four corners for example. "Hydrolic adjustments" means the inability to reduce pressure by way of a change in either piston area, master cylinder bore(s) and the fit of a bias ****.

Because we are speaking of FRONT only applications here the J pad would be of less front torque then the H pads as well. Thus the same rules would apply.

That being said would you consider putting a prop valve in the front brakes on a car? (I'm tossing that out for thought) The answer is no way. By design the valve limits pressures output based on pressure input. Meaning the harder you push the pedal the less brake you have!

 

They're wonderful They didn't show up in time for the Dragon last year but no excuses this time

 

whoa!

Love the photo..

so, Im hearing that stoptech is loved, but not neccessarily needed. Willwood has the "easy swap" im looking for but may have compound issues. I got lost in the above threads.

Since Im not racing for money, can someone please simplify the above? I would think that I want a "street" pad and a "track-day" pad....

sorry, a bit new to the mechanical side of all this...need to start dealing with it myself though and stop paying others to do it for me...

 

Talk to Chad at DT...they have a Wilwood setup that is very effective and economical

 

ToddTCE, who's been discussing the Wilwood options with me on this thread, is a full service vendor of Wilwood products. I bought my 12.19" kit from him, and haven't had any problems.

I should actually buy a second set of pads explicitly for track duty, but I'm just too cheap and lazy.

Just be aware that any serious race pad is going to cause you to go through brake rotors faster than any street pad, so be ready to shell out some dough to support any big brake kit (rotors, fluid, pads, all on a fairly regular basis).