[minime s]

Looking to put a big brake kit on my car. Want red calipers with cross drilled rotors.
Any suggestions ?
Does someone also make rear red calipers ?

[TonyB]

StopTechs? I can't be certain... Some reading recently has me feeling that slotted rotors are more advisable - over x-drilled, or both... The reason being stress cracks...

With that kind of power, you are just now modding the brakes? Or have you already done ss lines, pads, special fluid, etc...?

[macncheese]

Jeff,

Give this guy a call, Dave Zeckhausen @ (973)761-5054. He's in north jersey and will do the install too. He's a brake guru. Heres his website.

http://www.zeckhausen.com/mini_products.htm


Mancheese

[paulmon]

Just as TonyB said, I'd stay away from cross drilled rotors as they are more prone to cracking and don't give any real benefit over gas slotting. The Stop Tech brakes look pretty good. Let us know how you make out, that's one of a number of things "on my list." Considering the cost involved it will most likely be a next season thing.

Paul

[jlm]

kiss off your 15" wheels

[minime s]

Thanks Cheese,

I'll call him today.

Hey JLM,

What if I used spacers when I had my drag wheels on ?

[minime s]

TonyB,

I have no brake upgrades yet. Us drag racers don't care about stopping

Really just want the look.........

[paulmon]

Quote:

Originally posted by minime s
TonyB,

I have no brake upgrades yet. Us drag racers don't care about stopping

Really just want the look.........

Well, if that's the case why don't you just get a hatch mounted parachute?

Paul

[minime s]

Does someone make a hatch mounted parachute ???

[paulmon]

Gah! Forget I said anything. (the scarry thing is, I honestly believe he's serious)

Paul

[DZeckhausen]

Quote:

Originally posted by minime s
Thanks Cheese,

I'll call him today.

Hey JLM,

What if I used spacers when I had my drag wheels on ?

It was nice chatting with you this morning and it sounds like your Mini is pretty amazing! Thanks for letting me know about this forum. I've added a link to it at the bottom of my Mini Products page in my Internet Resources section. This seems to be a more active forum than the Roadfly one.

If your primary interest is in drag racing, then a big brake kit doesn't make much sense, especially a 4-wheel kit. The stock brakes should have enough thermal capacity to handle one big stop at the end of the 1/4 mile strip. If your brakes don't have enough bite, then a more agressive pad may do the trick. While spacers MAY push your 15" drag wheels out far enough to clear the calipers, that would be my last choice. I can't imagine it would do good things to your halfshafts to have those wheels pushed out another 20mm or so!

[minime s]

If you can find out if they would fit with the 15's I will do it. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks

[DZeckhausen]

Quote:

Originally posted by paulmon
Just as TonyB said, I'd stay away from cross drilled rotors as they are more prone to cracking and don't give any real benefit over gas slotting. The Stop Tech brakes look pretty good. Let us know how you make out, that's one of a number of things "on my list." Considering the cost involved it will most likely be a next season thing.

Here's the deal with cross drilled rotors:

For one-piece rotors, I would avoid them altogether. A one-piece rotor has the hat and rotor combined into a single piece. This is what usually comes from the factory on cars sold in the United States. They are heavy, but inexpensive to manufacture. The problem occurs when they are subjected to very high temperatures such as those experienced under race (or teenager) conditions. The rotor wants to expand as it heats up, but is constrained at the outer side where it is solidly bolted to the hub. So it tries to expand radially, but ends up taking on a slight cone shape. This puts stress on the rotor which increases as you get closer to the outside edge. Any holes drilled in the rotor cause stress risers in the iron's grain and these are perfect points for cracks to start, particularly when the rotor is coning during a race. This is why, if you go to a REAL race at the professional level, you won't see drilled rotors.

Two-piece floating rotors eliminate the coning effect and greatly reduce the stress on the rotors during race conditions. They use drive pins and spring washers (StopTech) or float bushings and anti-rattle hardware (Brembo) to allow the aluminum hat and the iron rotor to expand by different amounts without binding or distorting.


Brembo 2-piece "floating" rotor

However, I would STILL advise against using drilled 2-piece rotors under race conditions. While they are less likely to crack than a 1-piece rotor, they will STILL have a shorter lifespan than plain or slotted rotors.

I have no qualms about driving around on the street with a Brembo or StopTech brake kit using drilled rotors. But since I know that racers don't use drilled rotors, I have no DESIRE to use them on the street. For some reason, the general public still associates drilled rotors with racing, even though they are yesterday's news.

I have slotted rotors on my 2001 BMW 540i 6-Speed. Slots do give you several advantages. They are advertized as "gas slotted", allowing hot pad gasses to escape from between pad and rotor. In real life, this isn't an issue, especially with modern pad compounds. Pads tend to outgass just once during the bedding-in process. After that, the slots help remove glazing from the pads and they give you a subtle improvement in inital bite. They do this at the cost of slightly reduced pad life (approx. 10 percent).


Swapping drilled for slotted rotors prior to big brake kit installation on my BMW 540i

[DZeckhausen]

Quote:

Originally posted by minime s
If you can find out if they would fit with the 15's I will do it. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks

You can test this yourself by printing out the following template: Mini Wheel Fitment Chart (pdf file)

Follow the instructions here for using the chart: Chart Instructions

This should help you figure out exactly what thickness spacer would be required to make the 15" wheels clear those brakes. I think you'll find it to be thicker than a prudent racer would use, but there's only one way to know for sure!

If you have any questions, feel free to call me again. I can walk you through the process.

[QQQ]

Dave as it seems you're an expert on brakes can I put the following question to you:

I have the Brembo GT front brake kit fitted on my MCS. Thing is that the car vibrates under light braking at speeds between 60 and 80 mph. Any idea what causes this and how it can be solved? Any input from others also most welcome of course.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

[KarmanS]

Good to see you participating here, Dave.

[QQQ]

Just bumping my question up as it was on the bottom of the 1st page and therefore easy to overlook

Dave as it seems you're an expert on brakes can I put the following question to you:

I have the Brembo GT front brake kit fitted on my MCS. Thing is that the car vibrates under light braking at speeds between 60 and 80 mph. Any idea what causes this and how it can be solved? Any input from others also most welcome of course.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

[DZeckhausen]

Quote:

Originally posted by QQQ
I have the Brembo GT front brake kit fitted on my MCS. Thing is that the car vibrates under light braking at speeds between 60 and 80 mph. Any idea what causes this and how it can be solved? Any input from others also most welcome of course.

Let's explore a little bit of the history of this shimmy problem. Did you notice this immediately after the installation of the Brembo kit? Or did it get worse over time? By any chance, did you take your car to a track event and the problem cropped up after that? Did you install spacers to allow your wheels to clear the Brembo calipers? If so, how thick are they?

If there's anything else about this problem that you can think of, even if you don't think it's related, let me know. Did you do any other modifications at the same time as the brake kit installation? How many miles on your car, wheel bearings, shocks?

[DZeckhausen]

Quote:

Originally posted by KarmanS
Good to see you participating here, Dave.

Hey Karman! I didn't know you had a Mini too. Wow! It's a small world. (No pun intended!)

You should join us for dinner in Maplewood when Gene and Maria come out from the city. Let me know if you are interested. I would love to see your Mini parked next to their G500 Geländewagen. Now THAT would make for an interesting photograph.

[QQQ]

Quote:

Originally posted by DZeckhausen
Let's explore a little bit of the history of this shimmy problem. Did you notice this immediately after the installation of the Brembo kit? Or did it get worse over time? By any chance, did you take your car to a track event and the problem cropped up after that? Did you install spacers to allow your wheels to clear the Brembo calipers? If so, how thick are they?

If there's anything else about this problem that you can think of, even if you don't think it's related, let me know. Did you do any other modifications at the same time as the brake kit installation? How many miles on your car, wheel bearings, shocks?

Didn't notice it immidiatelly after installation, but cannot exclude it was already there at that time. I did take it on a track the day after they were installed and did about 120 miles, every one of them pushing it pretty hard. It doesn't get worse over time, I have no wheel spacers. Only other mod together with the brakes were my BBS rims. My car has run 18.000 miles. I have the standard wheel bearings and KW v2 coilovers.

Thanks for your time Dave, it's appreciated

Cheers,
Erwin