That's about my experience level. Though I've done far more autox. Do some ride along with newbies and help them out. I suspect you'll learn more by observing mistakes and then analyzing your driving than you realize. I know I realized mistakes I was making by observing others.

Funny thing about brakes. I had a 2000 MR2 Spyder with a Celica GTS engine in it that I tracked the snot out of. Lines and fluid were all I did. I never cooked the brakes and pads lasted about 12-14 30 minute sessions. When I let friends drive the car, they would trash the rotors and pads in one 30 minute session and lap time 5-8 seconds slower than me.

While this doesn't really apply to MINI's, it does apply in general practice. I learned to track-drive without ABS (on a shifter kart) and possibly learned more than I care to accept with 4x4 mud driving. Learning to brake important as learning the correct line through a corner. I would disable the ABS and practice track sessions where the only thing I cared about was getting corner entry speed and position correct. By disabling the ABS, you learn to settle the car as you squeeze the brake. With modern ABS, one learns to just stab them and let them figure it out. Once you master braking without ABS, you'll find that you can go deeper and be more consistent with ABS enabled. (caveat: I'm reasonably new to Coopers, so I'm not certain that ABS can even be disabled without shutting down the electric throttle control)

 

So I'm leaning towards the TSW BDM, any thoughts? anyone have these and what do you think of it?

 

Look, I don't think it's the brakes. It's the fact you are using your hands and not your legs. You probably just need more leverage, or a different master cylinder.

 

Okay, well here's my two cents.

That may be true, but if he wants to spend the money and make the change that's his prerogative. At this point I feel he's making an informed decision. He's been told that his original issue may be solved with additional leverage or a swapping the master cylinder, so IMHO I believe it's up to him at this point. Who are we to tell him how to spend his money?

Maybe he's interested in the benefits toddtce mentioned? I feel it's much easier to swap pads with these kits then on the stock brakes too, which is also nice.

Well, you kind of answered your own question below.

The BDM is a great kit, but assuming you track on those 17s, and also depending upon which tire and pad choices you've made, you might find the BDM to simply be too small. Again, it really depends upon your wheel size, tire compound, and pad choice. It's great for 15" wheels since that's what it was designed for. It should do fine with 16s as well, but after that point if you're using 17s on the track, in my very humble opinion there's really no reason not to look at a larger kit. The larger surface area of the rotors and the greater mass will help, and running into fade will be less of a problem then if you were to run a smaller kit with larger wheels.

Ultimately, the choice is yours so take a look around and familiarize yourself with the kits that will work best for your application. Wilwood/TCE and Detroit Tuned both have kits for 16" and 17" wheels, and StopTech and Brembo have kits for 17" wheels, so if it were up to me I'd take a look at those. Anyway, hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the information, I was planning to track it with the 17 inch wheels. Probably try the new Hancook high performance tire, but depening how it works out I might switch to he R compound. I spoke to Way at Way motor works and he keeps saying that the BDM is the way to go because its lighter and thia thicker rotor. I checked the size and it is smaller. So now I'm back to the other big brake kits. But in order to choose one, it would be good to know from user experience about these brake kit. Namely the JCW, Willwood, and the Detroit tuned. Any thoughts would help!

 

I'm using the JCW Sport brake kit. I really like it and it performs well at the track.

Pros:
- Fitment is perfect
- Still works with the BMW maintenance free program
- Replacement parts come from the dealer, so they are easy to get
- Excellent braking force over the stock single piston calipers
- 4 piston Brembo manufactured front caliper
- 1" larger front and rear rotors
- Works very well at the track with upgraded pads and fluid

Con:
- 2k price tag sucks

 

With conditions* (not sure if it's an issue for the OP), but I asked the shop foreman at my dealership about that and he said "only if the kit is installed by Mini service"

 

This is not really an issue. Just wanna make sure I'm getting the best brakes for my car. i want to do it once and for all.

 

anymore input on which ones you guys like the most between the BDM, JCW, and willwood?

 

You can take a look at my local Singapore tuner. His Facebook has afew mini's with jcw brembos.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/M-Comm...72519792801767

I have them on my car as well and I love it!!!!