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Mintex 1144 or ferodo ds2500 for a Bec?
sdh2903 - 27/12/13 at 10:19 PM

I'm currently looking for some new front pads for my car (bec 530kgs) as the brakes have always been a bit numb.

Which of the above would you recommend? Price wise there's only a few quid in it.

rodgling - 27/12/13 at 10:53 PM

Neither, ditch the BMW brakes and fit some 4-pot Wilwoods - this made a massive improvement for me. It's quite a bit of effort/cost but the brakes are very very good now.

Pat_T - 27/12/13 at 11:09 PM

I have Wilwood 4pots (well RaceLedas but same pad) and I did all my 2012 trackdays on Mintex 1144s, I then did all my 2013 trackdays on DS2500 (including a full day at Spa, followed the following day by Brands Hatch without chance to re-bleed the brakes)

And to be honest I couldn't say one was better then the other, maybe the DS2500s felt slightly stronger, but there is very little in it. Both work well on a light car like the Seven where you need a little temperature, but you are never going to fade them.

sdh2903 - 27/12/13 at 11:14 PM

Hi Dave, I did wonder how you had got on with your wilwood adventures! What pads were you using in the bmw calipers?

I've already changed the big heavy vented setup for solids and calipers off a z3 which has shed some weight and has also altered the feel a little, I think an improvement in pads will be enough. I could see why you might need the extra stopping power with an extra 200kg and 200bhp to go with it.

daniel mason - 27/12/13 at 11:28 PM

i ran the ferodos on the radical clubsport,and the new one is the same.i have no complaints and they have had serious abuse with no fade! on 4 pot wilwood dynalites

rodgling - 28/12/13 at 09:36 AM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Hi Dave, I did wonder how you had got on with your wilwood adventures! What pads were you using in the bmw calipers?

I've already changed the big heavy vented setup for solids and calipers off a z3 which has shed some weight and has also altered the feel a little, I think an improvement in pads will be enough. I could see why you might need the extra stopping power with an extra 200kg and 200bhp to go with it.


Hi, hope the BEC GKD is going well? Would be good if you could join us for a GKD meet up next year, although it might be a trek from your neck of the woods.

I tried OEM pads, then Carbonne Lorraine in the BMW callipers. Pad material isn't the issue, it's more that the floating callipers ruin the feel - with both OEM and CL pads they stopped the car fine, just felt vague. So I really would recommend switching callipers.

I was a little worried about fade with the Wilwood setup (I'm using 1144 pads FWIW), but so far it's all been absolutely fine. I do still have vented rotors (although as you know I got carried away and had some hats made up with bolt-on rotors for extra weight saving). But with less weight solid rotors might well be fine for you.

Next step is to replace the Golf floating callipers on the rear with the HiSpec two-pot equivalent - this should be a simple drop-in replacement so nice and easy.

sdh2903 - 28/12/13 at 11:11 AM

Can I ask what wilwood set up you went for in the end? Was it a bolt on kit (apart from the rotor hats) or did you need to fabricate the mounts yourself? What size discs did you go for?

I think for now the pad change will be the next step as I'm not sure if I will be keeping the car beyond next year to warrant splashing the cash for a full new setup.

Cheers to Pat and Daniel for your input. I was heading towards the 1144s as they are more of the fast road pad and was a little worried I wouldn't get enough heat into the ds2500's which are a bit more aggressive compound. How are the ds2500 on normal road use?

hobbsy - 28/12/13 at 11:17 AM

Same here, Wilwood powerlites, solid discs, m1144's, kit from rally design. There are some better pads which the rgb guysuse if you do a search but I suspect they are more expensive. I've not had an issue with the m1144's on road or track.

rodgling - 28/12/13 at 11:55 AM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Can I ask what wilwood set up you went for in the end? Was it a bolt on kit (apart from the rotor hats) or did you need to fabricate the mounts yourself? What size discs did you go for?

I think for now the pad change will be the next step as I'm not sure if I will be keeping the car beyond next year to warrant splashing the cash for a full new setup.


I used powerlites (http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=10498 120-8729), not a bolt-on kit unfortunately so I had to mill some brackets out of aluminium bar. The brackets ended up being quite bulky as the bolt spacing on the uprights is unfortunately the same as the bolt spacing on the calliper, so the two pairs of bolts are in each other's way. Rotors were the largest I could use with those callipers, which was 280 mm, as my car was towards the limit of what those callipers are suitable for (up to 750 kg).

sdh2903 - 28/12/13 at 12:32 PM

Any pics of your setup?

rodgling - 28/12/13 at 01:52 PM

Some pics: