How good are the new MINI cooper S brakes?

It all depends! The first generation MINI Cooper S brakes as sold here in the USA in 2002 are just OK for most street applications. But as is true with all production cars the MINI Cooper S bakes are still a compromise!

From the beginning of production in 2001 until the introduction of the 2007 MINI Cooper S, the brakes in the MINI Cooper were the sake as that found in the MINI Cooper S. As the weight of the cars is the same it was not considered important that the much faster MINI Cooper S needed any better brakes. The problem lies in the fact that with the additional horsepower, people like to use it. Thus we drive faster and need to stop more often from higher speeds.

A street driven MINI Cooper S can expect the stock brakes to last 2 or 3 years depending on driving. The stock MINI Cooper S brakes suffer from only a couple of problems. The first one being brake dust. The stock brake pads are of a compound that seems to shed every time they are used. Thus the wheels of the car are always coated in a black dust. Most MINI Cooper owners change the brake pads for this reason long before the material itself wears out. From my experience the EBC Green Stuff pads are the one to use; no dusting and actually stops better than stock.

The second biggest problem with the stock MINI Cooper S brakes are the rotors. But this is a rather unfair statement as the typical brake rotor replacement is due to owner choice or drive abuse and not a design failure. The design of any brake rotor requires it to sustain some very high temperatures. And for the most part the stock rotors do an OK job for the non-aggressive driver. But even a driver that does not think he is aggressive can destroy a set of brake rotors by poor driving techniques (Braking techniques). Most rotors will warp long before they ‘wear out’. A warped brake rotor is not notable when as you are stopping the car you feel a little vibration in the steering wheel. A warped rotor can often occur under racing condition but still is common on street cars. Any number of circumstances can cause it. If you live in a hilly area and are prone to ridding your brakes down hill and then happen to run through a large puddle of water that could instantly cool the rotors, they could warp. If you use your brakes enough to get them hot and them simply sit an idle for a few minutes with your foot on the brakes, again the rotors could warp. An upgraded MINI Cooper S brake rotor as sold by Mini Mania with slots or holes will decrease the tendency for this to happen.

With the introduction of the John Cooper Works performance upgrades for the MINI Cooper S, the brakes also received some attention. The upgrade kit was an option on all models soon there after. With the introduction of the new 2007 model year for 2007, the previous optional JCW upgraded brakes became the stock brakes on all MINI Cooper S models.

So the now ‘stock’ brakes are indeed an upgrade from previous years and thus do work better on a real street car. But, sadly the reality is that if you ever have a chance to even drive a few laps on any sort of race track, it will fast be evident that a ‘big brake upgrade kit’ is a very welcome addition.

OIL - KEEPING IT COOL

Oil is the life blood of the MINI Cooper engine, and it performs two main functions; to lubricate the moving parts of the MINI Cooper engine and to remove heat from the critical parts.

Oil itself is not stable and changes with temperature, the hotter it gets the less viscous (it gets thinner) it becomes and the opposite (get thicker) when colder. By design the MINI Cooper engine caters for the these changes in temperature; when the engine oil is cold it uses a small heat exchanger that warms up the oil using the water system which is quicker to heat up than the oil system. Once warmed up the oil is cooled by the engine sump, the heat being transferred to the sump casing and then cooled by the airflow under the MINI engine.

Why fit an oil cooler?

Changing the specification or use of the MINI Cooper can cause overheating of the oil. For example, as the engine RPM increases every 1000 rpm it require an extra 3 times the cooling! Thus a MINI Cooper that is used for track days or high speed road use can exceed the oil design temperatures. It is for this reason that the German specified MINI Coopers have oil coolers because of the possibility of long distance high speed autobahn driving.

Fitting of sump guards (while great for protection) or front spoilers and body kits (great for looks) can restrict the sump cooling, but again not good for your oil temperatures. Lastly increasing the power output of your MINI Cooper will increase the combustion temperature and as the MINI Cooper S uses a system that sprays oil underneath the piston in an attempt to have the oil absorb some of the heat, this results in even more heat into the oil which in turn must be controlled.

So to run a high power Mini Cooper on a track day with sump guards fitted is not the smartest of ideas–unless you have an oil cooler fitted

What happens if the oil gets too hot?

As said hot oil becomes thinner, losing its film strength. This film strength and oil pressure is what stops bearing surfaces from touching. If they do then metal is removed, clearances widen and pressure drops leading to increased wear and ultimately engine failure. Also the piston temperature increases and detonation can occur especially in tuned engines running altered timing and boost pressures.

Modern synthetic oils are very good with high temperature but can leave varnish deposits and block oil-ways within the engine so it is always best to keep your oil cool within its design limits and typically below 110 degrees C. On a fast run the MINI Cooper can get to over 120degrees C on a standard car.

For a long lasting performance MINI Cooper it makes sense to fit an oil cooler and regularly change both oil and filter Mini Mania highly recommends using Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil.

Cooper Convertible upgrades

Question:
“I’m getting a base mini cooper convertible and wanted to know if there is anything
available to increase its acceleration/performance.”

Response:
There are some performance upgrades available for your Cooper Convertible, and they each make incremental improvements. However, even with all our upgrades and many $$$, your Cooper will not keep up with a stock Cooper S.

A simple upgrade may be an Intake upgrade - NME2018 or Filter upgrade - NME2005 or NME2020.

We don’t have an exhaust system upgrade to fit the Cooper Convertible.

We also offer an ECU upgrade with changes the software on your MINI for a little more performance - NME4240.

Beyond the items above, you can also upgrade the cylinder head an camshaft.

These items will work with both the manual and automatic transmission.

If you are running the stock wheels with the runflat tires, you can actually improve performance by switching to lightweight wheel with standard non-runflat tires. (The stock set-up is very heavy.)