If you saw the Minspeed (formerly MyMini) Dyno Day articles and the Minspeed pulley review, you know that I have made some engine performance upgrades to my 2006 MINI Cooper S. What you may not know is that I have also been working on upgrading the way my MINI handles as well. Over the past few months I have upgraded various parts of the MINI’s suspension (from brakes to coilovers). I plan to cover these upgrades in a series we will call – “The MotoringFun Suspension Project”. For this first article, I will cover the first 3 changes that were made – brakes, wheels and tires.

Even before I installed my first engine mod, the first order of business was to upgrade my stock brake pads to the Minspeed PBR ceramic pads to help stop the car more effectively. Some people are so tempted to increase horsepower right away that they forget that they need to figure out how to stop all that extra power.

I had used the PBR Ceramics on my 2005 MINI Cooper and was very pleased with how they performed, both on the track and on the street, so I decided to stick with them on my 2006 MINI. In combination with ATE Super Blue fluid, brake fade was non-existent on the track. My brakes actually felt more responsive the harder I used them, while still having excellent stopping power on the street under normal driving conditions. I will say, that after tracking the PBR’s, they are not the quietest pads out there when they get dusty. A good cleaning, however, helps tone down the brake squeal quite a bit.

I did notice some pad flaking after my last track day. When I showed Pete over at Minspeed, he quickly sent the pads to the manufacturer for review and they were deemed to be a bad batch, as they should not flake. A new set of pads were provided and I am back on the road, loving my PBRs. Another big selling point for the PBRís is that you can pick up both front AND rear pads for $115!! If you are looking for a nice upgrade to your stock brakes without getting a full big brake kit, this is a GREAT affordable upgrade.

After improving my stopping performance, I decided to make some improvements over my S-heavies (S-lites) and Dunlop SP Sport 9000 DSST runflats. Now, before I continue, let me go on record and say that I was absolutely blown away at how well the S-lites and Dunlop runflats held up at my last track day. I really did not have very high expectations before the event, but was VERY pleased at the grip that the tires had. They felt much stickier than my Goodyear runflats I had on my 2005 Cooper.

For my wheel and tire replacements I decided to give edgeracing.com a shot. I had heard mixed reviews on their service so I ordered, expecting some issues. Initially I had selected the 17 inch A&L Racing wheels by Enkei simply because they were under 20 pounds and, at the time, were only $94 a wheel! Of course they were listed as pre-order, set to arrive within 1-2 days so I figured no problem right? Wrong. Two weeks went by and no sign of the wheels hitting the Edge Racing warehouse.

I finally got tired of being told each day that they would be in the next day and never having anything to show for it. So I decided to change my order to wheels that they had in stock ñ the Enkei Evo 6ís in anthracite. Since I have the aero kit and dark tint, I felt I had enough black on the car to make the anthracite work. At 18.5 pounds and $125 a piece, I felt that they would serve my purposes well as a track-friendly, daily driver wheel.

Tires were tough to choose. There are SOOO many choices. After reading countless reviews and talking to other MINIacs who track their MINIs and use the same tires for daily driving, I narrowed down my choices between the Hankook Ventus Rs2 Z212ís and the Falken Azenis Rt615ís in a 215/40/17 configuration. In the end I decided on the Hankooks for $98 a tire.

Edge Racing went ahead and mounted and balanced the wheel/tire combo and when I received them, I quickly got to work putting them on my car. Unfortunately, I was not aware that Edge Racing did not ship out metal centering rings and only provided plastic ones. Knowing what can happen to plastic rings on the track (ie. they melt), I got on the phone with Edge Racing customer support to see what could be done. I was shocked to hear that they simply did not carry metal rings!! You would think that Edge RACING would carry rings suitable for track use!?!?! Luckily DiscountTireDirect.com was able to help me out and send me metal rings for my wheels for under $20.

Once I received the metal rings, I put my new wheels and tires on and went for a spin. I immediately felt a difference in the steering wheel. Turning the car was so much easier due to the reduced weight. I estimated about a 26 pound savings between my new setup and my S-heavies with runflats. The car felt like it had more torque too. I assume it was a combination of the weight savings and the grippier tires, resulting in less wheel spin under hard acceleration. Whatever it was, it felt great!

I have put on about 5,000 miles on the tires so far and they really handle like a dream. My only concern with a tire that is rated with such a high performance rating is the way it may handle in the wet. I can tell you that my concerns were laid to rest last week when I had to drive through a very bad rainstorm with semi-flooded steets. The car felt very stable, even when driving at speed through some sizable puddles. I have rotated the tires already and am getting them ready for my next track day. I canít wait to see how they feel on the track. The only complaint that I have received from passengers is that the tires are noisy. Having driven on runflats for the past few years, it does not bother me at all, but if you need a quiet tire, the Hankooks may not be for you.

Overall, the first phase of my suspension upgrades went very well. The car stops much better and has more grip through the turns over my stock setup. I will be taking the car on the track next month at Sebring International Raceway and will post a review on how the tires hold up after 2 days of intense driving. So stay tuned, not only for the track follow-up, but also part 2 of the suspension project where I add an ALTA rear sway bar and SPC rear control arms.