14 replies to this topic

[JustSteve]

Right, this is mainly regarding minsports.

I've heard that the non-genuine ones are s**t but I was looking at the minisport ones... they look like the cheapo ones that're around, but for £30/£40 more! Is this the case?

Has anybody had any experience with them?


Steve.

Edited by JustSteve, 27 November 2011 - 06:59 PM.

[cradley-heathen]

im sure loads of people will disagree with me here, but i have had "cheapo" ones, genuine superfins, and minisport marked ones, and i can see NO idfference in either braking capacity, wear, weight (and i have weighed them before you ask)

on my current car i have some minisport ones that i got from work cheap, which i then had turned down to reduce the width of the spacer, i also had the fins off and a huge chunk removed from the outer edge too which reduced the weight from 1.75kg to 1.25kg (my iron drums were 2.5kg, and thats the unspaced ones!)

in my opinion, the fins cant do an enormous amount for cooling, especially squeezed inside a 10" wheel as mine are. the only reason i fitted them is to save some weight.



if anyone is concerned about them cracking/shattering etc, they are fitted to my road car, and have been around castle combe at full pelt many a time now with no problems. (just need some lighter arms now lol)

Edited by cradley-heathen, 27 November 2011 - 07:26 PM.

[Cooperman]

Yes, agreed. The only advantage with light alloy rear drums is to reduce the unsprung weight at the rear. There is no advantage with braking capability as the rears do so little braking on a Mini,

[cradley-heathen]

agreed cooperman, one of my old minis had the rear brakes biased all the way off, the only thing you noticed was it felt a little more twitchy braking hard from higher speeds.

[JustSteve]

im sure loads of people will disagree with me here, but i have had "cheapo" ones, genuine superfins, and minisport marked ones, and i can see NO idfference in either braking capacity, wear, weight (and i have weighed them before you ask)

Can you tell me, are the minisport one, actually unique to minisport?

Yes, agreed. The only advantage with light alloy rear drums is to reduce the unsprung weight at the rear. There is no advantage with braking capability as the rears do so little braking on a Mini,

To be honest I'm not looking to increase braking performance, afterall most of the stopping power comes from the front! I'm mainly interested in the looks if I'm completely honest.

[cradley-heathen]

im sure loads of people will disagree with me here, but i have had "cheapo" ones, genuine superfins, and minisport marked ones, and i can see NO idfference in either braking capacity, wear, weight (and i have weighed them before you ask)

Can you tell me, are the minisport one, actually unique to minisport?

Yes, agreed. The only advantage with light alloy rear drums is to reduce the unsprung weight at the rear. There is no advantage with braking capability as the rears do so little braking on a Mini,

To be honest I'm not looking to increase braking performance, afterall most of the stopping power comes from the front! I'm mainly interested in the looks if I'm completely honest.

the minisport ones say "minisport superfin" between the fins other than that identical so far as i can see. i cant see any difference in the quality of the casting either, no gas holes visible even after having mine machined down.

if your only fitting them for the looks, i would say get the cheaper ones then. having said that the turned finish on mine is a bit bling if you liek that kind of thing? i did intend painting them black so they look like iron drums actually.

[Cooperman]

With a very light-weight racing Mini the saving in unsprung weight on the rear does help with the road-holding as the wheels stay on the ground better with very hard damping over slight bumps in corners.

[surfblue63]

When I converted my traveller to 7.5" discs I put the budget Mini Spares Minifins on.

http://www.minispare...pid=40912=

When I went to get them they asked what I was using the car for and they said for road use there was no point having the SuperFins as these are more for racing and track work.

http://www.minispare...pid=37940=

[Cooperman]

Yes, I don't even use them on my rally cars but for racing, hill-climbing and sprints they would be great as the shell would be stripped out and everything possible done to reduce weight.

[jaydee]

I use minifins at the rear drums, they weigh half of the standard spacered drums, and the unsprung weight reduction is definately noticeable.
Dont know a thing about the mini sport make, they're probably the chinese copies because 'real' minifins cost a lot more..

[cradley-heathen]

i would imagine they probably come from the same factory, but dont forget minisport ones are about £100, whereas the china made ones are about 35. thats alloy of money just to have some writting on them though

[podifold]

I got a set of the cheapo ones off eBay but they weren't round, they were slightly ovalised. Putting a vernier on the x and y axis there was a difference of 1.2mm - doesn't sound much but it is. I got a set of MiniSport ones instead and they were absolutely spot on.

Edited by minipick-up, 28 November 2011 - 06:43 PM.

[shellspeed]

There was a few tales of the steel liner coming lose from the drum of the cheap copies. It was a while ago now so perhaps it was just a blip with one batch.

On that basis I brought the minisport ones but fail to see any differance other than having a round, groove free brake drum again and some weight saving.

I am fairly sure that new steel drums would have had the same effect (minus the weight saving).

[nafnaforiginal12]

I got a set of W&P finned drums off ebay, they seem to be ok

[JustSteve]

what exactly is there to stopthe steel lining from spinning round once they heat up?