Help me choose brakes for an R53 JCW

I'm ready to do the brakes on my MINI Cooper S JCW.

It's a 2004.  In 2004, the JCW package DID NOT include a brake upgrade, but a JCW upgrade was available separately.  My understanding is that this was pretty much identical to R56 brakes (calipers and rotors).  I don't know if my car is wearing this brake upgrade or not.  I'd like the equivalent of a poor man's "big brake" package.  I want to fit them under 15" wheels.

So, first question.. How can I identify the JCW brake package (and/or the R56 brakes)?  What are the differences with a standard R53 S package?

Second question... What recommendations do you have for a car that is primarily street driven, with occasional autocross?  Pads, rotors, calipers...

Thanks for the help!

I think the regular R53 rotors are 276mm diameter and the JCW rotors are 294mm. My R53 is in the garage for new front brakes and a couple of other things, otherwise I could measure it.

Edit: Duh.....I have a service manual where a sensible person can use an index and simply read the specs. The JCW rotors are 294mm vs. 276. The only difference on the rear is the pad material. The JCW had more aggressive compound to balance with bigger front rotors.

The JCW/R56 brakes won't let you run 15" wheels.  Even some 16" wheels don't fit. The factory 16" wheels I run as winter wheels just barely clear the calipers. 

Pads are generally your best upgrade option, although the trade-off is generally cleaning brake dust off the wheels more often. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

You sure?

BradLTL's R53 is wearing R56 calipers and 15's

True, I think he runs 15x8 Konig Dial- In?

Depends on the wheel, I've seen a few others that fit but can't remember which, research would be required.

I run 16's so have never done a deep dive on 15" fitments.

I have a nice set of poorman JCW R56 calipers that I found on a junkyard car, they are really well-done with the finish...

...if you're interested I'd let them go for a fair price.

In reply to Oldboy Speedwell :

I'm absolutely interested!

Any idea what diameter rotors those worked with?  My research is coming up a little syringe on the R56's... it seems like the JCW rotors were smaller than the standard S (which is weird... probably wrong)

294mm as DeadSkunk(Warren) said.

Where are you located?

I'm in NW Georgia.

btw

here's a reference for the 3 variant factory calipers:

stock R53

JCW

R56

Pretty much the only difference between the factory JCW R53 and the R56 is that bend on the carrier, notice how they've got a curve in the middle pic as compared to being  straight in the bottom pic.

Note- none of those calipers are  mine, just grabbed rando pix online

In reply to Oldboy Speedwell :

I live in SC, but work in Macon GA. 
 

The easiest thing would be to ship to my house.   Willing to ship?

PMed you

Will check PM

Funny story - those calipers came from when I drove 7 hours round trip to the LKQ Pick-Your-Part in Greenville SC, another guy beat me there though and was in process of dismantle but he was cool and we worked out a gentlemens agreement, he had driven from NC.

The reason I drove so far is because the day I saw the picture when it hit the yard I thought it was a JCW and those rarely pop up at the boneyard, well it turned out not to be real, but a very accurate clone of one, even had the replica JCW rocker badge on the valve cover along with a real JCW airbox. It really fooled me in the pictures and sorta blew my mind under closer inspection, someone went through a lot of trouble and was rather meticulous with the details.

*edit - cannot find the place for PM's, should it be on my dashboard?

edit edit - - sent you a PM with my email addy, since I'm a noob here may not have PM privileges?

I think you'll need to change the hoses if you change calipers. One version uses banjo fittings and the other has a screwed in fitting. I can't remember which is which, just look at them before you begin working and order the correct ones.

In reply to SV reX :

I'll have to go back and look at the wheels he's running...  Hmm... Konig Dial In.   Does improve options, although I'd still be hesitant if you are considering other wheels.   

I went to check too and it looks like he upgraded to 15x7 OZ Racing Ultraleggeras.

In reply to Oldboy Speedwell :

It's not technically a PM. It sends an email to the email address you registered with. 
 

You can email me directly. Svrexpaul at gma...

mail sent to your addy --- checked my mail and nothing had came through

In reply to Oldboy Speedwell :

I replied.

Sometimes the PMs don't work here.  Especially if you have a Yahoo email address.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

I think you'll need to change the hoses if you change calipers. One version uses banjo fittings and the other has a screwed in fitting. I can't remember which is which, just look at them before you begin working and order the correct ones.

Yes need hoses from R56 for front, I used braided SS. 

Also you can make rear r56 calipers fit with clearancing of the trailing arms.  They are the same size rotor but much less $$ to buy.

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

The JCW/R56 brakes won't let you run 15" wheels.  Even some 16" wheels don't fit. The factory 16" wheels I run as winter wheels just barely clear the calipers. 

Pads are generally your best upgrade option, although the trade-off is generally cleaning brake dust off the wheels more often. 

They will.  I run 15s with r56 calipers:

http://www.alsoranracing.com/2021/02/16/winter-projects/

I went with StopTech rotors and EBC Red Stuff pads.  I'm not a huge fan of the EBC pads, they got overheated during a trackday and caused a huge amount of vibration.  I'm swapping to G-Loc pads for One Lap of America.

If you want to run 15" wheels, Advanti Storms are the way to go.  You can get cheap ones from Miata people.  They have the best brake room of all the wheels I tried.  949 6ULs worked ok but they were tight.

My R53 had the Wilwood 12" kit and I was able to run 15" wheels with careful spacers and offset coordination.  Stock 16" wheels generally required a 5mm spacer.

In reply to BradLTL :

Clarify something for me...

Did you use R56 calipers at all 4 corners, or just the fronts?  My (weak) research seemed to imply the rear ones were identical. Is that true?

In reply to SV reX :

The rear calipers are different, but rotors are the same size.  R53 calipers cost twice as much.  If your r53 calipers are ok there is no point in changing to r56.

In reply to Aspen :

What's the difference?

SV reX said:

In reply to BradLTL :

Clarify something for me...

Did you use R56 calipers at all 4 corners, or just the fronts?  My (weak) research seemed to imply the rear ones were identical. Is that true?

Just the fronts.

I am considering Wilwood 11.75s to replace them though.

In reply to BradLTL :

Are you unhappy with the R56's?

In reply to SV reX :

No, but changing pads is a PITA with them.  The wilwoods are a simple clip.  It could save a good amount of time during OLOA if we need to swap pads.  I just haven't decided if it is worth $1000 or not.  Probably not considering how much money I'm already putting into my $1700 car. 

In reply to BradLTL :

Gotcha.

My car is a likely $2000 Challenge car, so I wont be buying $1000 brakes!