Okay guys and gals. I am a newby. Just ordered my first MCS CV (2007) and it's due in late September or Early October. I have a list of mods that I want to research and the first is the port installed JCW brakes. I plan to autocross and track day this car (when my wife is not looking) so I think brakes are very important. My question is, has anybody done the port installed JCW brakes? Are the JCW brakes the way to go? Are there other alternatives that may be better? I appreciate any feedback and thanks in advance for all replies. I will ask about the intake, exhaust, suspension in future posts. I get the feeling this car will be a 40K car before I know it

 

The JCW brakes are a significant improvement over the standard brakes. Less fading, lighter pedal required, and less grabby.

I had them installed by the dealer and had misgivings until the new pads got properly seated, as the new brakes required a lead foot to stop the car. As the pads seated, that problem quickly vanished and the brakes were ultimately much stronger than stock.

 

+1 to everything including the initial 'WTF did I waste money on?' until they were bedded.

 

From October 2006 production on, all MCS's come with the JCW brake kit. The rotors, calipers and pads are all identical in specification and size. They were upgraded to coincide with the 2007 launch. The only difference is the calipers are not painted red like the original brake kit. So buying the entire set would be buying basically the same thing your car has now but in red.

Now what can be installed at the port are the JCW cross-drilled rotors. However they do not help in stopping performance - only with heat dissipation in extreme track situations. Otherwise they give you less swept area.

 

check the forum.....Cabrio....R53 I did the same thing at first

 

All MCS's from October onward have this same braking kit - including R52s and the few thousand R53s that were made from 10/06 to 11/06.

 

Wow, I didn't know that... very good to know. And what a bonus for 2007 & 2008 MCSC buyers!

 

Thanks for all the replys and educaton. I guess I will just bring her home in the factory configuration and move on from there. Can always make modifications later. I can hardly wait. Will post pics once she's home. Thanks!

 

It's interesting that the configurator still has 16" V-Spokes as the default wheel for the MCSC. Some GP owners have used 16" V-Spokes and they do seem to fit over the JCW brakes, but previously MINI's stance was that of the 1st gen 16" wheels, only the Bridge Spoke was officially approved for JCW brakes.

 

And for some of the last R53 buyers. I had a very late R53 loaner a few weeks back that had the new brakes on them. It was a pleasant surprise as there's a noticeable difference once they're broken in.

 

The heat dissapation will improve the braking performance by reducing fading not only in track situations but also on mountainous twisties.

I would have rather seen JCW slotted discs as cross drilling invites heat fractures.

 

I was really interested to read this. I have a 2007 MCS R52 built in 12/2006 and had been looking to buy the JCW brake kit.

However, I compared my calipers with those on a car with a dealer-installed JCW kit and my calipers are different (besides not being red). I compared part numbers on realoem.com. Their site only goes up to 11/2006, but the calipers on my car are definitely these ones here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...34&hg=34&fg=05
This is the same part number as on all earlier R52's. Only the part number of the discs seems to have changed during 2006. So, I am assuming that other than different discs, I don't have upgraded calipers and pads.

Also, why would the miniusa.com configurator still has the JCW brake kit as an option on the R52. Am I missing something?