Hi Guys, I´m just about to sell my JCW Brakes to get a better BBK. I was thinking on buying the AP Racing BBK (304mm). Before i would like to know what you think about it, If they good enogh or if it is worthy to spend a little more money. I have also the chance to buy the Galfer BBK (330mm) but maybe it´s too much.. it is also 1000 Euros more. What do you think about it?. If I could see a picture pleeeease to see how they look.

Thanks!

 

i have no experience with AP brakes on the mini, but i did ride in a 350Z with AP brakes, and OMG does it ever stop the car

AP brakes i believe were standard on the challenge cars werent they? from what i hear they are really good

i also like the plain unpainted calipers, very very stealthy

 

Great brakes and they are made/owned by Brembo. Also JCW is coming out with a 4 piston brake setup next spring and they look exactly like the AP setup.

 

Here is a photo.

ken

 

The AP BBK kit ($1500):
CP76xx calipers are excellent
One-piece drilled rotors are good for the street
Goodridge ss lines are excellent
Pads ought to be swapped out for 2500s

You'll need to make sure your wheel of choice will fit!

 

I have the JCW 4 piston kit which is the AP BBK with some minor customization options for JCW. I also have their cooling ducts. I wanted a nice setup that was almost "factory". I bought these over a year ago before JCW was bought out by BMW/Mini.

They work great, bolt on just like factory. Only comment is pad options are kind of slim in the USA. Ferodo DS2500 are the only easy one's to get. They have worked ~ok for a year on street & fair at the track, but without my cooling ducts they would have been toast at the track. So for the last track event (when they started getting a little thin) I swapped in the Mintex MDB2027-M1166 that came with the JCW kit. They work awesome on the track and guess what? I'm still running them on the street & they work fine! No squeal & decent friction at low temps, and rotor wear looks OK. I know they say they aren't for street use, but my Mini disagrees.

 

How many miles so far and in what way do they say they are not streetable? Sounds like you found a good solution for a bit of a problem with regards to JCW brakes.

 

AP Racing is very high quality and used on real race cars all over the world.

What problems are you having with your JCW setup that makes you think you need to get a new brake kit?

 

I have about 12-13k on the kit, the last 2-3k with the Mintex M1166 pads. I never found any specifics as to why they are supposedly not streetable. The usual suspects on why a race pad wouldn't be streetable are low friction when cold, tough on rotors, squeal, horrible/damaging dust. I haven't found any of this. They do start to lightly squeal after a tough track weekend, but I find that after washing the car & the rotors rust, the squeal goes away. And it was very minor, equal or less than what my rear M1144 pads do.

Note: I have the JCW branded AP racing brakes, with aluminum 4 piston calipers same as used in the Mini Challenge, NOT the factory"ish" JCW's that look like slightly larger stock brakes.

 

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...from what I see in Europe, buying those AP brakes over there are in the range of $2500 Euro...here , a set of Brembos can be purchased for $2500 American...at today's exchange rate of .68, that's $1700 Euro.....i don't think the AP's are that much better , are they?

 

I wouldn't say the AP/JCW's are better than Brembo's. Just a different option. The JCW/AP alum racing brakes cost me about $1500 to buy just over a year ago, and look like the factory could have put them on (especially with the "John Cooper Motorsport" logo milled into them). That's part of why I bought them instead of the others.

 

i know that ap racing brakes are used in the subaru WRC rally car! so they arent shabby.

 

How about the BBK from the guys at Texas Speed Werks (www.txwerks.com)

http://www.txwerks.com/servlet/Detail?no=132



The rotors are HUGE in the right direction... WIDTH!