I have a small question to ask. I am riding a 2006 Cooper S NON- J-Dub and looking to convert my brakes to the R56 Brembo's. I have both calipers, discs, pads, R56 brake lines.... the one question I have is...

Do I need the R56 Brake Carriers or will my R53 carriers work?

 

I did the conversion on my R56. The JCW front calipers don't have a carrier in the way the rears or the R56 front "S" calipers do. It's because with the 4 piston JCW/Brembo set up pushing the pads from both sides the caliper is bolted rigidly rather that floating back and forth like with a typical OEM single piston type set up. IIRC, the JCW (Brembo) caliper just bolts right to the hub casting. A bit of confusion is I guess Mini may call that outer hub casting a "carrier" too.

To be sure, just look at the JCW parts diagrams on realOEM for the front R56 brakes and the steering knuckle/hub area. Another way you can look at it is by remembering gen 1 Cooper JCW brakes are the same as gen 2 "S" brakes. Thus if from your car to the first gen JCW there is no incremental part there, then there won't be all the way to the second gen JCW brake bolt up either. Only exception I know of are the flexible (rubber/SS) brake lines, which sounds like you already know.

 

Okay... My vehicle does not have the R53 JCW Brembo's.... I guess this mean's i need to get the carriers?

 

I figured you didn't have R53 JCW's. One more time:

Look at your car as built against an R53 JCW. If it does not indicate anything special as far as the carrier, then good to go. realOEM.com parts diagrams would give you what you need to know. If it shows a change, then you have an issue. Or, call/email Way Motor Works and ask them.

Underlying reason: R53 JCW = R56 S brakes. I went from R56 S brakes to R56 JCW w/ no change beyond the calipers, pads and rotors. Thus if your car is compatible with R53 JCW, it's compatible with R56 S brakes and then in turn R56 JCW. If all this checks out, then from other posts apparently you just need to change the rubber brake lines.

Also terminology wise repeating, Mini calls the outer hub piece a "carrier", and the brakes do bolt to the hub ultimately. But, I usually call the bracket to which the part of the brake containing the piston connects or slides the carrier. R56 JCW's don't have this construction though, because the pistons act from both sides instead of the typical single piston set up that then needs to slide on a carrier. On the R56 JCW's that carrier type bolt up point to the hub is all integrated into the (large) caliper unit itself. The caliper to hub bolts for the R56 JCW's are identical to the carrier to hub bolts used on the R56 S.

 

The hub spindles are the same.

All you need are the parts you already have. The caliper, rotor, and lines.