Hello All,
Just bought my first Mini, a 2005 John Cooper Works. Has most options that were available, but noticed it does not have the
John Cooper Works Springs or Brake Setup. Anyone with these items for sale please contact me.
Thanks

 

EastTN -

If you don't mind not having the pretty "red" calipers and brackets, the R56 (2006 to "around" 2013) rotors and calipers are the same as the R53 JCW brakes. Then I think Brembo calipers are the JCW brakes for the R56 cars. As I think I've learned around here.
The previous owner of my car (2005 S, JCW) installed the front R56 brakes only, left the standard R53 in the back. Street wise, very happy with the way things work. Haven't had it out to any "Auto-Cross" days...yet though.
I have the R56 rear set, just don't need it as of now.

Mike

 

Two options :

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...rakes-kit.html

Or

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...56-brakes.html




I put the 4 pot brembos on my R52

 

Hard to tell from your post, but are you looking to add only authentic JCW accessories to your car, or would factory MINI stock equivalents be OK? If being actual JCW or indistinquishable from JCW doesn't matter, stock brakes from a 2nd gen S are the same spec-wise as the 1st gen JCW's and you can do the "poor mans JCW" upgrade posted above. Otherwise, you'll need to get an actual set of 1st gen JCW's.

The caliper carrier on 2nd gen brakes is a lot thinner and straighter than the thicker curved carrier of the JCW's. Even when painted red and labeled, it's easy to tell which is an actual JCW brake as this portion of the carrier is clearly visible behind the wheel. To most this wouldn't matter, but with your post referring to JCW a couple of times, it might.

If you do the "poor man's upgrade", make sure the calipers and carriers are from a 2nd gen S as the regular calipers will not fit the larger 294mm rotor without changing the caliper carrier, and getting the correct carriers can cost more than the calipers themselves.

 

Thanks so much for all of the incredible information. Finding out I have a lot to learn. I'm actually going to hold out for authentic JCW.
I LOVE my car and just bought it 3 days ago. Looking forward to holding onto it for a long time, not to mention I'm a little OCD when
it comes to details. I appreciate all the replies and look forward talking with you guys down the road.

 

It sounded like the details might matter, so I wanted to check. Here's a pic of what the actual 1st gen JCW calipers and carriers look like:

 

fwiw I think the JCW front springs are NLA, so the next closest will be Sports Suspension Plus if not the same bar the colour perhaps, as they are a touch lower than standard.

 

I have an extra set of the BBK laying around in good shape. I was going to keep them for track weekends and when I was rebuilding a set.

 

The vin sheet on my 06 factory JCW says it was fitted with sports suspension plus from the factory...no idea if it's the same as JCW suspension though ...I'm sure someone will know.

 

The JCW springs are red in color and lower the car about 1/2". There is also a JCW badge on the strut body. Not sure if they were factory installed but my impression that it was a dealer installed option like the body kit

 

Dealer installed back in the day I think up til ~2006 ish. Check for the JCW stickers and the red springs.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...uspension.html

 

Sports suspension plus (became standard after the face lift??) is different from the JCW suspension. Your car still might have had the JCW suspension upgraded at the dealer so check for the red springs and JCW struts mentioned above.

BTW, does anyone know what the "plus" really adds? I've never been able to find a description of what's different from the regular sports suspension.

 

I wondered that also, I always heard it was better dampening. "plus" == more sportiness

 

 

Thanks for the good info!

 

Yep.