I've had an 06 R52 Cooper S convertible manual for a few years now, as my fun car, my car to wrench on myself. I love it, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Of course, I thought that same thing about my 2017 Civic Sport trim hatchback, which I truly loved and hoped to keep forever. It was simply a perfect daily driver that had a fun side as well.

Unfortunately, last week:

Long story short - I'm picky. I want a hatch. A fun side. Small size but big interior. AWD is nice here in Buffalo, though I always have a second set of wheels with snow tires.

And I found a Mini Clubman JCW in Chicago.
I'm buying it.

Can't see it in person. Buying it via pictures and smartphone videos. And not only isn't it a Honda, but it also isn't an R52 with a supercharged South American engine that I'm familiar with.

I'm looking forward to the thing actually showing up, it is currently still in Chicago, they are arranging transport and delivery.

Anyway - it has just over 50k on the odometer, slightly more than I had put on my Civic in the past 7 years. Looks clean through a screen. I'm freaking out in anticipation, both nerves and excitement. Hoping I made a good choice here.

Are there any things I should proactively address on the F54 or JCW specifically?

 

Yikes, glad you are ok

Good luck with the new F54 JCW.

Check to see if brakes were done. They go through brakes on the JCWs. Also check the motor mounts. Couple other things here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...periences.html

 

Thanks!
I have a buddy with a tuned up F56 and his girlfriend has a 2020 Countryman S. He had to do the right upper motor mount on his - I'm ok with doing that if needed.
And I wouldn't mind throwing on a set of Red stuff pads on.


​​​​​​I am hoping that I might get a year out of it first, I'm going to have to click the "buy" button on a winter tire/wheel package and I'm finding out now that'll be another $2k and there's hardly any selection of wheels with an offset in the 50+ range...
But if I have to do those, I'm not too upset.

Any other trouble spots?

 

Most offsets for MINIs are in the 40's you run wheel spacers to clear the JCW brakes:

F56 F55 F57 set ups https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...l-spacers.html

F54 set ups: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-spacers.html

 

Thanks.

I'll definitely have to be careful with this-
I'd already be having the wheel poke out a bit more with an offset in the 40's, especially with the stock being +57, correct? Then adding spacers will push it out more.
I'm not planning on lowering it, but I don't want any rubbing or bro-dozering.

I'm surprised there aren't more threads on wheel fitment - I had come across one with a pretty short list of "compatible wheels" - are the offsets on the F55 and F56 also +57? I was believing the Clubman was uniquely way out there.on offset.

 

You dont use higher/thicker spacers on the Gen 3 MINIs. You will be fine and no serious poke. Et is 47-57

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2019-...ls/OEM_Wheels/

 

Ouch, that was a bad hit on your Honda.

As for wheel fitment on the Fnn MINIs, this is the “Official F56 Fitment Thread”

I think you will find wheels with down to an ET40 will look fine on your MINI. However, that said, the issue with wheels and the JCW brakes is not just the offset, it is the clearance between the wheel spokes and the fat Brembo JCW brake caliper. For example, the NM wheels I have with an ET40 have gobs of clearance. The Sparco wheels with an ET 45 have about 1mm; I put a 3mm spacer on those.

 

Welcome to Mini land! I am looking forward to seeing your JCW Clubman.

Be careful browsing wheel / tire threads for the F56 (3-door hatchback) because the wheel bolt pattern is different from the F54 Clubman. The F56 uses a 5x112 bolt pattern, and the F54 Clubman uses a 5x120 bolt pattern.

 

Wow - good to know!

I've been trying to conservatively search "only in the F54 Clubman" section here, however that's tough with there being a separate JCW section that I'll dip my toes into eventually, and the Clubman section here blending JCW and S and base, plus the pre-LCI and post-LCI... Pretty easy to stumble on a thread that at first glance gets you excited "that's what I have been looking for!" - then you find out the car they own is 'not like yours' this way, or that way...
So definitely, I'm being careful, and this is a huge detail I didn't know!

Thanks, I'm glad I wasn't hurt, clearly the car absorbed a lot of the impact.

The other kicker here is that I believe two of the wheels have some minor curb scratches. I'll find out when I finally see the car in person.
Imagine my anxiety - I still haven't had the car delivered, because this Chicago Honda dealer is dragging, so slow to get me the paperwork, finance person had a day off... just so slow I am dying, all I have are pictures!

But either way, this fitment issue definitely is a concern - I figured I'd have the car sitting in my driveway by now so I could actually start measuring things and having it all make sense.
In the meantime, I'll definitely check that fitment thread - I'm sure there's a lot of non-JCW in that thread, so it's still a little tricky to parse, I'm sure. Thanks!

And those NM wheels look so good on yours.

 

F54 MINI Clubman uses 5x112 66.6CB, we have it noted on the wheels.

 

Part of why I sent your the F56 link was for you to see how different offsets looked on the car. I think the Cubby has the same OEM offset and body flares, so at least that might help you to decide. Also, depending on what you are look for in the way of wheels, check the NAM market place. There may be OEM wheels on there that might be what you are look for.

Looking forward to what you come up with.

 

Really?! Where did I read 5x120? Countryman?

 

I don't know, maybe the Gen 1 Countryman/Paceman you were thinking about, they were 5x120.

 

OK, thanks - I'll definitely dig deep into that also. I have a buddy with an F56 so we can try a wheel swap on one corner to be sure.
What is CB?

 

“CB” center bore

 

So here's my plan...
Car is supposed to show up Tuesday.

if the wheels do have the curb scratches like I think, and if the summer rubber on them is less than 50%, then I'm going to get some snow tires on the OEM wheels and I'll gain myself the whole winter to do some shopping for a second set of wheels to use for the summer.

If it shows up and the tires are new and wheels are clean, then I'm keeping those for my summer wheels - I like them. But that will mean I need to figure a winter tire/wheel setup out quick. AWD or not, I'm not a fan of driving "all season" (quotes intentional) tires year round. Here in Buffalo, NY we get REAL snow here, and quickly.

In the meantime, I am looking at Android Auto options.
Can anyone comment on the difference between the Andream vs the Bremmen options?

I also see there's a Bimmertech option but -
I'm a former pro installer from a high end car audio and fabrication shop. Done vehicles for Buffalo Bills. I'd been both on the exhibitor and buyer side for 10 years in a row at the CES show through the early 2000's - truly rode it out as the whole industry deflated. I'm sure the Bimmertech solution is fine, quality-wise, but - look, I'm not cheap, but all my red flags are waving. This is an industry I'm familiar with. My real career now is an IT data guy, I'm not a neophyte, I want tangible benefit. I get the impression that the guts of the Bimmertech option may have a lower cost yet higher price than those other two. Like an iPhone with its $200 additional storage option that costs Apple $2 more than the smaller chip (and thanks for stopping me from putting in a $10 micro SD card, Apple - nothing greedy there).

 

Great, center bore ake the hole size.

 

@ECSTuning A few questions if you don't mind. The car arrives tomorrow morning, so I'm ready to make both purchases:

I'm very much leaning towards your Android Auto options - I have to figure out the whole "do I have EVO or NBT" tomorrow.
Alternatively - you don't have an aftermarket head unit replacement option, do you? I could really use a head unit that at least has RCA outputs - if that even exists.

On the wheel topic -
I found these two options on your site, and I'm interested:
Would your 17" wheels with snow tires would fit this '17 JCW brakes vertically? Is it only the LCI JCW's that need 18's?
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assemble...36112461642ts/

Or alternatively I can find snow tires locally. I like the way these JCW-clones look even better, and would stay 18":
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-alzor-pa...f-four/7213kt/ - but will these clear the spokes horizontally? I see the offset isn't OEM so possibly the spoke clearance isn't either?
If I go this route, are these TPMS sensors correct? What advantage are the more expensive ones?
Also I need those center caps on those 17's - are these those, and would they fit the 18's?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hello,

Yep you just need to know which version you have. not suitable for -- Sports brake retrofit kit for that JCW style wheel. I believe to make it work you have to run spacers.

Yep, but we only have 1 left and then NLA.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-alzor-pa...f-four/7213kt/ will work with jcw brakes.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben...ber/ad178~fxw/ yep will work you have to have a shop with autel (or similar) deluxe programmer to work, most tire places have one, make sure before you have them use them. I have these on my MINI and we programmed them here at the R&D shop.

Use the alzor center caps as they dont work with OEM caps. Thats our house brand wheel brand we have for years.

 

I just placed the order for the wheels.

I have a shopping cart loaded up with the TPMS and also the JCW centers - taking a chance and thinking I might be able to 3D print adapters, as long as the Alzor hole is larger than the JCW cap. We'll see. Winter project.

On the head unit - why is it so hard to find info on what NBT vs EVO? Some calling NBT as NBT EVO and others NBT as ID4 EVO, but then ID5 and ID6 are "real" EVO... Then another thread calling it a BIS head unit...
Holy cow. And I don't have Nav, so I can't use the "check your maps version" technique. I found a thread from @ECSTuning earlier that simply said "small iDrive dial= NBT, larger dial = EVO. I hope it's that simple.

I THINK (but now am even less confident) that I have the NBT system in my '17 JCW here.
If you can confirm, I'll do the checkout on my second shopping cart.
Thanks so much.

[EDIT - I removed my pics and added this one I stole from the internet]
https://images.app.goo.gl/vD9W39ajqM44Cz3s8

 

Great, glad to help.

Yep thats our post to check, that covers about 90% of them. We see some variations on certain years. I believe on one of the software screens it says the version and on the back of the head unit in your car.

 

I'm guessing things may be different in your area - here, I haven't found a tire shop that didn't tell me "We won't program any TPMS sensors that we don't sell you. That'll be $75/each thank you."
That kind of "we won't work with our customers, when we haven't screwed them yet" is a dealbreaker for me, personally.

And that's how I've come to own so many tools and learn so much. $300 in unnecessary expense buys a LOT of headroom for tools and education.

ECS sells the Foxwell TPMS sensors I bought for under $20/ea - and the Foxwell T1000 programmer for under $100 - and it's not hard to use.
Save $120 and stay in control of my TPMS sensors - plus any wheels I may buy in the future? OF COURSE I'm not going to pay $300 for their extortion.

 

In my experience, programming TPMS sensors is a waste. I have purchased a number of them over the years, and not once have I had to have them "programmed" to the car. I've just had them installed to the wheel and drive away. As long as you get the correct frequency sensor, the car should recognize the signal. I have done this with Mazda, Mini, and Honda.

 

It might be, might not.
Seems like a fun experiment to do just like you said, actually.

I do own the programmer, and just from powering it up I can say this thing looks EASY to use. Good software. Even a mode to clone existing sensors - scan a stock one, image that to a new one. Perfect for swapping winter wheels on. So if I need to program them, I can.