Hey Everyone,
Like a few others I'm interested in upgrading my stock R53 front brakes to the R56 front brakes which are the same as the JCW sport brake kit that was released a few years ago. I've seen a few take off kits for sale here on the marketplace for very nice prices, but I wanted to know from anyone who has done the conversion already, what else if any other parts are needed to complete the conversion? Most takeoff kits for sale include calipers and rotors but are there mounting brackets needed for the calipers? Will the stock brake lines fit the new style caliper? Any other concerns that I need to be aware of before jumping into this??

Thanks,
Steve

 

Anybody got any ideas on this?? I know people have done this conversion before.....hopefully they can speak up and lend me some insight.

Steve

 

I had my 05 brakes changed to the JCW BBK about 4 years ago - wasn't cheap, and I had a dealer do it, so can't tell you the details of the installation. They are the same brakes used on the stock R56. With the "old JCW BBK", the front calipers are JCW, and all the brake pads were upgraded. I painted the stock rear calipers red, to match those in the front.

I know that everyone has their preferences with brakes, but I will say that I am 1000% happy with these! I liked the fact that the JCW brakes were designed to be used with the Mini, and wanted to put performance upgrades on my car that were in keeping with the Mini line - in other words, JCW.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out on a lonely stretch of country road, and I played around with speeding up and stopping really fast - fortunately, this is not a scenario I find myself in while doing everyday driving - I was thrilled at how smoothly the car came to a stop! The brakes weren't grabby, etc. - just a very smooth, but very steady and firm stop - over what seemed to be a damn short distance...

Now, I am looking for a set of 16 inch d/s JCW rotors to go on the front! Am in hopes that someone with an R56 car who ordered these has swapped them out for another BBK, and is looking to sell them off!

Otherwise, I'll buy them (Outmotoring seems to have the best price!)....

 

I know that they are superior to the stock R53 brakes (larger rotors and larger calipers) I'm really just trying to figure out if I need different caliper brackets or different lines for a takeoff kit from an R56. I thought I would have gotten a better response....sigh

 

Never mind I found my answer on a better site that I should have asked on first anyways....NAM = FTL with this one

 

So, what was the answer? That way, maybe the next time someone has this question, someone can find or remember this thread and be more helpful.

 

Most users on NAM are going to big brake kits from the aftermarket sector, not OEM when they do caliper upgrades. We're sure sorry we couldn't help.

Alex

 

QFT +1

 

I realize this thread has been dead for a bit. But I thought I would post a comment or two about the conversion.

I converted over to the R56 calipers on my 2005 R53. It was a wonderful upgrade as far as performance goes, the vehicle stops MUCH faster now and was well worth the money involved. I have had this conversion for 2 years now.

Parts required:

1. R56 calipers (I used www.car-parts.com to find the calipers... Mine were $160.00 for both sides, with rotors and pads)

2. Since your likely buying USED calipers from a wrecked vehicle you'll need a caliper rebuild kit for both sides just to be safe ($35.00 each side)

3. SS brake lines, I bought Goodridge brand from a vendor on NAM ($80.00)

4. Brake fluid, I used ATE super Blue ($40.00 total 2 cans used)

5. I didn't want to rebuild the calipers (just for safety reasons) this cost me $60.00 total. I also had used rotors, and being a cheap guy I am, I had the rotors turned VERY VERY lightly, just enough to get the surface rust off, and any imperfections.

The swap was VERY easy, literally it was a direct swap until I got to the brake lines, which required a little modding to the location.

Anyway, great conversion well worth the about $450.00 bucks.

 

Just Finished, Took some photos be posting later, There would be some work to get R56 rear calipers on the R53 rear control arm, The brake line hole in the caliper is right in line with the steel arm, Either you could hole saw the arm to make the straight brake line fit, Or Mod the caliper to use the R53 brake line which would come off the caliper at a 90 degree, Might clear the arm, I might have done this if i had the R56 brake cables, So i just used my R53 calipers, The rotors from the R56 worked with the R53 calipers.

 

I am in the process of upgrading my r53 brakes to the r56 brakes, but the mechanic says the calipers would not fit with the rotors I purchased. The rotor size I purchased was 294mm x 22 mm, so I don't understand why the calipers don't fit. He also said my brake pads don't fit the calipers, but I purchased the Hawk Pads for the JCW brake kit. I am very confused. Someone please help, I don't know if I am missing anything else for the conversion. I thought it was a simple swap of the rotors and the calipers and lines.

 

The 294 mm front rotor size looks right.

Do you have the calipers from an R56 MCS? You will need brake pads also for a R56 MCS.

Perhaps you can post some pics of what you have, rotor, caliper and pad.

 

Hi there its 2am, Just watched Wallstreet, Head not on cars but thought i add some info,

I did have a Hard time finding pads, What i ended up doing was looking at the Hawk site, the have online catalog that shows drawning of the pads, so i was able to match them up by the drawings

The pads i bought were for a 2008 mini cooper s, i think by asking for pads for a 2003 JCW kit confuses retailers, I was on phone with a Guy from hawk, and there catalog had some odditis in it, So thats what lead to the drawings,

The R56 Calipers will not fit the the R53, You have to have the Caliper AND the bracket, The bracket that bolts to the spindle

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/m/h/231.png



R56 Drawing above

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...34&hg=34&fg=05



R53 above

The bracket item #2 in both photos, has to match the caliper,

Finished photo



More in my gallery https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0&ppuser=63971

 

oh wow I just found out that the seller sent me the wrong pads . I told them for the front and they sent me the rears for the 08.

so since my caliper is from an r56, I need the the bracket from the first pic right? thanks for the help!!

 

ok I am very confused, I have checked three different sellers and they list the same part number for the front brake pads. so the pads shouldn't be the issue which leads me to ask if something is wrong with my calipers. is there a difference in the r56 calipers for the cooper and cooper s?

 

my caliper came with the bracket, my mechanic said that the rotor is too big for the caliper, which doesn't make sense since i thought 294 was the correct size for these calipers. the calipers came off of a 2007 r56, my mechanic thinks i might need a different spindle, or a smaller rotor, for this to fit.

 

Ill be working on my car today, it is sitting in my bay at work, I can check the size of my rotors,

Everything went together really smooth, kinda confused what your mechanic is finding wrong

 

Thanks dude I really appreciate your help. I'll have one of my mini technician friends take a look at the brakes this coming week, maybe he will get them to fit. Still don't know what is causing the problem. Also my hawk ceramic brakes don't seem to fit in the calipers. The part number I found off 3 different websites was HB560Z.677. But when I look up that number in the Hawk website it shows that it goes for the Mini Cooper Rears. I am really confused.

 

HB560Z677 = front brake pads R56
HB444Z685 = front brake pads R53

Alex

 

So I ordered the correct pads for my calipers, but they just dont seem to fit. I'm scratching my head here.

 

r56 Cooper and Cooper S have different sized brakes. I found this out about a year ago when I ordered the wrong disks for my S. all of you converting to the R56 brakes need to make sure you are getting the R56 S parts not the non S parts.

 

so then they are not like the jcw brake kit? if i purchased the calipers from an r56 cooper, my rotors would be useless? same with my pads? i thought they were all the same

 

If my calipers are from an R56 MC, are they not the same as the jcw brake kit? Will they not fit the 294mm x 22mm rotor?

 

after taking a look at the realoem parts, if my calipers are indeed off a r56 MC then my carriers are different. which means if i want to use these with the rotors i have now i would need to change them? i wish i had known all of this before i bought everything and not knowing they don't fit

 

Just a lil follow up,

I had EBC Yellows on my car, lasted about 40,000 miles, of track days where i had expernced fade a few times even cracked rotors, to -30 below Wyoming winters, Never Never failed or suprised me, brakes always awesome,

New brakes, i Did the 2008 Cooper S front calipers and rotors With Hawk pads front and rear,

Hate them, one time they feel good, next time the feel like the grap 80% with 20% pedal, really Noisey, one time quite, one time screaming, Almost embarrassed to drive this thing,

Got a track day the weekend, See what happens, For the first time i am not confindent in my brakes or i should say pads