Further to other posts:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-tyres-suspension-brakes/141846-what-new-pads-john-cooper-works-brakes.html (http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-tyres-suspension-brakes/141846-what-new-pads-john-cooper-works-brakes.html)

and

http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-tyres-suspension-brakes/141312-john-cooper-works-brake-squeel.html (http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-tyres-suspension-brakes/141312-john-cooper-works-brake-squeel.html)

I had discovered also that I had some grinding noises coming from the pads without seeing any warning lights coming on.

I ordered the R56 and JCW drilled ad grooved upgraded discs with pads and began to strip the old.

Although the pads were worn, they were not touching metal and I discovered the only obvious cause was that the sensor's plastic shell had crumbled and was stuck in the pad.

As the brakes were stripped apart by this point, the pads had only a couple of thousand miles left on them, there was a lip forming on the discs and the brake dust build up was dreadful I thought id replace them as everything was there ready to go, clean the callipers and bleed the brakes.

The new parts were reasonably priced (£190 discounted from Scotthall BMW) and looked good.
The disc's centres were primed to prevent rust and the new pads came with all new bolts and clips etc.

After giving everything a good clean and a bleed i'm now almost 100 miles into bedding in.

There is little brake dust so far even from hard breaking and they seem to be biting quite nicely.

I don’t expect them to be a million times better than before but so far they seem pretty good and without any scraping grating and squealing.

I can also now confirm that the dimensions of the whole kit are the same as the R53 JCW kit and all fit together without any hiccups.

Compared with the over £100 JCW pad replacement it seems like a worthwhile investment!

So R56 JCW brake kit does fit an R53 model?

Yep...its the same brake and hub I believe...there was concern over hubs at first but I think its been dispelled now.

i don't think i would ever waste money on the JCW kit as you can buy AP racing 4-pot upgrades for around 650 inc VAT and they are a lot better. the only issue is you will need usually bigger wheels.

I was lucky and found a great deal. The JCW brake package and the new disc and pad upgrade was still a lot cheaper for me that the £650 you mention.

And i can keep my warranty.

When we changed over the discs and pads etc we measured everything up and all the parts were the same sizes.

I have heard the main reason for the comments about incompatibility was because of branding and they had to make out that they were different because of this reason. :puzzled: