they look good mate

 

Hi Hucker

May i first say that those brakes look AMAZING!! I'm the proud new owner of my very first new mini. After having 6 of the old type min's since i was 15, the time had come to move on to something a little more modern that would not rust. As much as i love the old mini (and admittently was against the new BMW cars when they arrived) i am head over heals with Lenni (my R53)

My question involves the brake mod that was carried out on your car. Currently in my living room i have a full set of R108's running Dunlop's and a Brembo JCW brake kit that i will be fitting within the next month. I have been snooping around the site and taken note of what various users have to say, however there are a few points i would like to clear up before i go ahead feet first into the mod. If you or anyone else can help me clear these up i would be extreamly greatful..!!

1) You mentioned that you had to cut the rear suspension arm so that the brake hose could clear it. How much material are we talking?? is it a slither or a slice??

2) I was aware that the current brake lines on the front do not fit due to the banjo.. If i buy a set of Goodridge R56 lines can these be fitted without the modification that you mentined..??

3) I think that il be ok with the R108 rims without spacers... Can you or anyone else coment on this..??

Im sorry to ask so many questions however i need to get this right first time

Many many thanks

S Kelly

 

Welcome to MINI2 ...

I think that il be ok with the R108 rims without spacers... Can you or anyone else coment on this..??

R108 wheels are on the "approved" list ...

RealOEM - R56 JCW Sports Brake Kit

 

Havent seen a set of the brembos fitted with s-spokes before - nice work Bet your enjoying the stopping power now !!

Only thing is its a shame they are hidden behind the spokes - I recon you need some more open wheels to show off the brakes and ensure they are light weight wheels too....

Enjoy !

 

Miniltes



The brakes certainly work, it's making my eyes hurt! but I'd rater see the wheels than the brakes, my '66 Cooper S has 10" Minilites and these are a good match.

 

Fair enough mate - its just that lighter wheels are better dynamically... you would get a better ride and handling from lighter wheels....

 

A few points to add...

You do NOT need to cut the rear arms at all ive fitted a few of these kits now (4 cars) and mine.. the first time they got cut as we did not no as most garages will cut them anyway..

I got a set of braided lines made up for the rear with a banjo fitting and it works fine and no cutting is needed.

This is how my rear's are setup not and the rear brake lines cost me £35 for the set, i already had stainless front ones that fitted.

Scotty

 

Dear All,
Do you have any idea if this brake kit will fit on a GP ?
As I know so far, I will need the brake lines of R56 and a spacer kit, however what will be the dimension of the spacer for the OEM GP rims ?
Thanx.

 

googling will get you all of the answers Cosmicboy

 

@ScottyBoy - I see your posting about fitting these kits to R53s and have a few Qs.

I have just fitted this full kit to my 2006 R53 and noticed a deeper pedal feel. I installed this and used the old school method of "down, up, down, up..." to bleed fluid and was able to get solid fluid out of the lines and a drivable feeling but, it still needed one quick pump to get a firmer pedal.

Engine off, the pedal is rock solid.
Engine on, the vacuum assist feels like it is too excessive.

Engine on the pedal feels mushy but, the brakes work well. With two quick pump provides better tighter pedal feel. This lead me to believe there was air in the lines somewhere.

So, I dropped it off at my local MINI dealer to see if they could have a better go at it. They said they hooked up electronically to remove any air trapped in the ABS system and pressure bled each corner and reported that it is better than when I dropped it off.

Any tricks or tips? on bleeding, pedal feel or reports similar would be appreciated, thanks.

Couple of notes:
2006 R53 with 50k miles.
- ATE Super Blue Racing Fluid
- Needed to file the rear trailing arms to fit the R53 emergency brake cables.
- Needed to make the R53 round "O" e-brake cable have flat edges (dremel tool, eye protection) to fit the "[]" square R56 rear caliper hole.
- Made up some short brake lines with female and male ends, no need to cut-away the trailing arm for this.

ts’ racing sport report Service Notes – 50,088. Fitting a 2009 > JCW Brembo Sports Brake Kit on a 2006 R53.

Here are some photos of the install.

 

Hi Thompson, I think you need to support those short brake lines you've fitted, with constant suspension travel and vibration and with the weight of the couplings and rubber hose I'm worried that they will harden and crack. Better to fit new longer hoses with banjo connections and do away with the metal lines.

 

That is a wonderful idea to dampen these. I could try to add some rubber / metal solid mounts, but where to attach? The tarmac roads I drive on are like a rallye stage. I'll keep an eye on it. I was thinking of Waxoyling these to lessen the corrosion.

Might be better off as you mention sourcing some Goodrich banjo fittings and longer rear rubber hoses. I'm sure Goodrich could make up a set with the 10mm banjo already on it, but these would most likely be stainless steel. I purchased new R56 standard front rubber hoses and mixing the two would produce different results.

Does anyone have any luck sourcing other BMW rear hose parts that would possibly work?

ps...I was able to drive the new brakes tonight and all is well with the pedal feel. It required the mentioned pressure bleeding, ABS bleeding and manual bleeding afterwards.

These brakes are mental!

 

After you get used to them it becomes scary when you drive something else with regular brakes! Have fun.....

 

Thanks for the support tip

I sent it off to the MINI dealer to have the whole system bled through. Seems to have solved most (but not all) the spongy pedal. Very drivable now. I think that one of the front calipers still has a small tiny little bubble. Might need a proper gravity and pressure bleed with a rubber mallet on the front calipers.

Anywho, on the ground when the suspension is fully compressed I noticed that the rubber rear lines were ever so rubbing against the JCW exhaust - ruhro. So, moved the line I made to accommodate and fitted a piece of rubber hose around, similar to the piece that is already there. I'm not confident in this setup and decided to purchase stainless steel lines front and rear from Todd at TCE in AZ for $105 USD shipped. These are banjo fitting on all four corners and the fronts have 10mm bolts and angled 30 deg. The rears will be shorter than my extended lines added and should solve the exhaust clearance issue. I'll report back after install with photos.

I can say that these brakes are totally mental :tongue:

Cheers,
Thompson

 

I got this job to do once Ive fitted coil overs

can I just run Front and rear r56 brake lines without any issues?

or am I gonna struggle with the rears?

 

Hi guys, just a quick question. I am about to fit r56 jcw brakes on my r53 with s spokes. Do I need spacers on the back as well?

 

No, you don't need spacers on the back but it will make it look better and also mean you only have one size of wheel bolt.
without spacers on the front, the Brembo calipers will contact the inside of the spokes before it is seated on the hub!

 

Will these fit the front? http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=170988653824. Thanks

 

Yes, they look good, got the bolts too!

 

thanks!

 

I didn't realize you could put the R56 JCW fronts on an R53.......thought it was just the standard R56 fronts that would work.

 

Here are some very late (sorry gents) photos of the install. This setup has been working well for the last 13,000+ miles in all dry tarmac, snow and ice conditions. Rims used are both 17" with H&R 25mm spacers and longer wheel bolts, R85 S-Lites and BBS R90s.

Which then necessitated installing front urethane mud flaps…

 

hi guys, got these fitted.. The brake pedal is long.. the mechanic recons there is no air there, for those who have done it, how do you find your pedal? I think it needs another bleed.