I really wanted to upgrade the rear brakes on my Clubman S after installing 12.2in Wilwoods up front but the aftermarket kits all had issues.

Foremost I wanted more rear bias to balance out the front, but not too much. Second the Wilwood kit has a caliper that was way to big for my 16in Enkei wheels. TCE has an 11.75in kit that moves the stock caliper out just enough for the bigger rotor almost fit, but it might be more brake than the bias requires with 12.2 fronts.

Since the JCW rear is 280mm (11in) vs the 259mm for the S, I thought wouldn't that be a good start for increased bias? I searched the site but surprisingly could not find any previous info on this solution. On reviewing the parts the main difference is just the rotor and carrier brackets. The same pads and rebuild parts for the calipers implies they are really the same, only JCW gets Red paint right? Well not exactly - seems the JCW adds about 0.375 in to the parking brake bracket so that the same cables can be used for the S and JCW.


Bottom line is if I could get by with just a new carrier bracket ($93), and new rotor ($48) this could be the best upgrade bargain I made yet.

But, I didn't like the idea of just hoping the parking cable sheath would stretch enough as there must be a good reason MINI makes the JCW caliper with a longer cable bracket. So I bought the Left & Right calipers also ($203 each !), but if anyone can find the parking cable bracket sold separately from the calipers they could make the upgrade for only $300 plus whatever the bracket costs.

The parts were easy for me to install (I've changed and upgraded a lot of other brakes before). Since this is essentially a factory kit bought in parts there is not much to go wrong. Pictures below.

 

It would have been nice to run some 60-0 mph stop distances

Stock
With front only brake upgrade
With front and rear brake upgrades

Using the same stretch of road under similar conditions with the same tires

So does it brake any differently now?

 

The bigger disks alone should increase stopping torque if all else were equal, even so it would have been nice to confirm some front/rear bias improvement. According to the physics, a longer wheelbase generates more front bias, and the Clubman certainly gets closer to a 50/50 weight than the standard MINI. Makes me think the factory set up is a compromise for parts commonality that the Clubman suffers.

I used an aggressive, but not overheating bedding process like described by others that seems to have worked well and fast. I can tell there is at least as good as stock stopping power so far as that would be noticeable. I did have to make one panic stop from 45mph that seemed like a shorter distance with no skid or ABS.

I haven't had something closer to a racing condition yet on stopping so its too early for me to tell, but eventually the fade resistance and rear stability will either be evident or not. I can't drive this car passively all the time, it won't let me. Although the factory brakes were stopping good there have been times where fade started and the front rotors were worn out at 20K miles.

 

I just bought a used but complete set front & rear JCW calipers. I did a bit of research regarding the interchangability of mostly upgrading the fronts cause that's where the real braking improvement is compared to the standard brakes. I assumed the JCW rears were just like the standard rears except for the red paint. Now I'm glad I got the JCW rears.

MaxGSeeker did you have to change or upgrade any of the S hardware to mount the JCW's brakes?

 

I only performed two steps outside installing the JCW parts I mentioned:

1) Loosened the brake cable at the hand lever until the caliper springs were completely retracted for pad release and then an extra turn to make sure (2-3 clicks to set the hand lever). The length appeared to come out 0.3 inch longer - about the same as the bracket extension. Note RealOEM shows identical brake cables for both the S and JCW.

2) I added a set of the TCE rear brake hoses which are nearly 3in longer than stock. Its interesting that the stock hoses listed on RealOEM are identical for the S and JCW. I however did not like how the stock hoses appeared to be already to short before the Mod and wanted stainless.

It is critical that you route the hoses well for extreme suspension travel, no pinch points and no contact with the inside of the wheel where rubbing would surely fail the hose. Since I first attached the hoses to the calipers, adjusted the rubber isolator for about 1in added length on the front side, the extra length in the rear half formed a nice bend as shown in the picture, then I installed the hard lines to the hose in front. Note that metal brake lines and bleed screws need just enough snug to hold, overtightning can round nuts, wreck lines. Or you may like other options - including the factory hoses.

To finish the job I used Akebono pads EUR1309. Look like high quality pads, only thing I didn't like is they don't come with new anti-rattle clips for the calipers and MINI didn't supply either. Put the poly grease on the tabs where they contact the clips as shown in the manual

Remember my parts were brand new and they came with multiple sets of caliper bolts, no new carrier to arm bolts however. All the original bolts looked fine anyways, but the new caliper bolts already have the locking adhesive, so why not just use them. Didn't see any lock adhesive on the bigger Carrier bolts so I didn't use any - just torqued to 48ft lbs, which I believe is correct, Bently manual was confusing. Anyway that is what the fronts use for same. Caliper listing is more clear at 26ft lbs, ( got to hold the hex on the slide bolts while you tighten.

I did compress the pistons on the old calipers - carefully not to rotate the dust boots. I noticed that with only 30,000 miles the boots were already mis-shaped and getting brittle. It probably got caused by my severe brake use and the fully extended pistons, but for a rear brake I expected a lot more life out of the soft parts.

The more I work on the MINI the more times I have to reach for even numbered metric sockets which I find odd? In fact the SAE match even metric in many cases better than to get such things as 16mm, 18mm etc.

One more thing just for info, here are the parts I ordered:


Part Number Part Description Quantity Core Price Price Total
34216784389 brakes, brake components, rear brakes, rotor Cooper Clubman w/JCW Package 2 $48.40 $96.80
34216784645 brakes, hydraulic system, rear brakes, caliper Cooper Clubman w/JCW Package Left 1 $203.43 $203.43
34216784646 brakes, hydraulic system, rear brakes, caliper Cooper Clubman w/JCW Package Right 1 $203.43 $203.43
34206780863 rear suspension, brake components, carrier w/280x10 brakes Left 1 $93.32 $93.32
34206780863 rear suspension, brake components, carrier w/280x10 brakes Right 1 $93.32 $93.32

 

I just finished installing the WMW rear brake upgrade on my R58. I consists of the JCW carriers and rotors only. I was a little concerned about the parking brake cable issue not using JCW calipers. It didn't turn out to be a problem though. The parking brake cable has tiny bit more tension on it but absolutely nothing to be concerned about. I think the PB brackets on the JCW calipers only facilitate easier mounting of the caliper onto the pads during assembly. Other than that, I didn't have to adjust my PB at all. The self adjustment in the calipers took care of it.

 

Well $300 for a big brake upgrade to the rear wheels is not a bad price at all. You may want to make sure the parking cable stays loose through the full suspension travel, but its probably okay so long as you adjusted for the typical 3 clicks. Since you have rather large rotors up front the added rear braking is probably a good choice. The thing I like best about the JCW rear brakes is the rotor diameter is sized just about right, not too big to cause a rear bias problem.

 

Forget about the hard numbers here but this is roughly what the changes have done for you.

Stock 10.18" 68.2%
MINI 11.0 64.3
TCE 11.75 60.9

Again, not the % but the changes are what you'd see. +4% and then +7%

But....keep in mind the Wilwood 12.2 front kit already moved the front bias up 5%. Meaning the 11" rears bring it back close to stock, the TCE stuff 3% more rear.