Alright, I finally got around to fitting up one of my Panasports to the car *with* the JCW brakes. When the dealership called and told me that the Panasports wouldn't fit over the JCW brakes (and to bring over my 17" S-lites), they were absolutely correct.

HOWEVER, I didn't have any spacers on the car at the time. I have some 5mm spacers behind my R99s, so I tried those with the Panasports, and the wheels will fit with the 5mm spacers behind them.

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?pag...=143&msRange=1

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=150

The inside rim diameter is no problem, and the spokes would *probably* fit over the calipers without the spacers, but they'd be really close.

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=144

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=145

The problem area is the center area where the lugnuts are. Without the spacers, this area will hit the part of the caliper that's closest to the hub. I had the wheel mounted up with the 5mm spacer behind it, and there was about 3mm of clearance between the hub area of the wheel and the caliper. You can see in this pic how close they are:

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=146

The tire and wheel was still nicely under the fender, so the spacers with the Panasports' offset doesn't pose a problem. I dropped the car down and drove it around the driveway a bit - and into the sun for some pictures. No strange noises or scraping (THANK GOODNESS!)

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=148

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=147

http://on.miniusa.com/resume.jsp?use...ge=1&start=149

I've got a bunch of pics (now linked above), but for some reason they're not posting like I've been able to do previously. I'll fiddle around some more with them and add them to this post when I get it figured out.

Well, let's try it with links for the time being.


On a similar subject: Remember that the '07 MINIs ALL use the JCW brakes, and so the new 15 inch and 16 inch factory MINI wheels will ALL fit over the JCW brakes. If you're looking for some non-17 inch wheels, check them out. I saw an '07 at the dealer yesterday with the new five-spoke 15" wheels, and they snuggle right around the cailpers. Nice looking wheels, too.