R53 JCW wheels

[Neal500griff]

Hi, just replaced my written off r53 with an r53 JCW.
It’s got standard r53 brakes and crown 17” wheels.

Planning on upgrading brakes to the r56 set up at front (no point I believe in changing rear’s?) but also like the look of the R105 18” wheels.

Bit of research though suggests you can’t fit the R105’s wheels if you fit the r56 brakes?

Any advice please?

[E-bmw]

R56 brakes comfortably fit under standard 16" wheels if space is the reason you are asking.

My only advice would be 18" wheels will drastically affect the ride quality, 16/17s are generally thought of as being the best for ride without affecting handling.

[President Merkin]

I'm running R56 calipers on an R53 on 17 Crown spoke wheels. No problems with the fitment. The R105's have a slightly different offset I think, I'm no expert on wheels but I would check they'll definitely fit with any vendor beforehand & remember the above that if it's a consideration for you, then with the R53's short suspension travel, the ride quality suffers with larger wheels.

[Neal500griff]

Thanks, I had read that the R105 18” wheels would only fit with spacers and needed some sort of destructor block adding to steering?
Have seen some black R105’s on eBay and think they would look good on the car, maybe I’ll stick with 17” now though!

[cknotty]

The R53 JCW already has the larger brakes used in the R56, so can save some pennies there

[Neal500griff]

Arhh, that’s useful, thanks very much! Seller told me it had standard brakes when I asked. I’ll double check when I pick it up. But yea, appreciate you comment, will save me a lot of pennies!

Does seem to be a lot of confusion with JCW sellers as to exact spec of their cars!

Do you know about LSD’s? Seller says it hasn’t got one but were they standard on jcw’s, specifically pre-facelift? Not that I fancy the cost of changing it, maybe when it gets round to needing a new clutch!

[E-bmw]

Neal500griff said:

Does seem to be a lot of confusion with JCW sellers as to exact spec of their cars!

Not just dealers, very few people know the exact spec of their cars.

If you google "mini VIN checker" before going & put in the VIN when you are there you will see the exact spec.

Neal500griff said:

Do you know about LSD’s? Seller says it hasn’t got one but were they standard on jcw’s, specifically pre-facelift? Not that I fancy the cost of changing it, maybe when it gets round to needing a new clutch!

If the clutch is heavy then it will need changing soon (ish) so try & get it in the price.

[President Merkin]

cknotty said:

The R53 JCW already has the larger brakes used in the R56, so can save some pennies there

You learn something new every day

On the JCW spec as a whole, I understand that on earlier cars, it amounted to an external £4k conversion you had to take the car along to have done but switched to factory fit at some point, so the exact timelines & specs may be a bit opaque after so much time,

Edited by President Merkin on Wednesday 24th April 11:47

[cknotty]

I found on my JCW someone had fitted the incorrect front brake discs which were too small for the pads that were in there so there was a huge lip of uncontacted pad material that hadn't worn down!

[Neal500griff]

Wow, how did they miss that! I’ll be carefully measuring the discs and calipers on the one I’m buying!

[trowbridge]

Not all r53 jcws will have larger brakes, these were an option. They’ll be red with john cooper works branding on the front callipers. The r56 cooper s uses the same caliper and disc minus the paint and are a popular upgrade on an r53

I suspect they are referring to the larger again 4 pot r56 jcw brembo brake setup as these only fit with certain oem wheels without a spacer.

[CarsOrBikes]

President Merkin said:

You learn something new every day

On the JCW spec as a whole, I understand that on earlier cars, it amounted to an external £4k conversion you had to take the car along to have done but switched to factory fit at some point, so the exact timelines & specs may be a bit opaque after so much time,

Edited by President Merkin on Wednesday 24th April 11:47

it'll only have the larger JCW brakes if added as an option

18's are perfectly ok over the JCW 294mm brakes, or the R56S 294mm brakes, the ones they won't fit over, are R56 JCW Brembo 4pot brakes, for those you need spacers, 15mm or thereabouts

However, R105's will clear them with 6mm ;O)

Ride quality is not a thing if you fit the right tyres

The speedo over reads from the factory on a Gen1 considerably, it is helped by keeping the profile and adding width, so from a 205/45 go to a 215/45, or better still, a 225/45 in 17's, or for 18 go from 205/40 to 215/40, or better still 225/40

I've used 215/45 for years, and 225/45 for years, also the last couple have used 225/40 too

225/40 can lightly touch the front arch liner, only on full lock, easy to back off that a touch, and we're only ever rolling on that anyway

[CarsOrBikes]

I should add that the 95/105 rim is an et52 vs the other OEM 17's which are et48, so a spacer is effectively 4 less in comparison

so the 105's shown over the Brembo 4's are on 6mm spacers but only 2mm further out than the cars would be on et48 original R112's

(Fwiw the grey 18's are for sale @ £540 with caps in CH61)

[chrisch77]

JCW brakes were as separate option to the engine tuning kit as a dealer fitted conversion, however they were part of the standard factory built JCW spec that was offered from late 2005.

Reference press report from the time: https://www.motoringfile.com/2005/07/14/factory_jc...

[Neal500griff]

CarsOrBikes said:

it'll only have the larger JCW brakes if added as an option

18's are perfectly ok over the JCW 294mm brakes, or the R56S 294mm brakes, the ones they won't fit over, are R56 JCW Brembo 4pot brakes, for those you need spacers, 15mm or thereabouts

However, R105's will clear them with 6mm ;O)

Ride quality is not a thing if you fit the right tyres

The speedo over reads from the factory on a Gen1 considerably, it is helped by keeping the profile and adding width, so from a 205/45 go to a 215/45, or better still, a 225/45 in 17's, or for 18 go from 205/40 to 215/40, or better still 225/40

I've used 215/45 for years, and 225/45 for years, also the last couple have used 225/40 too

225/40 can lightly touch the front arch liner, only on full lock, easy to back off that a touch, and we're only ever rolling on that anyway

I’m planning to convert to the r56 brakes so the r105’s should be fine. Found some black ones, my car is dark grey with black roof so I was going to go for black wheels, looking at your pics, especially the black car, think it may look better with the silver ones!

Am I right also in saying thought that the r112 cross spoke 17” will fit over the brembo brakes, not that I think I need to go to the expense of that upgrade, sure the r56 brakes will be fine.

[Neal500griff]

CarsOrBikes said:

I should add that the 95/105 rim is an et52 vs the other OEM 17's which are et48, so a spacer is effectively 4 less in comparison

so the 105's shown over the Brembo 4's are on 6mm spacers but only 2mm further out than the cars would be on et48 original R112's

(Fwiw the grey 18's are for sale @ £540 with caps in CH61)

Can you dm please with details of the wheels you have for sale please.