When is a JCW not a JCW?

[Mon the fish]

That's all very well but I have a car with 500 miles on the clock and 5 years warranty and servicing how on earth could I remap and not effect the warranty. Unless dealers do remaps?

What they don't know won't hurt... Get it flashed through the diagnostic port, then re-flash it if it needs to go into the dealers for warranty work on the ECU. I remapped mine before it was a year old. But if your wheels fall off (for example), the dealer can't throw out your warranty claim because you remapped the car - it's an unrelated part.

[ELFMAN]

That's all very well but I have a car with 500 miles on the clock and 5 years warranty and servicing how on earth could I remap and not effect the warranty. Unless dealers do remaps?

I'd leave it as it is Greig, and just enjoy it for now - it's VERY new and quick enough! My Dealer fitted the Milltek Downpipe (they don't usually touch the non-MINI stuff, but I think they had a spare hour or two!), road-tested it and re-set anything that needed doing ECU-wise, so hopefully I won't get my wee 'Emission Light' popping on like the R53 JCW did with the Playmini Manifold (it ran sweet though and emissions checked OK - I eventually stuck my Hendrix badge over the light!). I doubt Dealers would Re-Map a car (as in a 'custom' aftermarket job) unless it's part of the JCW Upgrade, or to remedy a fault. A lot of aftermarket remaps aren't Dealer-detectable, and the good ones should be covered by their own warranty, but you never can tell...... especially if something goes amiss, then it might get complicated as to 'who's to blame'.

By the way, I've seen a rolling road readout on one of the websites for a JCW-Upgraded S which put out 207BHP and 300Nm Torque. Obviously rolling roads vary (this was from 'AMD' down south), but it shows the potential BHP gain. Of course, 'standard' R56 S '175' and JCW power figures quoted by MINI are debatable - I'm certain they're on the low side for 'Insurance Purposes'.

Clubman - if I'm right in thinking (and according to my early R56 JCW Catalogue) the initial JCW Brake 'Upgrade' for the R56 S was just the standard S front Calipers (NOT Brembo) painted red and with a logo, but possibly with different pads? There was actually a wee 'caveat' in the catalogue telling you that the Calipers were standard). The later JCW Brembo 4-Pots are a different matter - and I can vouch that they're very good with lots of feel and great non-fading stopping power.

[GCA3N]

I'd leave it as it is Greig, and just enjoy it for now - it's VERY new and quick enough! My Dealer fitted the Milltek Downpipe (they don't usually touch the non-MINI stuff, but I think they had a spare hour or two!), road-tested it and re-set anything that needed doing ECU-wise, so hopefully I won't get my wee 'Emission Light' popping on like the R53 JCW did with the Playmini Manifold (it ran sweet though and emissions checked OK - I eventually stuck my Hendrix badge over the light!). I doubt Dealers would Re-Map a car (as in a 'custom' aftermarket job) unless it's part of the JCW Upgrade, or to remedy a fault. A lot of aftermarket remaps aren't Dealer-detectable, and the good ones should be covered by their own warranty, but you never can tell...... especially if something goes amiss, then it might get complicated as to 'who's to blame'.

By the way, I've seen a rolling road readout on one of the websites for a JCW-Upgraded S which put out 207BHP and 300Nm Torque. Obviously rolling roads vary (this was from 'AMD' down south), but it shows the potential BHP gain. Of course, 'standard' R56 S '175' and JCW power figures quoted by MINI are debatable - I'm certain they're on the low side for 'Insurance Purposes'.

Clubman - if I'm right in thinking (and according to my early R56 JCW Catalogue) the initial JCW Brake 'Upgrade' for the R56 S was just the standard S front Calipers (NOT Brembo) painted red and with a logo, but possibly with different pads? There was actually a wee 'caveat' in the catalogue telling you that the Calipers were standard). The later JCW Brembo 4-Pots are a different matter - and I can vouch that they're very good with lots of feel and great non-fading stopping power.

Totally agree I feel very happy with the already awesome power and would have little desire to get it higher at the moment for 2 reasons. The first is what we have already discussed, ie warranty etc, the second is, where am I really going to test this extra power. I live on Arran and TBH my cooper S was quick enough.

I think you could be right about the brakes, what I would say is the brembo's on this JCW are as big a difference as the power is from the cooper S. The stopping power is just fantastic and very little if any brake fade even when giving it large so to speak.

[Delboy]

I think you could be right about the brakes, what I would say is the brembo's on this JCW are as big a difference as the power is from the cooper S. The stopping power is just fantastic and very little if any brake fade even when giving it large so to speak.

Better go easy on those brakes Greig if the pads are £200 a set .

[GCA3N]

Better go easy on those brakes Greig if the pads are £200 a set .

I know I nearly fainted when I read that del.

[ianking]

Mr Clubman. I would disagree about you saying that the brakes are no different. p.s they are 4 pot not 6 pot. I took my standard R56 S round knockhill a couple years ago and gave it some abuse. The brakes really let it down. They were fading away to nothing under the heat and when I pulled back into the pit lane they were pi$$ing blue smoke out everywhere. A couple months back I took my R56 factory JCW to knockhill to give it the same treatment. The brakes were fantastic, no fade, no blue smoke, no squeeling pads and bear in mind I was approaching the corners faster in this car than I was able to do in the S. I really would recommend the brakes if you like to give your car some sport. God just typing this makes me want to go drive the car. Sadly I can't as I'm in Morroco sweating my tits off in this 41 degrees.

[GCA3N]

Mr Clubman. I would disagree about you saying that the brakes are no different. p.s they are 4 pot not 6 pot. I took my standard R56 S round knockhill a couple years ago and gave it some abuse. The brakes really let it down. They were fading away to nothing under the heat and when I pulled back into the pit lane they were pi$$ing blue smoke out everywhere. A couple months back I took my R56 factory JCW to knockhill to give it the same treatment. The brakes were fantastic, no fade, no blue smoke, no squeeling pads and bear in mind I was approaching the corners faster in this car than I was able to do in the S. I really would recommend the brakes if you like to give your car some sport. God just typing this makes me want to go drive the car. Sadly I can't as I'm in Morroco sweating my tits off in this 41 degrees.

I never took my R56 S round knockhill but even on normal roads they were a let down at times. Don't get me wrong they are good brakes and work well driving about like yer dad, and lets be honest most of us don't drive round knockhill every weekend, however in saying that if you want to go out and hit a quiet back road and are quite aggressive on the the brakes they were dissapointing.

As you say Ian the brembo's are in another league. In fact it was one of the first things Del noticed when he drove mine at the weekend, just after going round that tight bend on 2 wheels

[ELFMAN]

I'm in Morroco sweating my tits off in this 41 degrees.

Ian, if that works, I'm going get membership for a Sauna....

BIG UP THE BREMBOS BY THE WAY!

[Delboy]

As you say Ian the brembo's are in another league. In fact it was one of the first things Del noticed when he drove mine at the weekend, just after going round that tight bend on 2 wheels

I'm pretty sure 3 wheels were still touching the road .

The brakes were excellent though and noticeably better than my Clubby S .

[GCA3N]

A good write up on it.
http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/11/...ory-jcw-coupe/