My 2020 Clubman JCW

Felt it was time to share. I’ve been lurking for a while and learned a lot from you folks. I owned a variety of cars over the years, but I have to say, this JCW is about as fun as it gets. I’m now a “gonna own a Mini for life” guy. I’m almost two years in and she only has 56k on her; bought at 30k so I have a long way to go.

I've never posted anything on this group I've followed it for some time now; very good information (for the most part) and nice Minis!. It's time to show you my 2012 R58 JCW, bought her in 2014 wit 8,500 miles and she is close to 40,000 now. Other than I had to change the clutch a couple of years ago, she has been trouble free even if she has the N14 dreaded engine. She gets yearly oil changes regardless of the miles and gets serviced at a MINI specialized shop in Portland. Most mods are cosmetic only (body stripes, stub antenna, GP difusser, new headlights with Union Jack, CocoMats).

I’m on the left! First time seeing this orange irl I love seeing all the different colours! gorgeous 🐅

I am usually the person that will Rule 1 other Minis, but the other day someone Rule 1'd ME for the first time! I was so excited that I practically ran to the car.

Also... I know I should be backing in to parking spaces, but there was mass chaos and confusion in the QFC parking lot when I got there.

I mentioned a while ago here, after some deep digging, I managed to get hold of a 3d printing file of a custom shifter retainer bracket that mini doesn’t sell separately for the R56. Well here’s how it came out, SLS PA12 Nylon, paired with an eBay short shifter. Long story short, you don’t get as much wobble inside the assembly, still a play horizontally, but that’s more to do with the lever mechanism not having the sleeve. Other than that It feels great. I only put a bit of grease inside the pivot, but that was it. If anyone wants one, I’ve shared the CAD file on Thingverse, or I can print it for you, postage from The Netherlands.

Hi all,

I have a 2008 R56 Mini Cooper NA with a cat back exhaust. Is there anything I can do to get it to pop and bang?

Thank you

Hello everyone,
when unlocking doors i get this noise from the rear of the car.
I've located it to the locking mechanism on the fuel cap. Mini One R50
It still locks and unlocks O/K but the noise sounds awful.
Anyone know of any fix please?

Do you know of a good independent Mini garage in So Cal that knows their stuff? I had a first gen (2004) new Mini for 15 years and just gave it to my granddaughter. Then immediately went out and bought a second gen (2007) new Mini. Car has a superior engine and trans compared to 1st gen, but I’ve got problems I’ll need to get fixed (radio, pass seat sensors). My local BMW dealership is only so-so.

Ever since I made my original post saying that I had bought this kit, I’ve been getting messages from people asking me how it looks and whether I ever installed it.

So, here are the long-awaited pictures!

I actually bought the kit almost 2 years ago now. Unfortunately, body shop prices where I live in France are pretty insane, so getting the whole thing painted was way out of my budget and the kit ended up sitting around for a long time.

During the holidays, though, I had a minor accident and had to replace basically the entire front end of the car. Since I needed a new front bumper anyway, I figured this was finally the perfect opportunity to install the JCW kit.

I’m now living in Spain for a year because of my studies, and from what I’ve heard bodywork/paint is cheaper here than in France, so I’m going to try to get the whole kit painted while I’m here. I’ll obviously make another post with the final result once it’s painted!

Unfortunately, my auxiliary driving lights that I had only recently installed didn’t survive the accident 🥲. I’m currently trying to find another complete set with both the lights and brackets, because mine are completely destroyed.

My original post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MINI/comments/1iuvvky/just_received_alibaba_jcw_aero_kit_for_my_r56/

——— KIT & INSTALLATION INFO ———

PRICE

The kit itself was 525€ and shipping to France was 478€, so around 1200€ in total, and I didn’t have to pay any additional customs fees.

Unfortunately, the Alibaba listing I bought mine from is dead now. However, there are tons of sellers offering these kits on Alibaba, and there’s a good chance most of them are sourcing them from the same manufacturer anyway, so they’re probably the exact same as mine.

Just search for “MINI R56 JCW aero kit” on Alibaba and you should find plenty of options.

When ordering, you can also choose which rear diffuser you want. Since mine is a base Cooper, I went with the version that has the exhaust cutout on the side. There’s also a center-exit version for the Cooper S, and even a GP2-style diffuser.

INSTALLATION

For the installation, I followed this official MINI guide:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/attachments/r58-coup-talk-2012-379/jcw-areo-kit-installation-305941/jcw-retrofit-kit-128500d1471176710

The clips supplied with the Alibaba kit aren’t exactly the same as the OEM ones shown in the guide, but overall the installation process is basically the same.

/!\ PARTS NOT INCLUDED WITH THE KIT

There are a few OEM parts that aren’t supplied with the kit and that I had to buy separately:

Rear bumper light bulb sockets:

- 63247249647 x2

Rear bumper light connectors:

- 61138373332 x2

I found them for cheap here: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003786295729.html Select the “black with pin” version.

Radiator air ducts, left & right:

- 51117301991
- 51117301992

I actually couldn’t install these in the end. Even following the official MINI instructions, they simply wouldn’t fit into the plastic radiator support.
I’m not sure if there’s an error in MINI’s documentation or if something else is going on, because according to the BMW/MINI dealer, I bought the correct parts.

Deflector lips, left & right:

- 51117283339
- 51117283340

I didn’t buy these. They don’t seem absolutely necessary, and my BMW dealer wanted around 50€ each for them.

There are also three sets of parts needed if you want the aero kit to be fully functional and actually route air to cool the front brakes as MINI intended:

Inner brake channels, left & right:

- 51747283343
- 51747283344

Wheel arch brake channels, left & right:

- 51747266547
- 51747266548

Front wheel arches, left & right:

- 51717266545
- 51717266546

Those three sets together are over 260€ for what is basically a bunch of plastic, so it will have to wait for now 😅

/!\ PDC / PARKING SENSORS

Another important thing to know: This kit only comes in the rear PDC version.
Dummy sensors/caps are included with the kit to fill the parking sensor holes if your car doesn’t have PDC.
Or you can do what I did and retrofit rear PDC while you’re at it.

FITMENT & QUALITY

Overall, the installation was pretty straightforward.

Some of the pieces on the front bumper were a little difficult to clip into place because the plastic is quite rigid, but other than that I didn’t run into any major difficulties.
The kit fits the rest of the body surprisingly well. The main panel gaps between the bumpers and the car are pretty much perfect.
The only minor downside is the fit between some of the individual pieces of the kit itself. For example, there are a few small gaps around the front fog light housings and around the rear fog light/reverse light housings.

That being said, from looking at pictures online, it seems like even genuine OEM JCW aero kits have some small gaps in those areas, so I’m not sure how much better the OEM kit actually is in that regard.
So far I’ve driven a little over 1500 km with the kit installed and nothing has moved, come loose or caused any issues.

Overall, considering the price compared to finding a complete genuine JCW aero kit nowadays, I’m pretty happy with it.

Had my wife’s car for the day as it was booked in for tyres in the afternoon and she wasn’t able to take it in. Arrived at work and saw my colleagues car, and just had to park next to it. It was his in-laws car, purchased new. A bit rough around the edges, but he’s slowly working on it.

My 2011 mini came with a jack that only connects to iPod and that’s all it will play. I was able to get an adapter to hook up to my old iPhone 12, but now that I got an iPhone 15, nothing will play due to needing the extra usb-c adapter, it’s just not compatible with the old car. I’m at the point of trading in the car if I can’t fix this bc it will need more work soon and I miss music. I know I could get a Bluetooth adapter but I have adhd and I’m convinced I’m going to leave it on accidentally and drain the car battery. We are a one-car household in a new state so I don’t have any way to jump my car if that were to happen. Is it possible to replace the radio (affordably)? This is sort of my last ditch attempt.

Countryman, 4-door, 2-door convertible. Almost the whole family here.

Some disassembly required. Also cheating because I did a rear seat delete.

Hello all.

Thinking of buying a manual mini Countryman 2019. Has about 60K miles with a good carfax and well maintained by the previous owner.

Wondering what should I anticipate for upcoming service/maintenance? The car drives well, just hesitant with the semi-high mileage.

My Mazda cx30 lease is up. I really like the mini Countryman .. wanted to know if this is good. They said they could get it to $533 , a few dollars lower. Also if anyone is already driving it, would love to hear what you think of it😊

Hi! Wondering if anyone is selling a mini jcw f56 with a manual. Preferably under 100k miles. Been looking for one for a while!

Currently in a Fiesta ST. Thats showing his age as a daily and a tad harsh for daily use. Used to have company car and the fiesta was a dog hauler/rainy weather/winter beater when needed. And i have a convertible Roadster for the clear days/fun trips/track/etc.

Looking for options on a replacement. F54 is on the table.

Haven't driven a mini since an old r53(?) Like an 05 two door years ago!

4 doors is super nice with dog loading and for the daily awd would nice in winter. (Yes I know snow tires are more important, yes I currently run blizzak. But AWD brings a capability that brings me peace of mind to not worry ill get stuck)

The F54 is 300lbs and 8 inches longer. Basically the same power. (Less if f54 comes and stays stock)

Anyone have back to back experience? This would be a daily and i have a track car but it still has to be fun. Like "yes im taking this ramp at 70 please hold on passenger" and "good god you dumb slow mini van!" *Double clutch and Drop 2 gears lane change over take*

It would be a manual.

I've had this pepper white 2006S since 2009 and today was my first rule #1. I usually park further away so people don't park next to me. I'm a little old school and don't pull to the front of the spot - some other rule about not creating a phantom parking spot.

2013 base n16 - 159k

well. i think she’s finally done for, or at least for a while till i can figure out what happened.
was driving home and limp mode came on, i assumed it was a misfire & spark plugs need to be changed (my valve cover has a leak & i have been putting it off .. & the plugs also, mainly cause im too broke to even buy it and do it myself rn.)
i keep driving (less than a mile) till theres a spot to pull over, it gets down to 40mph and starts shaking really bad when i press the gas peddle. We pull over and my dad pulls up behind us and says to turn it off & restart it to see if it goes away.

It did not go away. check engine light wasn’t on on the speedo but the limp mode dummy light was on the tach …🤷‍♀️ so idk if it’s something the code reader can tell me
he tells me to try and drive it back home.
that’s about a 10 min drive, i’ve done it before last time 2 times it misfired/went into limp mode and it got home ok & fixed after plugs were changed.

i put it in reverse & pressed the gas and holy christ the noises it was making was terrifying. i instantly threw it into park, shut it off and told my dad i heard metal on metal somewhere. he heard it also and made a face like shit here we go again (he’s a big car guy, rebuilt tons of engines but he’s a chevy/corvette expert, not a bmw/mini expert lol)

we got it towed back home and now im very thankful i have another vehicle but it’s a 95 geo tracker & is my project car 😩 not the best for a daily driver but at least i have something to drive for a while.

all this right after changing out the tstat housing & crossover pipe which was a pain in the ass!!!! & TWO alternators !!! all done at home so i saved a ton of money but ugh. Rebuilding the engine and taking it out is not what i want to do w this damn car 😪 for now, it’s gonna sit next to my old 03 mini that also doesn’t run right now … wish me luck! i love my mini and how fast i can take corners but it’s definitely given me a lot of headaches over the past 7 years !!! (some my fault, some due to age/wear n tear)