I have an R53 and just trying to help a buddy that threw a belt today on his R56 JCW. Anyway, it just seems like a very rare event, his car has ~40k mi. My guess is that if it threw a belt then there is some root cause on why it happened and that must be remedied as well as just a new belt.
The R56 is very different from the R53, obviously with the SC, but also with the water pump and the way it is driven. I guess I am just not familiar with the friction driven water pump pulley configuration.
