Hi Guys,

I have a 2011 Mini Cooper S, and all of a sudden on Friday the Service Light (car on stand) with the Brake light lit up. After a ton of reading, I stumbled into the Service Info screen, and it seems to indicate that the front brakes have "6000" miles left, and the rear ones are the ones complaining (10 miles?!?!). I haven't pulled the back wheels off yet to have a look, but I did read somewhere on NAM that if the rear ones wear before the front one's that's bad juju?!

It's been to a dealership for service pretty consistently as needed, and recently hit 44k, without a brake replacement (pads, or rotors), so it's likely about time.

Questions:
- Should I be concerned that the rear ones seem to be up first? or is this normal?
- Could it be just the sensor that broke on the rear ones?
- How much driving can I really do before I get them replaced/fixed? (i.e. my nearest dealership is 50+ miles away, and can only see me in a few days, and delivery of new pads + rotors will take a few days, unless I can source some in denver?)
- Can I reset the brake sensor, and will it come back on if it is *really* broken!?

I'll probably clear some space in the garage tonight and see what I can do to pull the rear brakes off, but was hoping for some guidance before the dirty stuff started

Thanks!

 

So, I spent some time digging around and :

- Reset the sensor from in-cabin, and nothing (still on)
- Checked the sensor for visible wear, and nothing

then I pulled up the old service records, and randomly on two of the like 10 times it's been to the dealership they wrote down the mm on the pads, and the rear was def. wearing faster.

I spent some time reading up on why this would be the case, and saw everything from bad disks, to bad calipers, to handbrake issues, to... DSP/etc... being 'active' more frequently, and braking the rear. We live in snowy Denver, and I see that light on the dash come on frequently during winters, so logic surmises that even though there doesn't seem to be a marked wear difference between them, (8mm rear, to 10mm front from a few months ago), I can assume that the difference could easily have been something like that.

Guess it's time to re-roll the back(s), and while I'm at it, re-roll the fronts given they shouldn't be far behind.

 

44K? You're doing well. Mine were shot at 35K.


Just bite the bullet and order up new rotors, EBC Red stuff pads, and new sensors.