15000miles, Rear brake pads Worn Warning?

Started up this morning, a "Service Due!" popped up. I went to the vehicle status and saw "Rear Brake Pads" shown up.

Is this normal? 15,000miles city and highway mixed driving. Rear brakes pads are out that fast? or is this normal?

But why won't the front go too?

in about how many miles do I have to replace them on average?

Will it be replaced without charge by MINI? What if not? What kind of brake pads should I change to? EBC reds? I want minimal brake dust with better braking force than OEM ones. thanks

 

crazy. Definitely seems early, but driving style and transmission certainly play a factor.

I have 15k on mine, fronts say they have 14k left, and the rears 20k left.

Makes me really glad I got the extended maintenance.

 

being that these are 'wear' items, are they covered under the standard warranty?
It seems (from My experience) they would only be covered if within 12K/12mo.

As for why wearing so fast..I'm in the parts business, I know that the last 2 generations of VW/Audi typically wear 3:1 for the rears.
I can only attribute this to driving style & mostly more sophisticated ABS & handling/stability systems that are always intervening early & applying the brakes automatically.

 

I think they should be covered under free maintenance program.

 

See inline responses.

I'm sure there's no way you need new rear pads at this point.

 

I do some "spirited driving" around the mountainous road but never done autocrossing tho.

I'll get you the pics soon. Not to be stupid but how do I inspect the pads? how do I actually look? thanks.

 

yes, just look at them for visual thickness. If the pad is only a few mm thick, then you have worn them.
* see the pad backing plate, then the friction material.
Doing only an outer pad visual can be misleading, the pad wear sensor is on the inner pad(inside view of the disc). This is also the pad that tends to usually wear faster as its being pushed by the piston. (outer is just sandwiched).

Pad sensors work as grounds. they are inserted into the pad, when the tip contacts the metal rotor, they ground out & trigger the wear light. a broken sensor may act the same way.

 

To inspect the pads...shine a flashlight along your rotor and look a the surface where the pads touch. The pads are "slanted" so they are thicker in the center and slanted at the edges. When you shine the light in the area you should be able to see the thickness of the pads. Just look at where the pads clip into the caliper and you'll see how thick the pads are where they touch the rotors. I'm almost positive you have a faulty pad wear sensor. It's a $35 part but it's covered under your maintenance agreement with Mini.

 

What he said. Sometimes the sensors are not adjusted correctly and can be 're-adjusted' with a small push in the right direction. The last time I had my MINI in for service the brake warning light lit up on the way home from the dealership, indicating worn pads. Just a bent sensor tip. Hmmm, wonder how that happened? Coincidence?

 

While reversing out the parking lot today, I heard the brakes squeek! It's not the high pitched squeek where the metal hits the metal tho.

It's kind of a lower toned, crushing sound, rock crushing sound. <<best explanation of the sound I can get to.

Is this the sign of brake wear out? thanks....

I'll get the pics up tomorrow. thanks

 

Could be a small piece of gravel caught in the brake caliper. Has happened to me with other cars; usually clears up with multiple brake applications.

 

Not sure why all the drama, the pads are covered for the first 36K miles in the MINI maintenance plan. Also, rotors are covered in same plan.

Of course, if your in Canada or Mexico, your plans will vary.

Go see your dealer, if it is a false warning or a bad brake sensor it will be fixed under warranty.

It does not matter what or how you have been driving the CMT, unless it was intentional abuse, but the MINI dealer will have to prove that issue.

15K, not normal but not unheard of depending on how you drive. Usually the front pads are first to go.

My opinion of course, but go to your dealer and ask for details from the friendly MINI service department as to what was replaced and why.

 

The pads are covered, so you're good to go there...

...but I seem to have a similar issue, namely rear brakes that are going far too fast.

Since I bought the car, I dont feel like the braking is as strong as in other CMs and I regularly hear some light grinding from the rear. Plus there's the occasional back up squeal from the rears. All this has me thinking the pistons in the rear brakes are dragging a bit. I'm gonna have Mini take a look when I bring it in for my next service. Between the noises, reduced braking performance, and a pedal that isn't the most reassuring at times I'm convinced my rear brake performance isn't up to standard (excellent) Mini spec - even for the R60.

There could be a host of reasons why this is happening on your car - and mine: COuld've been driven hard by dealer/dock people before delivery, handbrake could be poorly adjusted causing a drag on the rear brakes, brake pistons could be sticking, or the brake balance control might not working properly.

 

I had the brake pad warning go on my R53 at around 20K miles. I assumed front brakes but thought it was way to early. One of the MA's that I had gotten to know told me, with a smile on his face, that it was the rear brakes and it was due to my "spirited" driving around the bends. The DSC and EBD was tapping one of the rear breaks when I turn aggressively on on ramps/off ramps and all the winding mountain roads when I took the car up to Vermont. He said this was probably what was keeping me on the road as opposed to off in a ditch . I kept pushing the performance of the car, never losing grip and it was all due to no turning off DSC.

I'm not recommending turning off any safety features, but just think about all the fun you might have had with your CM on the winding roads. It just might be the reason why the sensor is complaining!

 

here are the pics!

First is the front left brake pad

second pic is the front right brake pad

third is the rear left brake pad.

Fourth pic is the rear right brake.

Oh! by the way, why does my rear left brake pads contains rust? and the front left brakes have some kind of a big white mark on the brake plates? Is this normal?

thanks.

 

Here's the rear right side of the brake pads!

Hope you can see the brake pads. Is this worn out yet?

Haven't have time to get my MINI in for a service yet. I'll probbably do it next week or so.. or is it urgent?

 

Pics 1 and 4 definitely are getting pretty thin. You can easily make it another week, but I'd start scheduling now.

 

So this is actually happening? Worn out in 15000ish miles? wow

 

The good thing is that it is all covered under the maintenance plan. Ask your MA or the Service tech why the front left and the left right (according you your notations) are wearing much faster than the other brake pads.

Good luck!

 

The rust is normal. you're turning iron rotors into dust. iron rusts, especially with a very high surface to mass ratio.

 

cant really see the white stuff, but the FL pad is very thin, especially for 15K.

Did you ever feel any dragging? possibly a faulty caliper that isn't sliding(releasing)?
the rear pad is thicker than the backing plate. not too bad, but for 15K its a bit more worn that usual.
(stability control programs tend to eat the rear brakes to keep everyone safe & feeling like a great driver) :p

 

I had same problem at 18,000.

Went to a dealership and they told me that breaks needs to be replaced, but it was just a brake wear sensor malfunctioning. Breaks still had another 60%.

 

Fronts were done at 15K; rears were just done at 19K.

 

It's also possible the inside brake pads are worn even more than the outside ones you can see. That tends to happen since the caliper is pushing directly on the inside pad.

 

I don't do autocrossing nor circuit racing either.

Can it be because of the summer weather? Higher temperatures equals more wear out rates? possible any how?



oh lastly, if I actually have a problem with the caliper not releasing the pads fully and dragging the pads with the brake plates, what can be the cause of this? What IF In the worst case scenario and I actually get the pads worn out till the metal hits the plates what will happen? Will I damage the plates too? (Just curious, not going to let it happen haha.)



Thanks again. I'll get back to you guys when I have a service done within the next week or so.