I'm new here and new to doing work on mini/BMW, so cut me some slack. Planning to change the pads and Front rotors on the wife's countryman and want to know if there is anything special I should know about. I know about the wear sensors, but is there just one front and one rear? I read somewhere you need to rotate the rear pistons on the calipers as you retract them on the cooper...same for the countryman?

If someone has a parts and tools list, that'd be awesome as well as any countryman specific tips.

 

No special tricks except you do need to screw the rear pistons back in. The harbor freight tool kit works great for that. You will also need a T50 torx to remove the rotors.

You will need to replace the sensors
http://www.waymotorworks.com/brake-p...r-r60-r61.html

Brake Pads
http://www.waymotorworks.com/ebc-red...rake-pads.html

Rotors
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-cou...ke-rotors.html

 

Ok, thanks! That's what I had surmised, but there is little data on the countryman setup specifically. Thanks for the info on the t50...hadn't seen that anywhere else.

 

Do you still need to replace the sensors if you're changing brakes early?

 

From Way Motoring's website :
"The 2011+ R60 R61 MINI Countryman and Paceman, S, and ALL4 S all have smart brake pad sensors. These brake pad sensors are located on the left front and right rear. As the brakes wear these sensors also wear and tell the computer when the pads are worn half way and then worn out. Anytime you replace the pads you'll need to replace the sensor."

You wouldn't HAVE to replace the sensors, but... Since the sensors wear with the brake pads, yours will have X amount of miles of wear on them when you put new pads on. It will be that X many miles sooner when the brake pad wear warnings start glaring at you from the tachometer.

It's only $50 or so for the 2 sensors. Be that as it may, I believe I will investigate removing the sensors from the calipers during my next tire rotation. I am a reasonably competent mechanic. I can inspect my brake pads for wear. I'll see if I can spend that $50 on a better tool

 

I'm pending a brake job on the rear for a 2008 Clubman S. The Bentley manual stipulates that in addition to the expected parts you've listed below, that the self-locking bolts for the pad carrier as well as the caliper should be replaced. Is this necessary? It's not the parts which are expensive, but it's hard to justfiy spending as much in shipping as the 8 bolts needed...

34216772885
Hex bolt with washer M10X32 (These appear to be the caliper mounting bolts)

34216777936
Hex bolt (These appear to be the pad carrier bolts)

 

Self locking might mean they have a patch of thread locking material on the bolt or it might be the specialty kind where the bolt threads deform when the bolt is installed to get the locking effect. The thread deforming kind I would consider replacing, but I have never seen those in a brake system.
I personally wouldn't buy new bolts. Manufacturers in my experience use torque to retain bolts, not thread lock patches or deforming threads(those increase their costs). If the bolts come out good and look good, I would reuse them. You could use medium blue loctite on the bolts for peace of mind.

 

Hi guys,
Would any of you be able to provide the following information regarding the 2013 Countryman All4S:


Front rotor - minimum measurement before replacement:
Front brake pads - minimum measurement before replacement:


The vehicle currently has 35,000+ miles on it.
The automated maintenance system stated that the front brakes/rotors needed to be replaced back at 20,000 miles. When the vehicle was taken in for service, the techs reset the maintenance alert without changing the rotors/pads because they had not reached their limit to be replaced (incorrect recommendation/calculation by the automated system) Over the last 5,000 miles, it feels as if it takes longer to stop, and you have to press on the brake pedal with more force to actually get some efficient braking. The car was in for an oil change today, and they supposedly checked out the brakes but found them to be OK. When I asked what the measurements were for the front rotors/brakes they said that they were still good, but didn't seem as if they had gathered the information.
The automated maintenance shows brake change due in 3,200 miles, but by then the change will be out of pocket. I want to make sure that the automated system is not accidently providing the incorrect information this time either.
I did some searching, but could not find the requirements.


Thanks in advance.

 

I seem to recall the SA telling me 4mm on the pads, my memory is suspect so lets see if someone has better info. Mine were replaced by my mechanic @ 29700 miles, which was about what the Mini computer was telling us. It became obvious to me because they started to squeal a lot. Since I didn't drive the first 24K miles on the car I have no idea how the brakes were treated previously. As for the rotors, my mechanic told me he was going to turn them, but after 10 seconds looking at them he agreed with me that they were toast. Many rotors have the min thickness stamped on them, not sure if Mini does or not.

If you get stuck paying, go buy rotors, pads & sensors online. Only cost $200 for high quality parts for my fronts.

 

Minimum thickness is cast on the edge of the disc 'bell' on all R56 discs so I bet the R60 are the same if you take a wheel off. Of course, it's measured in them milly meters....

 

Old post, but I couldn't sleuth the answer.

My warning message is on and I have about 5mm left. Can I wait until spring?

 

Of course, it depends. How much do you drive? How hard do you brake? What do you mean by "spring"? Do you care if you score your rotors and can't stop as well? If you're going to replace your rotors anyway, maybe it doesn't matter as much to you if you get down to metal-on-metal.

Not everyone likes to work on the car, or doesn't have the space and/or time. I did mine myself, and upgraded to slotted rotors with ceramic pads. Stops better, no more squeals/squeaks, and much less dust. On sale, I spent less than 300 to do all 4.

 

Fair enough.

Rough math says maybe 6000 miles per mm of pad, so I guess I'll do it in the next month so I don't get stuck doing it in the winter...

I'm thinking Zimmerman rotors and EBC Greenstuff pads unless anyone says that's dum.

 

I found the EBC red to be less dust then greens ..... plain road use ....

 

That's what I would do before it gets cold! I've read Greenstuff and Redstuff pads are both good. I don't know what is best for you. All I can say is when I went to ceramic, the dust problem was solved!

 

Finally got to the R&R this weekend and went with Red Stuff. I got the pads from Mini Mania and the rest from FCP Euro (because they have free shipping)

Only hiccup was that I had to run out for an E16 (External Torx) socket for the rear caliper brackets

So far, so good

 

You aren't alone with that hiccup!