Had to do an emergency stop the other day and got on the brakes hard for the first time since I picked up the F56, felt a bit of a clunk and ended up with my foot almost to the floor. The brakes seem to be functional, but definitely very spongy as compared to my R56 or any other car I've driven recently.

Am I the only one with this experience? I don't recall them feeling this way when I test drove any.

 

Had to do a "rip a hole in the seat" emergency stop today. Car in front of me accelerated to get through the light and then just as fast, changed their minds. Got the clunk. Car stopped like it should but had a good nose dive. I'm ok with the brake though, they worked!

 

Mine feel really soft and don't stop the car that well. Have not hit them hard and the car has only done 200 miles.

 

Mine feel fine but haven't braked hard, I guess it's time for a brake check....

 

Mine feels different from what I'm used to, but they probably aren't broken-in yet. I guess each car is a little different. Our Mazda is different from my VW, etc. I was told by the dealer that MINI brakes are good for about 35k miles -- that's not long in my driving experience.

 

I've got a R56 Cooper S in the shop for the timing chain (warranty covered!) And I asked for a F56 loaner, So far I'm loving the car but I agree that the brakes are very soft compared to the R5x gens.

The OEM BMW pads have a huge amount of initial bite making them kinda hard to modulate at first, anyone who hasn't driven a R5x at length makes the driving experience very jerky. The brakes are like the aftermarket Hawk HPS pads I went with when I did my own brake job on my R56, Very soft initial bite that progressively gets harder, It's much easier to modulate in traffic and around town.

I can understand why BMW went with softer brakes on the F56 given that the car overall is much more refined and BMW-like.
After Driving the car for the whole day (about 100 miles of hard driving) I've concluded that the F56 is the MINI for People who want a BMW, but still want a MINI if that makes sense.

 

Did the dealer tell you that the F56 brakes will last about 35k because if so then that is an improvement, my R56 OEM pads were toast at 20k consistently.
Longevity may be among another reason why they are softer.

 

I thought he was indicating that the pads needed to be replaced more often than on most cars. I think I also remember his saying that rotors are replaced not turned. Maybe his advice was based on R56 experience and ours will be perform differently.

 

20-35k miles isn't very long.

 

Brakes are of course one of those subjective things that vary from driver to driver but I was pretty much average with everything on my car (mileage per year, distance per day, mpg, oil changes, ect..) so its safe to say that the R5x pads were a short life product.
Also he's right, they didn't turn the rotors on the old MINI's they replaced them.
We'll have to see how the F56 does overall; my Hawk HPS and centric rotor set up has over 40k on them now and more than half of the pad remains and the rotors are plenty thick.
20k to 35k on a set of brakes is an improvement over what it was; of course this means you'll only be able to eek out one set of brakes during the factory warranty so who's to say that wasn't part of the plan as well.

 

This is BMW the pretend Green auto company. Like most car companies there is no money in making thicker rotors that can be planed. ...
My bet is new rotors every pad replacement.

 

so they replaced the rotors for you, or do you know the run out spec and know that they really did need replacing?

 

They replaced them for me, I never found out how much rotor was left. I was one of those "Oh the key says you need brakes, and since it's still under warrenty we're going to do it" kind of deals. When they did I was actually quite upset that they just went ahead and changed them, I had no idea that they were low (or even it they were) I figured that I could have gotten some more life out of them. But you know how everything is calculated now.

 

Have put another 500 miles on since I posted this, the feel of the brakes has changed entirely as they now bite with much less pressure on the pedal. Wondering if they just weren't bled well from the factory?

 

That's good to know..I love my R56 brakes.

 

2 weeks in and not a spot of brake dust on the wheels. This is potentially my favorite part of the F56 lol.

 

That is one thing I appreciate!! I have noticed very little to no brake dust on my wheels.