Okay, so I posted in another thread about brakes wearing poorly. I took my wifes 18 Countryman S ALL4 to the dealer to get the brakes "fixed" (I'll get to that in a min) under warranty. By fixed, I wanted to be reimbursed for the cost of the pads I purchased from the dealer, 210 for pads and wear sensor. I had to replace my wifes brakes myself due to her going on a trip and not having the time to get in to Mini and get a loaner. Originally we though it was the heat shield, which we had a problem dragging the rotor previously, but after I pulled the tire, I found this.

Passenger side inner pad completely gone after 32k miles. The dealer was great, and did their best to deal with Mini Corp, but Mini corp denied the warranty claim. They noted this is expected wear. They note that the brakes are used in Hill Assist and Traction control, and that it is biased to one side (the heavier side). I am calling BS on this excuse. If that was the case, then the pad wear sensor would have been installed on the biased side. So either a major design flaw, complete BS, or I suspect both.

The funny thing is, this exact same problem occurred on my 17 Clubman S ALL4, around the same mileage. That time I did not go into mini because I was traveling for work had the pads in my car for months and then just gave up on that.. till it hit my wifes car.

I'm going to be filing a NHTSA complaint. If you are having brake problems, I suggest you do the same. We can complain about it all we want, ***** to Mini dealership and Mini corp, and they can ignore you with no consequences, but a complaint filed with NHTSA has to be investigated and responded to. I am trying to deal directly with Mini corp, but I don't have high hopes.

 

My front pads wore down in 8300 miles. I have a 2018 JCW CM with the Brembo brakes. Of course I complained to the dealer and he had some weak response about soft performance brakes. I told him I also have a Mazda RX8 with great brakes on its original pads at 38000 miles. I drive both cars over the same routes and traffic, just on alternate days. If anything, I drive the RX8 a little harder.

In the end Mini replaced the pads and sensor under warranty.

 

I posted to their (@miniusa)twitter account, including pictures, and I am going to do the same with their Facebook account. searching through there twitter feed, there are quite a few people complaining about the brakes. We will see if they respond. Either way, I still plan to file a NHTSA complaint at the end of the week if they do not resolve the issue.

Honestly, I could care less about the $200 I spent on pads and a sensor. I spent close to $1000 for pads for my AMG C63 that I traded in for the Clubman (long story short.. after 135k glorious smile filled miles.. it needed around 40k worth of transmission work.. at least that was the quote.. so... I traded it.. heh).

I want the issue corrected, design flaw, crappy calipers, whatever, because it will continue to happen, and it is a waste of money have to replace 3 pads with 1000s of miles left because 1 keeps wearing out before the others due to the implementation. I drove my C63 hard, and I braked hard, and I managed to get 40 to 50k out of a set (unless I went to the track, in which case I replaced the pads the following week because they got wrecked.. same with the tires... although those only lasted me 12 to 15k miles heh... yeah I drove it like I stole it)..

If they are going to use the excuse they are soft, or additional systems use the brakes, or whatever reason, then they should have designed the brakes accordingly. If both inners or all 4 wore out quickly, I can live with that, but I cannot live with the BS that 1 pad will wear out and then completely trash the rotors if not caught.

 

Based on your pics, I would consider it a 'stuck' caliper, where the outer pad is not being pulled against the rotor, so all the force, and therefore wear, goes to the inside pad. When your caliper piston(s) extend, they push the inside pad against the rotor and the equal and opposite force (remember Newton's 3rd law??) should come from the outside flange of the caliper and squeeze the outer pad against the rotor. Now, getting perfectly even wear on the inside and outside pads won't ever happen, but they shouldn't be offset by the amount you have pictured. There will also be some pad taper front-to-rear on the pads, since the caliper will tend to twist a bit under braking on most OEM systems. If the caliper can't slide freely, the inside pad will take the brunt of the force and frictional wear.

If this wear pattern seems to be 'common' then there may be a casting or machining flaw on the RH caliper that prevents it from moving freely. Another spot to look at is the caliper 'frame' that the pads ride in, as there may be a ridge/lip that the outer pad ear flange is getting stuck on and not allowing it to pull up against the rotor.

With everything disassembled and the rotor removed, make sure the pads can slide cleanly all the way through the caliper frame, especially the outside pad. Once good there, then install the caliper into the frame w/o rotor or pads and make sure it has free movement on the slide pins. Once all that is confirmed, then you should be good to reassemble and take it out for a road test. With the pads pictured above, I would have to think there may be a slight pull to the driver's side, as the passenger rotor is only getting friction on one side as compared to a full squeeze on the driver's rotor.

 

I also have a 2018 JCW CM and front brake sensor came on at 13,800, dealer replaced.

 

What did they replace?

 

sensor came on because front pads wore down to the sensor, dealer replaced pads and sensor. Inside pads were also noticeably more worn than the outside.

 

Have you checked the pad wear since?
I'd be curious if they just fixed the result and not the cause.

 

I understand that the slide can stick. And if it was just one car (mine), or mine and a few other random people on the internet of the thousands of cars on the road, then I would guess that it was just mine that got stuck from environmental factors. But I have 2 minis, I drive the Clubman, and my wife drives the Countryman, we have completely different routes and roads, and driving styles, and the fact that it happened to both minis, and it is practically identical wear, that leads me to believe this is a design flaw.

 

We've had all four pads and rotors replaced TWICE through warranty. Our issues have been corroded and pitted rotors and reduced brake force. We have less than 10k on the car. The quality of the brake components on these cars are suck PERIOD.

 

well, I guess i need to pull the front wheels. They are wearing, I can hear them when you get on them some as higher speeds. Not quiet like they use to be, I think I have even experience it pulling to drivers side a couple times on the interstate. Let me check the mileage, its here today.

12,699 miles. way more brake dust on drivers side wheel than passenger side front wheel. ECS says brake pads on sale, they never list the F60 Countryman. annoying.

 

BTW, I picked up a 2019 countryman last night. When going over the extra coverages that Finance tries to sell you, I was told that things like pads and rotors are no longer covered under the limited warranty.

 

That is definitely not cool ! Not cool at all.

I guess I will pull the wheels and check the pads and see if they are close. My dealer is 269 miles away, so I need to look ahead of time.

 

Just several weeks back had my 2018 JCW in for what proved to be worn out rear pads. Well, not that worn out. Just one pad -- and the one with the sensor -- was worn down to the sensor. Car had just under 17K miles. Cost me around $450 for new pads, wear sensor, and some other hardware.

What appears to be the problem is when I corner in the car too often the stability control kicks in and I can feel it applying the brakes. Since most of my turns and the higher speed ones too boot are right hand turns the left hand rear brake gets all the action. This happens to be where the wear sensor is located. Clever those Mini blokes.

Anyhow, I have cooled my jets and corner like an old lady now. But at least the brakes will last longer.

 

We just picked up a 2019 Countryman PHEV with 12,000 miles. After reading this thread, I pulled all four wheels and inspected the brakes.

We’ve noticed that the brakes are very “grabby,” meaning they don’t brake lightly, they just sort of grab and stop very harshly.

The pads have plenty of material left and show no significant signs of wear, particularly in front. I couldn’t disassemble the rear calipers for a thorough inspection because of the plastic parking brake assembly that’s bolted onto the caliper. I don’t know the procedure for working on those. I’m not a fan of that electric brake.

I rotated the tires front-to-back and I lubricated the sliding pins on the front calipers. I test drove and the brakes are still grabby. I’m thinking that maybe different pads might help? What I observed is that it’s possible to brake slowly and smoothly, but if you press just a bit too hard, it locks up harshly and the stopping is very abrupt.

 

We picked up a 2019 F60 a couple of months ago and pretty much experienced the same "grabby" brakes. Pretty much what Rebound said- if you brake slow and steady it's perfectly fine but if you stab at it a little hard or too quick, it's almost like it wants to lock up. This makes for jerky feeling if you happened to do drive spiritedly only to be yanked back if you go in it too quick. I too hope that changing brake pads may help to alleviate the grabiness issue. Anyone else experiencing the same and/or found a solution?

 

so for the brake sensor, if you change out the pads before the sensor is wore/ or comes on, you don't have to replace it , right ?

On our countryman there is more brake dust on the driver side front wheel as compared to passenger side. so I have an idea what that means. I saw a video on the 'crazy-tube' showing the changing of Clubman S 2018 model front brake pads and sensor. 12 thousand some change in miles ,not that many. Inside pad sensor wore completely out.
The Clubman 2018 model front calipers are like the 2017, 2018 & 2019 Countryman's calipers ?

yeah that's really early 12500 miles,.
best regards,

 

The Manufacturer’s warranty doesn’t cover brake pads, but it does cover defects in material and workmanship.

in my opinion, premature brake pad wear like you’re describing — just one of the four pads completely wearing out after very low mileage — that is a defect in material or workmanship. Either the brakes were not properly assembled, or something is wrong with the brake calipers or rotors. In other words, there’s a defect, no question in my opinion.

 

Labor day 2019, well I labored. I removed the front wheels and checked brakes. They were dusty -dirty as carp. But the wear surprised me in a good way. They were wore maybe a quarter, not much at all. I had ordered some pads to have here in case they were wore away as like original post.

The pads and calipers were fine. I cleaned the slides for the pads, took them out and cleaned everything that moves on the caliper. Interesting caliper, The caliper, single piston, kinda smallish, 'kinda disappointing. They were TRW pads, The caliper were combo, TRW -BMW stamped calipers.
That bolt you are suppose to put a skinny wrench on to loosen the caliper bolt, I didn't have one that was narrow or 'skinny' enough to fit. whatever. Use vice-grips. I just put them afterwards in my road-emergency bag I keep in the Mini Countryman, ( with Gorilla tape )
Yeah the Brembo would be a great upgrade and make ease of pad replacement super quick, I hose those calipers every time I wash that car, and the dust was just bunching up in the 'slides' where the pads move. I can see how it binds up if you drive in salt and dirt in winter.

It seemed before labor day none of the Mini vendors that I frequent had any brake pads that fit a 2017 Mini Countryman. whatever. They showed up on one vendor Saturday. That was no help and I looked on their site weeks ago to try an order a set. I always try to support the venders here. Pads seemed simple enough.

So I bought two sets on amazon cause ,not my favorite, and you know them. They may say it fits, but their track record is dubious at best. My results were normal 50%, one set fit and the others, well I don't know what they fit ! It sure wasn't a Mini Countryman, that's for sure!
I kept the one set that I made sure they fit. I'll keep them.
NAPA had a set they say would fit, overnight delivery, the brand was 'Zimmerman', about $110 for the front set. That was my backup, if neither amazons fit.
well, no pads needed right now.
will continue to watch,

 

Cool, keep us posted on progress with this new set...A little concern that you are perhaps using different "name brand" pads? Not sure if I read it correctly so correct me if I am wrong. I was hoping you would upgrade to performance pads of sort like EBC? Let us know how it went after the install either way and hope it improves the pedal feel.

 

My brakes service warning just came on as well as 9k miles. Looking to replace pads with after market but no mfg has listing for 2019 CM JCW. Has anybody replaced pads on JCW with after market options? If so what were the part numbers?

 

Hey Mudbuddha: Oh, I put the original pads back on. I'm still running originals. They were wore so little @ 13,500, when I compared them with the new ones, I figured keep on running the originals. Sorry about confusing you. I did put the new pads on the calipers to make sure they fit, I did do that.
But I took them off and put them in back in the box. Just going to keep them until when needed.
I wanted to put on some EBC's and maybe some Hawks, but, hell no one had them before Labor day !
The ones I bought/kept are DFC, ( Dynamic Friction Company) 3000 semi-metallic . They looked exactly like the TRW's that were Original equipment. Only $43 dollars for fronts. came with shims and everything.
I'll check them again next year, see how they are.
Have a good one !

 

I just took my 2018 JCW Countryman ALL4 in to have it serviced because the "Service Brakes" alert came on at ~17,000 miles. According to MINI of Wichita service, my front brakes needed to be replaced along with the wear sensor and the rotors. Total cost of ~$1800. I asked why the brakes and rotors would be worn out so early, as 17,000 miles seems EXTREMELY short. They chalked it up to it being a JCW with soft "racing style" brakes and this was normal. I asked if they had different/longer lasting pads because I do not track this car. Nope. None of this was covered under warranty, either, because they did not feel it was unusual wear for the life.

Needless to say I will not be taking it back to the dealer to have these things replaced.

 

That’s much too expensive. You can buy the parts at ECSTUNING.com and do it yourself or with a friend.

 

Sad to say just dealer BS. Soft racing style brakes? Hah! Tell me another fairy tale.

JCW brake life sucks. My 2003 Porsche 996 Turbo had excellent brakes and thank goodness what with 420hp on tap and 3400lb car to slow down. (Had the car up to 165mh once.) Original front brakes lasted to around 140K+ miles. The original rear brakes were still ok at 161K miles when I sold the car.

My JCW flashes the stability control warning symbol during almost every right hand turn unless I really slow the car way down. Not sure what's going on. I wonder it the wheel speed sensor is flaky maybe? Anyhow, I see another rear brake job in the car's future.