Hey NAM. Just went to the dealership recently to get some maintenance and warranty work done. My computer tells me my rear brakes have 1300 miles left on them and I only have a month left on the original maintenance plan that came with the car, so naturally I wanted to get them replaced for free before the plan runs out. I took the car there and told them to do that along with the other work, but they came back and told me that the computers on these cars (2011 MINI Clubman S) can sometime have errors and be inaccurate and that my brakes actually have much more than just 1300 miles left on them (didn't say how much). He said I could bring it back in and have them refresh the computer and have the reading be more accurate.

My question to you all is whether I should be concerned they are pulling the wool over my eyes so I will have to wait to get the brakes replaced on my own dime. Is this something that actually happens with these cars or am I being lied to?

 

At 1300 miles to go, the computer is still guessing, based on typical wear rates. When it gets down to under 500 miles, it will have contacted the wear sensor on the disc and the prediction becomes much more accurate. So the dealer could well be telling the truth.

I swapped out my Cooper front discs for Cooper S discs after about 10,000 miles and so the computer in my car is having a bad hair day. It got as low as 1600 miles to go to change the front brakes but when it didn't trip the brake wear sensor (like the computer was expecting) it has started counting up, not down, and is currently saying it's 2100 miles to go. That is actually perfectly logical but many people think it indicates something wrong.

 

No, I do not think they are trying to pull wool over your eyes.

On a recent visit to the dealer for the oil solenoid oil leak repair (a known problem, have yours checked), they read my key fob and told me that my car was telling them that I needed a brake job. Strange thing is I never got a brake job service prompt. Long story short, turns out the computer had to be reset because it was "confused". There was a SIM 34 01 13 performed to correct the car data. Seems the computers on these cars can get corrupt easily. Way to go MINI. This is why I will enjoy my MINI the time I have with it, but will never buy another until the reliability gets better.

 

I just upgrade to JCW brakes and my rear still say I have 1000 to go. Granted I found out that the rear sensor popped out while I was washing the car today. I will reset it tomorrow and see what happens.

OP just look at the pads and make a judgment call if they need to be replaced just replace them if not wait it out.

 

I had a similar situation with my '13 R56 S. My brakes were clearly fine. They are still fine almost 15,000 miles later. The computer was the problem. Have them redo your software now - it's crazy expensive if you are not on warranty!

 

The brake computer is just guessing. Most of the time I've found it does a reasonable job, but sometimes it overesitmates. In that case it can count down before the pad actually wears out. If it underestimates the pad sensor will bring it back into line.

The MINI spec is for at least 3mm of pad material, the sensor will trip at 6mm and at 3mm. The 6mm sensor seems to set the counter down to 10,000 miles. The 3mm sensor sets it to zero and turns on the light.

I had the counter countdown to 3,000 miles when there was still 6mm of pad left. The dealer set the counter back to 10,000 miles and 2500 miles later the 3mm sensor tripped and the light came on.

Currently Bertie has track pads, which are much harder wearing than normal pads. After 3 track days the counter counted down to 4k, but the pads still had 9mm on them. So I reset the counter. The counter will refuse to reset if the sensor is half gone.

If you don't trust the dealer, you can always measure the pads yourself. It helps to have the right tool (like I do), but you can do it without.