F54 JCW Brake Wear - Front pads gone in 11k?
 

Picked up my '18 F54 JCW in September of last year. It was an executive demo that I bought from my local MINI dealer with about 7k miles. I've truly enjoyed driving it, especially up in the canyon roads around Los Angeles. Took it in for an alignment and rotation last week at 11k miles, found out it was close enough on time/miles for the oil change service. Alignment done, oil changed, and clean report card from the dealer and I took her home. Two days later, the brake pad warning is on for the front pads...

I've had 20+ cars in as many years, including 3 other MINIs (F56 Cooper, R56 Cooper, R53 GP). I've worked in the auto industry for just as long, and I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about how things work (sold Porsches and exotics for years, was in service at Tesla for the last 5 years). So at just over 11k miles my small car with overkill brakes has worn out the front pads, and I'm a little irritated. How many miles are you folks getting out of your pads? This seems like excessive wear. Granted, the brakes have performed incredibly well and are the single most impressive performance feature of the JCW vs. the standard MCS, but I've never witnessed brake wear this bad, even on other performance cars. I've not taken it to the track, and I don't drive aggressively on the road. I've taken it out on Angeles Crest a grand total of four times, and I don't do a lot of stop+go city driving.

What gives? And what are your experiences with non-OEM options for pads and / or rotors?

You need to measure pads before assuming that the warning light is accurate.

Dealer measured during inspection / service and says they're fine. The warning indicator shows recommended replacement in 1100 miles, which would put me at about 12.5k miles total on front pads. I know they're not gone completely, but they're squealing like hell and that warning indicator is going to bug the hell out of me.

I don't necessarily expect to get 40-50k out of high-performance brakes, but I would like to see a little better wear characteristics on my daily driver. As great as my JCW is, it's not a track car or an exotic. If this were a GT3 or even a GP, I'd be OK with this kind of wear. But even my GP got almost 50K on the original pads/rotors...

I replaced the front at 45K and they were still good for 10K ........... mostly freeway and mountain roads.

My R53 GP lasted until almost 50k and I probably could have gotten more out of the rears. The brakes on the F-series cars definitely seem to be setup a little more aggressively than on the R-series cars like yours.

You bought an executive car that may have been driven by some who cared little about the car or its' longevity. On race tracks, some have to replace the pads every race. I would just get the brakes fixed and called it a day. The brakes on the JCW in the hands of an oldfart like me could last 70,000 miles +.

When you look at the specs, the truth is maybe the brakes are too small for a car that is far overweight at 3500 lbs. I don't believe anyone is buying for its agility and handling prowess.

Seriously, The rotors barely fit in an 18" wheel. My old Audi S4 Avant with much more horsepower had about the same size brakes. The subject car has been driven hard.

I changed my front brake pads after 25.000km (F54 JCW) and to say the truth i find the braking power a little bit disappointing.

My guess is that the pads were mostly gone when you got the car...I am guessing you didn't inspect/measure what was there then?? I would toss on a new set of pads and see where it takes you and by the sound of it, should be more than 12.5K miles. With that development, I would likely take a closer look at the rears and the suspension overall, as your car may have seen some 'heavy' use prior to your ownership.

I have a 2017 JCW, which will be two years old in 3 days.

I am on my 3rd set of brake pads, and the rotors were also turned once during the pad replacement. The car is at about 30k miles.

Granted, I have about 6 track days with the car, too.

I'll admit to 4-5 hard drives on the canyon roads around LA, but nothing approaching a track day as far as brake use. I bought the car from the MINI dealer, and they did an inspection on it prior to sale. Based on the overall condition of the car and especially the tires, I find it unlikely that it was used aggressively or abused prior to my purchase. The tires, even after my occasionally aggressive use, are still in good condition, probably just a little less than 50% tread remaining and they were by no means in "new" condition when I got the car.

I'm looking into iSweep or EBC pads and planning to go ahead and replace the front pads next week. The current pads are squealing SO loudly right now I can't stand it.

It's strange you have to replace pads so early on a JCW. I drive canyon and mountain roads everyday and never had any issue with the OEM. EBC pads is a good choice and they definitely have more grip as per my experience.

Just keep in mind it is also recommended to replace the rotors in same time for optimal performance.

Update: Ordered StopTech rotors and EBC Red pads from Way Motorworks, got the front pieces installed and realized we had the wrong bits for the rear. Turns out StopTech had yet to produce the rotors for the rear, so I think I will now have the first set!

I'ill have the rears installed this week, but already have some good miles on the front setup. Noticed a big difference in feel driving in the canyons, and aside from a very light squeal at initial application, they're just as quiet as the stock setup. We went with Castrol SRF fluid as well. Very happy with this setup. I also ditched the Pirelli runflats and put on Continental DWS all around. It's like a new car!

I don't anticipate any appreciable difference by upgrading the rear pads/rotors, but I'll update once I have the whole setup installed.

Thanks to Way and his team for getting everything sorted out with the rear setup. They worked directly with StopTech to have everything sent directly to me, and helped to sort out the setup for the rears.

:confused:

F54 JCW stops from 70-0 in 171ft

F30 335xi stops from 70 -0 in 186ft

E90 LCI 335i stops from 70-0 in 168 ft.

335i is a pretty solid benchmark for braking performance.

Sure the f54 jcw is not in the hot hatch 15x ft 70-0 range but it's far from insufficient braking. Frankly compared to other CUV's and wagons it's actually one of the best as far as 70-0 braking.

My only disappointment with the stock setup was the accelerated (pun intended) wear of the pads and rotors. For the type of driving I do, having a slightly more aggressive pad with slotted rotors and a higher-temp fluid just takes the stock system closer to its full potential. I've done two drives since upgrading the brakes and I'm really happy with the performance of the setup so far. I'll be very interested to see if I notice much from upgrading the rears as well.

Is it an auto transmission? Talking to my service advisor about brakes he told me that autos go through brakes and manuals do not. Downshifting with rev match.

If you only to 11k miles before you had to replace both the front AND rear brake pads and rotors something's wrong there. Glad the new ones are good though. But you cannot wear out brake calipers in 11k miles. I got 55k out or the fronts on my 2007 MCS, and traded it in at 70k the rears were still OK. Got 44k on my 2014 JCW and there's 2mm on the fronts still.

I hate to disagree, but it's entirely possible to run brake pads down in 11k or less miles. 3 track days and 6k miles on my 2017 JCW, and they were down to 2/3 mm, I measured them myself. I did it again with the new set within about 9k miles and 2 track days.

The guy who installed my Stage 1 ECU tune said that if you don't disable/turn off the traction control system thingy you'll wear your front brakes down FAST. I guess it keeps them engaged a lot. He said he wore through 1/2 set of brakes in one track day or something like that.

Very true, the eLSD can certainly do that. I, however, went through the rear brakes just as quick. Oops!

Stability control activates the rear brakes a lot.

Maybe that's what the guy said. But it happened because of racetrack runs and leaving some control on (that can be deactivated) that applied the brakes a lot.

Just want to add that I push my car, and it has gone through brake pads quicker than any other I've had...and I've had many. FWIW, still like my G-loc pads. They feel better (more modulation) and have lasted longer. Got them from Way. Rotors still good at 36k.

It is the automatic, yes. When driving in a "spirited" manner, I typically use the manual shift, and often play with the manual shift around town.

The only parts that were "worn" were the front pads. However, the front rotors were glazed and it was best to replace both pads and rotors for the best performance and longevity. Because I was switching to an aftermarket setup, I wanted to match both ends, so I purchased new rotors and pads. I also flushed the factory brake fluid and put in Castrol SRF for more resistance to fade.

The rear rotors finally came in last week (StopTech had to make some for me...) and I get them installed this morning with the EBC pads for the rear. Still loving this setup as far as the performance, not wild about the little squeal I get at low pressure / low speed stops, but that's not an issue on my fun drives :-)