Hi all,

My 2007 Cooper has about 53000 Km on it and the computer is telling me the front brakes will need servicing at somewhere less than 3600 Km. When I had my 48000 km inspection done in February 2011, the front disks were reported as being 4mm and the rears were 6mm.

My question is, how late do owners typically wait to get their brakes done? And are the pads the first to go, or the disks? My stopping distances are not as good as I like, but at $875 Canadian for a full set I'd prefer to wait until it's absolutely necessary to replace them...

 

Replaced mine at 45,000 miles. This was primarily highway driving. Replace the brakes before it gets to the rotors as it is much more expensive. I thought I had time as the car still stopped great, but, it was too late. Needed rotors too. The cost was $700.00 dollars. I did get lifetime brake pads though that give me no brake dust. I am thrilled with this. So not bad $700.00 for very good brakes that are rated at lifetime.

 

Mine were replaced when the computer decided it needed them... approx 36k miles. The rears were replaced at about 50k miles.

 

Like most people, I'll replace them when they start making grinding noises!

Dave

 

good old method works wonder!

 

I replaced my at 65k miles. This was about 9k miles after the brake sensor light trip. I didn't measure them, but they were less thick than the backing plate. I did replace both rotors and pads.

 

I have 33k on my 2009 and it needs brakes on all 4 corners, the fronts are thinner than the backing plates, the rears are close.

 

Just getting ready for the second set of fronts on mine as they are right at the end of wear.... at about 40,000.... some of you other guys must not use the brakes much! I am told the rotors are not able to be turned because the tolerances are too close... not enough material... so if the rotors are groved significantly - they must be replaced as well. I was quoted about $500 for pads and rotors for the front. What kind of pads and rotors does everyone else use? I am getting Zimmerman rotors and Akebon ceramic pads.

 

I would recommend new rotors - relatively inexpensive these days. Helped my Son's friend replace the rotors and front brake pads on his older Mazda Protege'....... He had worn one of the the pads clear off, little squeaky warning tabs even worn and broken away. Got his money's worth anyways, and has lifetime warranty from AutoZone on this set.

 

I replaced my OEM pads and rotors at about 23,000 - about 60% worn -
with Hawk HPS pads and Powerslot Cryo rotors - much less dust.
The Hawks have about 6-8 mm left now after 33,000 more, and I should be able
to get another 8-10K out of the fronts and another 15-20K out of the rears,
if I wait until they get down to 3 mm before changing them.
The rotors are a little grooved, but on measuring them, they've only lost a few
tenths of a mm of thickness so far, so they should be ok for a new set of pads without
changing them. They seem to wear much more slowly than the stock rotors with the stock pads.
The stock rotors were about 1/2 way to the wear limit at 23,000.

 

A friend of mine has a For Excursion and he recently put cryogenic treated rotors on it. Now when he steps on the brakes, it almost tips over it stops so fast. The dealer told him about it and installed them for him. I will be going that route when i need to do my brakes. He said he will never go back to regular rotors.

 

Thing about upgrading rotors is that if you can already exceed the adhesion limits of the tires, you are basically throwing your money away (in street use, track usage has heat dissipation and other concerns to consider), so you are honestly going to get a greater impact out of learning to threshold brake, getting stickier tires, and lighter wheels in that order than you will with simply upgrading the pads and rotors...well on stopping distance that is, wear and tear is a whole nother can of worms.

 

For me, the grip from the combo of HPS pads and Powerslot Cryo rotors is about the same
as stock cold, a little better than stock warm, with better modulation and less
prone to fade, and of course a lot less dust compared to stock.
I didn't find them excessively grippy.
The HPS pads are wearing more slowly than the oem ones, and the P.Cryo rotors
are wearing MUCH more slowly than the oem ones.

 

I went today to get my tires rotated on my 2008 MCS with 28,000 miles. To my surprise my front pads were worn.

My left one was twice as worn as my right. Is this common?

I plan on upgrading my rotors also to drilled slots. $138.94 each
http://www.minicarparts.net/Parts/34_11_6_777_826.cfm

My question is in reference to pads. I have never been to a track day, but drive spiritely at sometimes. I wasn't planning on running racing pads (EBC green) but if there is a noticeable difference, I will invest the extra dough.

Thanks in advance Axo

 

EBC green isn't a race pad and is actually the EBC pad that best matches your type of driving imo. Their advantage is less dust then the OEM pads. Not NO dust, but much reduced and a decent pad 4 occasional sportiness.

drilled and slots is just bling for your application imo . . .

if I was going to spend extra dollars on one side of the brakes equation I'd buy plain rotors and a better pad. MINI's brakes are very over engineered already so for most of us plain solid rotors are fine but we all appreciate a lower dust combination - less time cleaning and more driving and all that . . .

Uneven wear left to right on the fronts would concern me . . . when I took things apart I'b be seriously inspecting for freedom of movement.

just my opinions tho . . .

2008 with 28,000 .... you are out of pre-pay maintenance coverage by date or just want other/better parts?

 

Thanks for the advice. I did a search after this post and I agree about the green pads. I made a typo. I have 38,000 miles.

 

Anybody heard of brake issues with the 2010 Clubman? Mine has only 6400 miles on her and the brakes vibrate slightly, but enough to notice, escpecially as I slow down. I'm not a hard braker, either. In this sweet little car I actually brake far less than I did when I drove my Jeep Grand Cherokee!

Taking her to dealer in a couple days regarding this issue...

 

I would try bedding them in first......... Maybe the HAWK recommendations........

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/....jsp?techid=85

 

Sounds like the rotors might be a little warped. I'm sure it would be covered under warranty since you only have 6400 miles on it.
I had the same problem on my Yukon and they turned them for nothing since I only had 20,000 or so miles on it. So I'm sure the MINI wqarranty would cover it!

 

thanks for the link...now I won't feel naive when the service people tell me what the problem was and what I need to do!!

Fortunately she is under warranty!!

 

Thanks for the input, everybody...very appreciative!

 

Mini of Baltimore County replaced the two front rotors, covered under warranty Service at this dealership was great, took about 1 1/2 hrs, and she got a bath