Hi there,

When we had the car in for it's service (about 101k miles on the 2006 R53), I was asked to replace the brake rotors in the front. About $650 for the job.

I declined thinking I will do it myself later that week.

Now when I looked into it, it seems the wear sensors should come on if the pads are worn, but the dealership is saying the rotors are worn below spec. Can that be true? that the rotors would wear first?

Second, if that is the case, do i need to even replace the wear sensors because they haven't come on yet?

Thanks in advance

 

It's best to check the brake wear before the sensor trips because it's a one time sensor and needs replacing if it's triggered. The brakes are fairly easy to do and NAM has great vendors to get the parts, Genuine MINI, OEM, or otherwise.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. How do i check the wear on the rotor vs the pads?

 

On the rotor you can measure the thickness, or look for a huge lip, gouges, etc. which would obviously make it bad. On the pads you should be able to visually check them to see how close they're getting to the backing plates.

 

do you know how thick the rotors need to be?

 

No.

Also, if you do the brakes yourself, be careful with the sensor and wires so you don't break them if they haven't already been tripped.

 

thanks. I'll see if i can find the thickness somewhere in the forum

 

Rotor thickness is often stamped into the rotor.

 

Gen1 sensors only monitor ONE PAD OF 4 ON the front or back....
Pads don't tend to wear perfectly evenly left to right since the cars have DSC....and imperfect calipers(needing lube) might not wear evenly on the same caliper....rears are famous for this...fronts, more so with the JCW style caliper, but yes, the stock ones do too....
The wear sensors can be reused on a gen1....but they sometimes break when you pull them out if the old pads....so if you want sensors, IMO , buy new ones....if you get lucky with salvageing a old sensor, you will have a spare for next time .

 

When were the pads last replaced? I'd bet that the pads were replaced at some point but the rotors weren't. I replace my rotors whenever I replace my pads and most others do the same.

There's two sensors for the R53, one on the front left and the other on the right rear. If it were my car, I'd get a set of rotors and ebc red pads (way usually has a decent deal) and just replace them all as I'd suspect the pads aren't too far behind the rotors on their way out.

 

You can fix your own brakes. It's a job anyone can do if they take a little time to learn the few simple things to do.

Rotors aren't all that expensive and it's not that unusual for them to go before the pads. Rockauto has a very good selection and usually has the best price but don't cheap out. You certainly don't need cross drilled slotted but stay from the advance/autozone crap.

 

first: what year? 02 didn't have brake wear sensors

second: as mentioned, at over 100,000 miles I'm pretty sure you ain't on original pads! On a Honda yes, on a MINI no . . .

third: rotor minimum thickness, front 20.4 mm; rear 8.4 mm; I routinely went 2 sets of pads to one set of rotors but did not resurface the rotors as that makes them too thin faster

fourth: easy to visually check pad wear. When the material is as thick as the backing plate it is time to start thinking about new pads. With most pads there is also a bevel on the edge and when you can no longer see bevel, the pad is usually down to backing plate thickness or less. Here's an almost new GEN2 MINI front with some white paint on the backing plate - same angle as you'd see looking thru the caliper



here's a pad that's ready for replacement



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Editorial:

"you need new brakes" is a huge money maker for service departments and mechanics in general ... people know bad brakes are a problem and if they don't know how to check themself, are at the mercy of the 'expert'.

This sounds like I'm down on guys just trying to do their job and maybe I am .... I'm a little tainted by a MINI service department who, when I brought my car in for something the first time it was out of pre-paid maintenance, told me "you need pads and rotors right now." Hmmmmm ... funny since I put new ones on myself just a few weeks ago ..... (this was an 02, no wear sensors). Made me wonder how many times I'd been ripped in the past as this brake job DIY was my first in 25 years of owning cars . . .

NOT ALL dealers will do this, but too many WILL. My most recent dealer experience was when I took my car to the dealer at their invitation for a free inspection ... I'd been doing my own maintenance of the car for some time. This dealer (different one) took the car into the back for an hour and came out and said they recommended a brake fluid change. "that's it?"

"Yep, everything else looks good."

That was not what I expected to hear .... but not EVERY dealer is a crook.

Last point ... in a discussion with the manager of the first dealer in my lil story where I was trying to get him to host a "tech day" for MINI owners circa about 2005 when the first 2002s pre-paid service was expiring ...

dealer rep: I don't make any money selling cars. I make my money in the service department. To do this I'd lose a bay for part of a day and all the things I teach you are money not in my pocket. NO WAY.

When you find a good trustworthy mechanic it is at least as valuable as a good dentist!

 

+1 early MINI till 3/2003+ Sensor front left and rear right.

Check that thickness on the pad materiel itself.