I recently purchased a new mini cooper s. The car has about 1,000 miles on it and is largely used to commute 20 miles (40 roundtrip) in stop and go traffic.


Recently I've noticed my brakes are sqeaking/screeching a bit when I am braking in lower gears at speeds around and under 25mph.


Can anyone tell me if this is normal. If not can some explain what might be causing it and how to fix it?


Thanks

 

Umm DC, is there any road salt out? driving around construction? If so wash the car, it could likely be just a little bit of dirt/sand/salt getting b/w the rotor and the pad. Does this happen when you go on the highway or stop from higher speeds? Also has this happened since you picked the car up? Have you followed the break-in procedures so far? This could be a factory issue or just some dirt/dust.

 

this was happening to me, the dealer said the dust gets on the rotor and makes the noise. They advised me to just brake really hard and it will clear the dust. Seems to do the job.

 

My dealer said the same as jon. K's. that being said mine still sqeek at low speeds and I'm at 15,000 miles. It may be one of those things of "they all do that"

 

I find it helps to rinse your wheels and brakes every few hundred miles and remove the built up brake dust. It seems to do the trick. Then go out and hit the brakes hard to dry them and continue motoring.

 

I have the same problem, and have not found a good way to make it stop.

 

What he said.

 

Ditto, and in my experience the dealers tell you its normal :P

 

It usually occurs if the rotors and pads have not "bedded" properly. Or after being toasted. It's not "normal" but won't impede the performance of the brakes.

 

I get the sqeak/squeal during low-speed braking, too. 44,000 miles on my 2003 Cooper and STILL about 5,000 miles of pad left all around! I am light on the brakes, I guess. I've heard of some needing replacement as low as 20K miles (must be racer-types or heavy left foot???) but I don't mind needing just 2 sets of pads every 100K miles of driving. Anyway, dealer said same thing as everyone else "it's just brake dust, it's normal." Dunno if they're right but aside from being mildly annoying (mostly to pedestrians, as I can't hear it often over the volume of the radio), I don't think the squeaking is any indication of degradation in braking capability.

Rock on,

-boognish

 

I too have gotten the "it's normal" thing twice. Story about soft rotors and pads. On the 2nd visit (today) I got the added bonus explanation of "it's a cheap car with cheap parts". Certainly makes me feel good about buying this car!
Cheap? I could have spent half of what I paid for the MINI and gotten a vehicle with a better warranty and less headaches.

 

Boy is your dealer filling you with crap...The MINI is not a cheap car nor is a low quality car. If it was then our resale value wouldn't be what it is.

 

The pads I believe are by Ate, which is what BMW pads are. Not cheap parts lol. Squeaking is usually caused by improper bedding of pads and rotors. Sad that dealerships don't tell you about it.

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm