I have an obnoxious squeak coming from the rear driver's side of my mini. It's rotational and only when the brakes are not applied. Each rotation of the wheel nets me a squeak. When the brakes are applied, it turns to a rotational thud. If i engage the e-brake 2-clicks, very marginal drag, it turns to normal brake noise and a slight thud with no squeak.

Anyone have any advice before i buy a caliper tool and rear rotors and pads i may not need to fix this??

 

Ok, guess I'm ripping it apart to see what i have going on back there.

 

You don't need a caliper tool. Unless it's seized, you can use a set of pliers and screw them back in. (pushing at the same time). That's how I do mine when I have to work on the rear brakes.

 

Interesting, Guess i'll jam it apart then. Thanks for the head's up!

 

the backing plates to the pads are off. same with the springs that go onto the piston from the pad. pop those back on and slobber the back side with anti seize. never will squeak again.... i had the same issue but on both sides. and it was driving me nuts!!!

 

You're the man. I had a feeling it was something like that. I'm replacing my steering knuckle this weekend and will be tackling this as well. Appreciate the insight!

 

Disassembled, cleaned, antiseized pads and lubed the guide pins still get it. rear brakes are in seemingly good shape with a lot of life... Not sure where to go with it from here.

 

to be sure (since you ask about buying the caliper tool I'm guessing this is your first experience with your MINI's brakes)

on GEN1 rear pads there is a spring clip ... and on the piston of the caliper there is a groove .... the pad clips onto this groove. If it is NOT clipped in you will hear noises.

This is the back of a GEN1 rear pad (disregard circle ... picture supports a different post)


if not this, I'd be looking at the e-brake system: is it releasing properly? If the last pad change was done without the recommended/proper tool, the e-brake may have been messed up ... or the cable could simply be binding.

 

interesting... the pad clipped onto the piston and those hooks were seated on the casting prior to me putting the caliper back on but i don't remember anything "clicking" into place. Also, the lower spring on the back of the bad was broken so only the long spring and upper held it to the piston but i figured the guides on the pad (circled in red in your picture) would help keep everything in line once assembled.

 

Tried playing with the e-brake adjustment last night; it's not that either. I know how the rest of the process goes... If i replace the rear rotors/pads and sensor, i will find out its a caliper... if i replace the caliper, i'll find out it was the rotors & pads.... Unfortunately, seems it's cheaper and easier to live with the little squeak.

 

Keeping this thread up to date for future readers.... Hopefully this takes care of the problem. Love pelican parts; had no idea the rear brakes were so reasonable!



If this fails to do the trick, i'm out less than the equivalent of 2 hours of diagnostic shop rate and have new rear brakes (aside from calipers). If this doesn't take care of it, i will move onto the e-brake cables/caliper assemblies so i WILL figure this out. Given the disassembly of my rear, driver's side brakes produced good pads with broken retainers and everything looking gunked up, I'm hoping this will do the trick. The car sat for 5 months with the e-brake on before i bought it so I'm thinking that left an impression on the rotor as the noise is there under normal driving and shifts to a grinding noise on rotation when the brakes are applied.

I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Got home from the gym last night and saw a delivery from Pelican, decided, what the hell?. Pulled the mini in and got started. Noise in on the driver's side so i figured i'd start there. Ripped everything apart only to strip the hell out of the seized rotor retention Torx. Heat, oil, heat oil, to no avail. Didn't have time to drill it out as it was late so i greased all metal points of the caliper, antiseized the pads again and re-assembled. Took it for a spin after and the brake noise is gone! lol

Now i'm sitting on a whole rear OEM quality brake kit I didn't need. I'm going to hang onto it to see if the noise comes back but have high hopes it'll just be sitting on the shelf!

 

I live in Northern Maine and the roads are pretty grimy and rough. I find the rear brakes to be extremely sensitive to dirt and grit. I frequently perform lubrication and cleaning services on the rear brakes. I pay close attention to the rear inboard brake pad as it clips onto the master cylinder puck with the rear spring retention clips. While installing it onto the cylinder puck it seems rather flimsy, once it is correctly seated it runs just fine. My first experience with noise was as a result of the inside pad's spring being broken. I didn't realize it grabbed at three points. Without the spring properly seated that interior pad will move about creating noisy operation. I use anti squeal on the exterior pad and ensure the slide pins are lubed with correct lubrication.

A little TLC is worth it. Plus, it is so much fun tinkering on my Mini.

 

That's my same issue, one of the three springs is broken on the rear inboard pad. After some anti-sieze and caliper lube on the pins, she's quiet. If it gets noisy again, i have everything i need for a rear brake job and will deal with drilling out the stupid screw then!