So, after a couple hard stops yesterday during a spirited drive, my brake pedal suddenly started going to the floor!! limped it the mile home, and found a heavy fluid leak from the passenger side, next to the fuel tank. I'm guessing the line popped up there

Searching on the forums, I haven't seen anyone else that has had this failure... Am I the first? Anyone ever changed out the hard lines on their R53?

 

That's a first for me but if you live in an area that uses a lot of salt on the roads it's conceivable.

 

I've had to do this repair on other cars.

I haven't checked for MINIs, but BMW sells the hardlines cut to size (at a reasonable price) but not bent to shape. You have to bend as you go.

You can splice in a repair section if needed, but don't try to cut corners and use a simple compression fitting. Brake lines use double (reversed) flares.

 

Just this year I had this done at the dealership since I wasn't equipped to do it myself. Mine (on a 2006 MSC) didn't blow out but the rust in a few places was very bad to the point i am sure it was dangerous.

The original lines looked like bare metal and the new ones are black. I wonder if they realized there was a problem and started coating them with something.

 

Check out this NAM thread here. Lines are pretty simple to replace so if you plan to do this you could always upgrade to stainless steel brake lines.

 

Yea, was it the hard line ( rust ) or the soft line ( budge and bust ). I have seen the main hardlines rust and hairline leak, on 2002 and 2003 in the Rust belt up here.

Hard line here: Below the ECS Stainless lines

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-...Braking/Lines/