I currently have 19K miles on my 2004 S. When I took it in for the first service (around 12k) I complained of brake noise. They told me there was no way it was the brakes needing replacement and they simply needed to be cleaned. Problem was they wanted ~$100 to clean them. I turned down the service and dealt with the squeking. It has now at 19K gotten much worse. Embarasingly so. The MINI advisor at my local dealership tells me there is no way the brakes are worn out and they need cleaning still. They wont even look at my car since it isn't at its service interval without charging me.

Questions are:

1)How long do brakes normally last? I don't do any track days and am not a very agressive driver.

2)For $100 I can pay for the labor for putting on brake pads of my choice and have money left over. Should I just do this and forget about dealing with the dealership?

Thanks,

Richard

 

The brakes on a MCS usually last atleast 30,000 miles (this is based on my Mini service person). You can clean the brakes yourself. The easiest way is to just use a hose and spray through the wheels, you will see alot of dust come out, I do this atleast every month. The best way is to go to your local gas station and rent their lift for a half hour and use compressed air to clean out the brakes.

Have you jacked up the car an removed the loudest wheel? It may just be a small stick caught in the wheel.

Good luck

 

You might also try removing the wheels and spraying the brakes/calipers with BraKleen. It's like $4 at any auto store, and is supposed to help with squeaking brakes.

Ken

 

Thats not what dealer is referring to,he means brake service.

 

My front brakes needed replacement at around 35k. My rear brakes have been replaced at 23k and 46k, but that was due to a faulty caliper that was wearing the right side too quickly. The left side still have 5mm pad left so I would guess I should have gotten at least 30k with the rears.

I think you should go to another dealer if possible and start over with them. It is obvious that your current dealer is not interested in helping you.

Global Imports in Atlanta initially did not diagnose the problem of why my right rear brakes were wearing excessively compared to the left side, they just replaced the pads and rotors the first time. The second time it happenned, it took several weeks of calls to many different people at MINI-USA, a complaint to the NHTSB, and the threat of a lawsuit to get them to actually diagnose WHY I had the same problem twice. They ended up replacing the defective caliper when they finally decided to diagnose the problem instead of blame the owner and try to charge me with an expensive repair and long distance tow.

 

Talk to the manager. Let him know that you're not satisfied with the answers you've been getting. They're basically telling you this is NORMAL, and it's not, no way no how. One of the nice parts of the stock pads is that they're quiet, and you pay for this with dust, dust, dust. Your car is under warranty. It's not working right, get your satisfaction. If the dealer is smart, they'll do it just to get a complaining owner out of the showroom! You can even escalate up to Mini USA....

Matt

 

Mini pads on occassion will squeek,done brake service on brakes usually glazed pads causing sqeek,thats not special to Mini.Uneven brake wear ie right rear wearing faster than left is unusual,usually a sign of sticking or dragging caliper piston,that would be warranty.

 

my 03 has PLENTY of pad left. 20k miles with some spirited driving, street
only. but then, it's 99% only me in the car and have lightweight wheels...

btw, find an open road, take it to 50mph and brake hard to 25mph
maybe 2-3 times. that might rid the crap that's baked on the surface
of the shoe...given that you have a lot of pad left.

 

 

I agree with this method of scuffing the pads to remove the glazing that may be causing the squealing. I used to do this with my VW GTI every couple of months. . . .

 

It works,but if its caliper sticking it wont

 

here... take the pad off and use some of this.,

 

Hey Richard,

Tell them you don't give a crap about whether it's "time" for the brakes to be replaced; They aren't working correctly! Anything other then putting the car of the lift, pulling the wheels, doing a visual inspection, removing the pads and reapplying the anti-squeal paste at the Service Manual recommended locations is pure bovine excrement!

I can't believe they are passing that off as normal.

BTW, I also had the sticking rear caliper, got 44,000 out of the rear pads before we hit metal to metal. They replaced the caliper and pads (duh) and no problems since. I just replaced the front pads and rotors, with OEM at 87,700+

But seriously, the car isn't right, you're under warranty, they need to fix it until you are happy! Since they are jerking you around already, I'd also tell them I want to watch the work.

Good luck and let us know what pans out.

 

 

rjhiii,

What type of noise are we talking about here? My 06 makes brake noise in the final 10 feet or so of a slow speed stop (ie, parking lots, garage, stop-go traffic). I've read plenty of other posts that others have a similar issue. It's loud enough to be heard in the car with the windows closed. Something to do with the pad material. Brake pads are always a compromise (brake life, temp. range, noise, rotor wear, dust, braking power etc.) It seems that MINI picked some of the wrong compromises (lots of dust and noise).

Is your noise worse then this? Someone mentioned hosing out the wheels, or even pulling off a wheel and hitting the brakes with compressed air. Your dealer should at LEAST put it up on the rack and check it out to be sure that something isn't really wrong. Although you may have to wait until you have the car in for something else.

I'm betting that your SA is tired of hearing people complain about brake noise, and has forgotten one of the major rules of customer service ("Just because you've answered the question 1000 times for other people, doesn't mean that the customer has already heard the answer").

Good luck,
Mike

 

right on!