Guys/Girls
Driving to work today the Orange Brake Pad Wear light came on.
I have done 39k miles so Im a little surprised that this has happened I am not particularly heavy on brakes, or so I thought
However it has
Its probably the front ones I guess...
My questions are as follows

1.Warranty Item?? Im guessing no..
2.If no to above How much and should the Dealer be used??
3.How much if dealer work?? :(

Thx for any info.

 

Consider yourself lucky, my brake light just went on last Friday w/only 24K miles on my Mini I need fronts & rears. I have read that they will only be covered under the maintenance plan if you are lucky enough to have them go out at the exact moment you are due for servicing (but I have only read that on NAM & never asked my dealer). Also be ready to buy new rotors not just pads (which came as a shock to me). My mechanic said that MINIS/BMWS have soft rotors & can rarely be reused

I am getting 4 Hawk HPS pads, 4 rotors, & 2 new brake sensors for around $475. I dunno what the labor is going to run me & I am getting the work done at an independent shop not my Mini dealership.

I am so not an expert on these matters but this is what has just happened to me

 

bamatt
The only plus in that situation is the quality of the brake pads will be far better then the original ones that were on the car

 

Midas could do it cheap if you dont want to upgrade. Or they could install your new brake goodies. Dealer overcharges. Wear items arnt covered on warranty I believe.

 

actually I have heard of folks getting brake pads under the pre-paid maintenance. unfortunately you get another set of these very dirty pads.

there is an excellent set of instructions available here and switching to something like EBC will cut your wheel cleaning requirements significantly

with the appropriate tools this gets down to about 15min a wheel to slap pads on. Get 'em b4 the sensor goes off and save some time and money.

 

I have read thats its more likely the sensor than the pads actually worn out??
Silly question but......
How would I know and be able to tell??

 

by grinding away on the rotor till it makes electrical contact, that's why it needs replacement. But this is saying that the pad is mostly gone. If you wait until it's grinding, then you WILL need new rotors! Now how much time you have after the warning goes off I have no clue. My car doesn't have the sensor, and I do a set of pads a year or so.

Matt

 

as stated here the sensor works by sitting towards the back side of the pad. as the pad wears and gets thin the sensor is able to come in contact with the rotor. the rotor then wears off the end of the sensor and the little light comes on. unless the sensor is in the wrong place, it could not be worn down to light w/out the pad being worn. could the wear of the sensor cause the rotor to be grooved...sounds plausable.

search for the how-to with pics avail here and you'll see a picture of how the sensor fits into a slot in the pad.

note that not all aftermarket pads have the sensor slots. some people just forgo the sensors --- tie them out of the way.

my 02 is pre-sensor

my 79 is WAY pre-sensor!