Hi all, went to the dealer today with my wife's 2011 MCS because she told me the "service thingy light" came on when she went to start the car. Yup, she's right the service indicator does come on. I ASSUMED it's time for the first oil change. Nope, the service writer looks at me and tells me it needs front brake pads at 10,450 miles on the odometer. I was a little shocked because my wife drives so conservatively. She's got 125,000 miles on the original front brakes of her 2003 Tahoe.
Then, another 2011 MCS pulls in the drive right behind ours and is told the same thing, needs front pads. That owner also questions why so soon at so few miles. Then we are both told that there are no pads available in the USA and they will need to be ordered from Germany.
I just can't believe I will have to replace the front brake pads every 10,000 miles on this car. Or, is that normal for a MINI?
Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

I would like to know the answer to that myself, 10,000 miles seems way to little especially having been driven under normal conditions by your wife. My wife had a Ford ranger and drove the hell out of it and didn't need front brakes untill 70,000 miles or so..

 

well there's two ways to look at this:

- my wife's car always seems to need pads twice as often as my cars. She is not an aggressive driver - but the 6 speeding tickets on our record ... well, I've never gotten one

- I have 35,000 miles on my 07 and just checked the pads .... I have 30% left. Yes, you're right, I'm a granny driver. (not OEM, I changed out to EBC Green as soon as I could get my hands on them ... I also ran EBC green on my 02 and easily got 35,000 miles on them)

- if you understand how the wear sensor works you'll see it can easily be wrong. Did the dealer MEASURE the pads? You can do it yourself . . . quick check, is the pad material thicker than the backing plate? (search me and brakes .. I've posted the question with pictures several times)

- I also had a dealer tell me I NEEDED new pads RIGHT NOW . . . which was funny since I'd changed the pads about 3 weeks b4 . . . . the ability to check yourself applies again . . . .

- have people eaten their pads in 10,000? YES

NO PARTS AVAILABLE ????

I toss the b.s. flag

your dealer is NOT one I would like to work with . . . I'd check or replace your pads but it looks like it would be a long drive . . .

 

10,000 miles seems pretty low. I've read reports of people getting them at 20K. On the positive side, you should get free pads and rotors under the maintenance program.

The MINI pads are pretty soft, and put out a lot of dust. I got fed up with the dust and grabby pedal feel (modulation). At about 2,000 miles I had Carbotech 1521 Bobcat pads installed. I don't notice dust anymore. Don't have to wash the car as often, the modulation is, IMO, much improved. This, of course, voids the free pad and rotor warranty, but I thought it was worth it. Bobcats are supposed to be very long lasting. I've got about 15,000 miles on them now and they have performed well. I'll see if I can check the wear and report back, later.

 

duh ... I missed that .. an 11 is probably still in warraty

if so

your dealer is just trying to reap dollars from MINI by authorizing pads (and rotors) early; well a lite went off so they are covered (but I'd love to see the removed pads)

your only pain is sitting in the waiting room - at my dealer they have free ice cream so no bad there!!!!

 

Mine needed replacing at 20,000 for 09 MCS. Rear at 30,000. Surprised me, I can't ever remember replacing brakes at fewer than 60,000 miles

 

[QUOTE=Capt_bj;3332900]
- if you understand how the wear sensor works you'll see it can easily be wrong. Did the dealer MEASURE the pads? You can do it yourself . . . quick check, is the pad material thicker than the backing plate? (search me and brakes .. I've posted the question with pictures several times)/QUOTE]

No, they never pulled a wheel off and measured the pads. It appears the service writer contacts the parts dept. when a MINI rolls in the service drive with the service light on that indicates brake pads. It's all on MINI's dime at this point but I'm looking ahead to the time I'm paying for the brake job. I'm not too happy that a light on the dash will be alerting the service dept. to attatch a vacuum hose to my wallet.

I will pull the pads off tomorrow and measure them myself to be sure of what is really going on.

Also, I followed the instructions in the owner's manual and accessed the service information in the onboard computer and it somehow knows that 4158 miles remain on the rear brake pads.

I will try to post the pad measurements I obtain tomorrow w/ some pictures.

 

The sensor is more than just tripped or not tripped. Once it starts making some contact it will start a mileage countdown. Who knows what kind of calculations MINI has programmed. When it reaches the end of that it then switches to a red warning and the circuit is actually broken. At that point I was able to go another 9,000 miles, but that is because I had been inspecting the pads visually all along and knew what I had. For reference, I got around 65k miles out of my original pads.

 

Lucky you, I'd love an excuse to upgrade to more-progessive, less dusty pads.

 

You don't need to pull the wheels off to measure the pads. BMW (and MINI) use a special tool to measure the brake pad thickness, you poke the tool through a hole in the pad which is there just for this. Also the computer counts down the front and rear brakes individually.

I got Shawn's front brakes changed at 8500 and both front and rear at 18600 miles (all under the included service). The first one was after a particularly enthusiastic track day which took 7000 miles off the service indicator. When I got to the dealer for the yearly oil change, there was 4000 miles left of the brakes, which they said that was the threshold they'd do the brakes early.

That happened again this year at the annual oil change, the brakes had just clicked over to 4000 miles to go.

I'm quite hard on brakes it seems.

 

Hi all, I just wanted to update this original post of mine because this brake issue has become somewhat interesting....

So, as I posted the "CBS" warning indicator came on at about 10,000 miles and the dealer ordered front pads. So I took the MINI back in when I was told the pads had come in and was told , "nope, the pads are just fine, it's the sensors that don't work with the new car's software". The "CBS" system was reset and away we went.
In March of this year at about 24,000 miles the indicator went red telling me the front pads needed service and the rears were not far behind. Back to the dealer, they measure the pads, 5mm remaining. I'm told I don't need pads, the "CBS" is incorrect. The "CBS" was reset and again I'm told a softwear issue. I ask if it can be repaired so the system works correctly and the dealer says they are waiting for MINI/BMW to issue an update. So the answer was no, it can't be fixed. Has anyone else experienced this with their 2011 MCS? This seems so wrong to me....

Combine this phony "warning system" that can't warn me correctly that my brakes are in need of service with the timing chain tensioner that "backed out" and caused a nice oil leak in my garage at 18,000 miles and the water pump recall and I'm thinking this MINI that my wife loves so much is a lemon.
The car is at 26,000 miles and I am very concerned about just how much this little diamond is going to cost me when it's out of warranty.

I have purchased quite a few new cars but I have never been to any dealer so many times at such few miles on the car until this one. Is this just normal for MINI/BMW? Because if it is, I will not be giving myself a BMW 7 series for my 50th birthday next year.

 

that's interesting because mine still doesn't need to be changed(even though I am going to upgrade to Hawk pads). I am currently at 29K and he said there is still a lot left over so I'm good for now. I told him I don't drive like a grandma but who knows.

 

Maybe it has to do with a build date???

I called MINI corporate they semed interested on the phone. They are supposed to get back to me....

 

TAS63
Don't give up on the car. So far the three issues you've had are very minor,and don't point to a lemon. The other two recurring issues that you haven't experienced yet are the high pressure fuel pump failure, and the death rattle. But, forewarned is forearmed. These are nice cars, but they do need to be paid attention too.
Many people connect the brake sensors and don't install them in the pads, because, quite frankly, they don't really even work properly when they are functioning properly.They will tell you that you need brake service when there is plenty of pad left.
Possibly if you did that, installed new sensors and tie wrapped them up out of the way, the computer would stop giving you erroneous service warnings. It's definitely not right that you should have to do this, but.....

We have a combined 125,000 miles on two Cooper S's in the last four years.
The two cars combined have been in the dealership for a total of less than 7 days for maintenance outside of warranty inspections.
The high pressure fuel pump ate up about 3 days and the water pump was about 3 only because the recall hadn't taken effect yet when the water pump stopped working and we had to wait for the parts. The other day was spent with the timing chain tensioner bolt.
The high pressure fuel pump problem was the only issue that left the car inoperable, needing to be towed.

 

I would say that my wife's 08 S is one of the most expensive cars we have ever had. I would venture to say that we probably have at least half the price of the car in repairs so far at around 90K miles. We've given up on the dealer repair prices and have gone to a shop that specializes in BMW, but they are not cheap either, but at least they are convenient.

If it floats your boat.

 

OP can you do basic maintence on a vehicle(i.g. oil, air filter)? If so, a brake job is pretty simple and straight forward. With the help of someone else you can knock out a brake job in about 2 to 3 hours. That right there significantly reduces your overall price and helps you choice in pads and rotors a lot. There are only a handleful of jobs that are beyond most peoples skills on here and has to do with a lot of the engine and more serious running parts.

 

I have about 70k of spirited driving on the hawk HPS on our 08 and still plenty of pad left.

I've also noticed the mileage count down on my '11 seems to be going a bit fast so I'm very interested about the software problem your SA mentioned.

 

Hawk HPS seem to wear down about half as fast as the stock pads for me, too.
And cryo rotors with Hawk HPS wears about 1/4 as fast as stock rotors and pads.

 

The only problem with cryo rotors is they are about $100-$150 more expensive then non-cryo. Just saying because i almost bought a set for my MINI.

 

They are cheaper in the long run since they last 3-4 pad sets instead of just 1 or 2.

 

Yep true. I have Powerslot rotors and even their none treated ones are holding up nicely. I have put about 20k on them and you can barely tell.

 

OK, here is the latest. We took Daphne in to the dealer on Friday 7AM. The CBS warning light was on indicating the rear brakes needed service. I received a call from the SA around 1 PM telling me they found the rear pads do indeed need replacement. He also stated the front pads were being replaced and the CBS reset. We picked up Daphne Saturday morning and all seemed well. Sunday morning we take a quick trip to Costco and when we come out of the store and go to start the car, the Check Engine Light is on and the engine cooling fan is on. Drive home, call MINI Roadside, watch Daphne drive off on the back of a tow truck to the dealership where we had picked her up about 24 hours before. Then we picked up the rental car that MINI Roadside told me we have to pay for.

We will see what the dealership says is the cause of the Check Engine Light on Monday....

Tonight, after all this crap with the car, I see at least two Vodka Martinis in my future.

 

Yes, I usually perform all the maintence on all our vehicles. My concern at this point is the CBS system that is supposed to function correctly does not. I bought this car brand new with 16 miles on the odometer. In my opinion all the systems should function correctly on this vehicle. My wife should be able to trust the CBS to properly alert her to the needs of the vehicle. If she can't trust the CBS system, what else can't be trusted on the car?

I didn't pay for a broken vehicle when I bought this car for my wife.

This is the first time in my life I have had to pay for a rental car due to owning a vehicle that is 17 months old with only 26,000 miles on the odometer that had to be towed to the dealer.

 

Did the fan's stay running after the car was shut off?

 

Yep, not normal for Daphne....