I daily-drive my '11 MCS ~20K miles a year to work with most of it going through winding canyon roads so it's natural I'm going to go through brakes fairly often. MINI did the first brake job free as part of the free maintenance but I've got 45K on the odo so it was my turn to take over. I bought aftermarket replacements rather than the expensive stuff from the dealer so it cost me far less than just sourcing everything there. Unfortunately, it took me a couple of weeks to gather all the parts since no one parts store carries everything you need to do a brake job on an '11 MCS. Plus, the parts people seem confused dealing with MINI parts.

I got pads, sensors, and rotors (stock rotors were well grooved) along with some other miscellaneous stuff that needed replacing, such as the engine and cabin air filters as well as a couple of extra oil filters.

The brake job itself was pretty uneventful, although, getting to the rear brake sensor connector was not as easy as the service manual would have you believe. I got it all in and then reset the computer to eliminate the service reminder for the brakes - that part surprised me as I'd read here several folks have had problems getting the computer to reset. I followed a set of instructions posted on a web site I had linked to from here and it worked like a charm.

The rotors I bought had unpainted hats so I masked and painted them black to match my wheels while I was waiting for parts to come from the warehouse. My stock rotor hats were light gray and I thought they clashed with my wheels so I bought some 900 deg. F caliper/rotor paint and went at it. I also scrubbed everything down while I had it all apart.

The rear pistons need to be rotated while they are being pressed in so it's a good idea to have the correct special tool to handle that rather than trying to rig something or use pliers to do it and risk damaging the piston seal. I remembered I had a universal caliper tool I'd bought at a parts store several years ago for my Mustang I had never had to use. It's a strange looking tool but only cost a few bucks - a great alternative to buying one from MINI. It works with a 3/8" drive ratchet with a short extension. I pushed fairly hard inward on the piston while I screwed it in.

Overall, not a bad job but not as quick as others I've done.

The rear caliper piston tool


A close-up - I used the four-pronged side against the piston clover-leaf face


The painted rotors


One of the pad brackets


The front driver's corner completed


Previous rotor with grey hat


Finished passenger rear corner with new rotor

 

Great job. Thx for sharing.

 

Yeah definately!