Hello,

Wife has a 2010 mini cooper s and she put little over 16000 miles on it. I went to service dept. this morning in order to replace rear brake pads (service indicator said 700). I asked about rotors and service advisor said that it's all depends so I said okay.

After 2 hours later, they just replaced only front and rear pads because of rotors thickness. The service paper said that all rotors are not under MIN;

Rear rotors ok at 9.02MM (8.4MM MIN)
Front rotors ok at 20.66MM (20.4MM MIN)

1. I think they are too close to be replaced but they refused to replace them. Is that sounds right? I think rotors are need to be replaced. what do you think? If rotors are not required to replace this time how many miles would be okay?

2. I was going to pay for brake pads but they said that I don't have to pay. Since it's already over 3 yrs/36000 miles free maintenance, are those brake pads under warranty?


Thanks in advance.

 

What the heck is she doing to need pads at 16k miles?

If they aren't under spec, the aren't going to change them unless you pay them to.

 

Thanks for your input.

The mini need to be replaced those pads because the trip computer said it needs to check the rear brake so I went to service dept. and they just replaced front and rear brake pads.

I thought they are going to replace brake rotors together with pads. Do you think that rotors need to be replaced today pay by me? or when should replace them?

Thanks,

 

They don't NEED to be replaced. The specs are set to allow for additional wear for the life of a set of pads before they would need to be replaced.

If you feel safer replacing them, they pay for them. Rotors aren't as expensive as they used to be and worth the peace of mind of you would feel better.

And let me rephrase Richard's question. What kind of driving is that MINI subjected to that would cause the dealership to need to replace them so soon ? She do a lot of city driving, stop and go ?

 

You can see the values they gave you as the minimum thickness along with the existing thickness. They are fine and if you decide to pay out of pocket to get new rotors, then you're really just throwing money at the wind and you might as well throw some my way too! =P

But in all seriousness, you don't necessarily have to change rotors and pads at the same time. Pads are going to wear out sooner than rotors depending on driving characteristics and circumstances.

I go to the track and my rear pads are being replaced a 2nd time later this month after I replaced them late last year, but my rotors are fine. Front BBK is holding up perfectly fine, so I don't really think about it much.

 

I wouldn't bother replacing the rotors until your next pad change. It's not going to make a difference.

 

Any idea what the thickness dimension of new rotors is? Might be enough life (thickness) in the rotors to get you to next pad change.

My MINI has about 30k miles original pads and rotors and many miles life remain.

 

Thanks everyone for your all input. And yes she does a lot of city driving.

 

Ok, more of my thoughts.

Usually, you can get away with two sets of pads per rotor. (YMMV) (most other BMW's I've owned, like my 1995 M3)

But, 16K on rear pads is seriously short. Almost like someone drove with the parking brake engaged or sticking. The computer based service, (cbs) uses the brake pad wear sensor in the passenger side rear, (drivers side front) to warn about pad wear.

Most people get 10,000+ miles more out of the rear pads than the front ones.

I changed my pads and rotors earlier this year. The CBS alerted about the front pads, so I put the car on the lift and took a look. The front pads were well and truly done. with maybe 2mm of material. The rotors had a noticeable lip and after measuring the rotor they were 1.5mm or .059" above spec. (35,000 miles). Since I was changing pad compounds anyway. (To EBC Red Stuff), I just went ahead and replaced the front and rear rotors and pads (ECS Tuning GeoMet slotted rotors) along with new sensors. (I have never had any luck removing and reusing a MINI wear sensor... They just crack and fall apart)

The rears would have been fine for at least another 10K miles... Hence my question about how she drives... Have you ever noticed unusual amounts of brake dust on the rear wheels?

 

@richard, thank you for your input. Yeah I thought it's little earlier than usual but trip computer said 700 for rear brake checking so that's why I went to service dept. They said that both front and rear pads at 3MM (3MM MIN) so they replaced both pads.

If I recall correctly mine was replaced rear rotors with pads around 26000 (city: 70%, highway: 30%) that's why I thought they replace brake rotors together with pads.

My wife's driving style is just fine but lots of city driving (maybe over 95%) and I did not notice unusual amounts of dust on the rear wheels.

 

That's a bit strange, as the rear brakes don't do a whole lot... Anyway, I bet the rotors will be fine for normal driving. I wouldn't let them go if the car was headed to the track...

 

A lot of old timers are programmed to think when you replace pads you replace rotors. Not the case in modern vehicles, rotors can last 100k miles on some cars

 

"in the beginning" MINI's policy was to always replace rotors with pads. As time progressed they became more cost conscious and moved away from that policy.

An owner since 2002 I've pretty consistently gotten around 42,000 from each set of EBC pads and have gone 2 sets of pads to one set of rotors; doing my own work.

I work on MINIs for friends and have seen similar wear on other's cars but we don't track . . .

 

That's a stinker!

Most of the dealerships are cheap bastards. But I remember getting mine done under warranty at 23K miles

 

I have 92,000 miles on my front rotors. Just changed the back rotors about 5,000 miles back. I don't think they needed to be replaced but with an Indy it was less expensive than just pad replacement at the dealer.

 

Wow, 16k and needs pads? I got 40k out of my fronts before the sensor tripped, and traded at 49k on the back without any replacement at all.

 

Zemina,

While your MINI dealer is strictly speaking correct and rotors are above MIN spec and do not need to be automatically replaced, the front ones in particular are going to wear past MIN spec before the year is out. The dealer you picked is either **** retentive, or wants to rip-off MINI USA for 2 jobs: 1). replacing pads now; 2). replacing rotors when you come back in 3 months. If you cross the pre-paid maintenance window by the time you come back for job #2, they will try to stick you with that bill.

All new MINIs are sold with 3yr/36K mile pre-paid maintenance plan that covers brake pads and rotors.
Double check when your 3yr timer expires (doesn't sound like you will hit 36K miles), and make sure to make an appointment with ANOTHER dealer a week beforehand. By that time you will have worn the rotors past the MIN rotor thickness and will get new sets.

FWIW, here are MCS rotor specs:
______________New______MIN____
front 294x22.0: 22.0 mm 20.4 mm
rear 259x10.0:. 10.0 mm 8.4 mm

HTH,
a

P.S.: Your wear is not unusual for city driven car. My first set was done at 24K miles. Second set was done at 16K after 2 autoX seasons.