So in preparation for a BMWCCA school in September, I took the MINI to a european used car dealer near my work - good shop that works on MINIs. I failed tech inspection because my front pads had less than 1/2 pad and the pedal felt too soft to the tech. The first inch of pedal does nothing, but then it engages fine. The tech says none of the other MINIs he works on felt like that.

I've put 8k miles, one track day, and one autocross on this set of pads (Carbotech Bobcats). I run ATE Superblue that was most recently flushed four weeks ago, and I've bled them several times since the pads were new. The pedal's always felt like this, so I'm confused. I had SS lines installed with the new pads, and the lines were flushed by the mechanic.

Any ideas what could be causing the first inch of pedal to be ineffective?

 

Hmmm... interesting... I think my brakes feel pretty much the same way... I thought it was "normal"... call Dan...

 

Did you run the Bobcats on the track? How many miles are on the MINI?

 

Yeah, I ran the Bobcats on the track. The car has about 49,900 miles on it, and I changed the brake pads, rotors, and lines around 42k. I drive about 60/40 highway/city miles.

I thought this was normal, too.

 

Paul, are you still running Hawks or did you switch over to Carbotechs?

 

There are many things that could be the issue and without seeing each pad and rotor it's hard to say for sure whats going on. I'll try to cover some things I've seen of late and see if it helps you.

1, the Bobcats are not track pads and should never be used on a track. If you got the Bobcats track hot they are on the way out and you may need to change them. Carbotech makes a full line of track pads for this very reason.

2, while getting the pads hot everything got hot and part of the issue may be weak boots around the piston.

3, Could be a bad cap on brake res or master cylinder may also be leaking, both of which have been talked about in the last few weeks on other threads.

4, could also be a bad rear caliper with a pad hanging up. Check the inside pad and be sure the pad is locked onto the piston with that wire clip. Also talked about on other threads of late.

5, When you came off the track did you set the E-brake or use foot on brake to stay "Parked" for any time at all? Hot pads can weld to the rotor and set a hot spot on the rotor too.

6, I think you ran the Bobcats into the ground and we can only hope the rotors are not done too.

7, feel free to call me to talk about any of the above day or night,

Dustin 312-388-4263

 

I'm running Bobcat rear and AX6 front right now - have been running bobcats F&R for a few months, with new rotors.


Dustin - good to know about Bobcats and the track...