Does anyone know what the deal is with the brake pads on my clubman ? The problem i have is they make an alot of brake dust in a short amount of time .My wife has a brand new kia soul and i hand washed it for the first time in a month and it hardly had any brake dust on the wheels .My clubman can have black dust stuck all over the wheels after a trip to town and back .I will rinse it off at the car wash every three days or so and hand wash it once a week and when i rinse it off it has black water just running off the wheels and it takes alot of scrubbing and then hand drying them to get all the dust off .Are the brake pads just really cheap or are they braking in .I have about 4000 miles on it .

 

Welcome to MINI!! The Brake Dust is a PITA, but it is something that you will have to learn to live with or read some of the other threads on how to get less Brake Dust Pads.

If you'd like to know about Wheel Cleaning I can help there, but I won't be replacing my Brake Pads to the low dust kind, so maybe some else can help with that.

We took a 2nd L@@K at the Kia Soul today, even took a Test Drive. We won't be in the market for a new car for Hubby until next year, but wanted to see it fit into our lifestyle...How well do you like yours??

 

Thanks for the brake info .I dont have any problems cleaning the wheels it cleans off well .I use the armor all wheel cleaner it is the bomb .I was wondering if there were any products that would keep the dust from sticking as much .We love our soul it has about 6k miles on it and it really suits us fine .We got the metallic brown and it shines like a new dime and it hides dirt good .It is way easier to detail then my midnight metallic black clubman .You cant go wrong with the kia good price awesome warranty .Ours was about fully loaded and at 18 grand out the door i didnt even bother to haggle on the price especialy since the economy is crap i figured somebody needed a good paycheck too .

 

I found the brake dust fairly easy to clean, but wanted to see if I could reduce the build-up rate. Found a product called Rejex, and it does seem to help a bit. Could even be used as a wax substitute, apparently, but I haven't tried it for that yet.

http://www.corrosionx.com/rejex.html

 

I, too, am concerned about the "dusting" from the OEM brakes and will remedy that to the degree I can when I change brake pads at some point in the future in my Clubbie S. I use Armour All wheel clearner but it is work to keep the wheels clean consistently. I saw a recommendation to assist in removing the dust an easier task, i.e. using spray Rain-X. Have applied some to all four wheels and have also wipe off some dust with ease. Time will tell...

 

Thanks for the reply Redron. It does seem to be almost loaded at a great price, we are looking at the Sport and will add a Sun Roof and Roof Rack and/or Receiver Hitch. Hubby really likes the Red/Black Interior that is offered.

 

Yeah, MINI uses really soft brake discs and pads. Great for street driving, but dirtier most other disc brake installations. Not that I've seen any disc brakes that didn't get dirty.

 

Today, I tried the Eagle One Keep Clean Wheel spray. It is specifically for repelling brake dust. Though I only tested this for about 50 miles do far, it does seem to keep the dust from building up. It is supposed to reject the dust for up to two weeks. I'll be happy if it lasts 3 days.

BMW could have done a much better job selecting a pad material. My Miata wheels would stay clean for at least a week before any noticeable dust build-up.

 

German cars are notorious for brake dust. My family has had BMW's, Audi's and VW's along with my Mini. All had brake dust problem. None of the Japanese cars we have owned have had this problem. But I do notice one big difference. The German cars brakes are MUCH better than the Japanese standard brakes for actually stopping the car. I feel my Mini will stop much better then the 06 Accord I had would.

 

Yep - look at ANY BMW in parking lots and see what the front wheels look like... unless the car has been detailed in the last couple of days, you'll see the same dust. The result of very aggressive pad materials that BMW uses, just like on the MINIs.

Best product I've found to reduce dust buildup and make it easier to clean is Prima Wheel Armour, applied every few months.

Best best solution is to replace the OEM pads with ceramics like the Carbotech 1521 Bobcats. Virtually no dust.

 

If you look at the the soul at a good enough angle in the front its looks like it is almost styled after the mini .In fact a week or two before i got my mini i was at the dealership buying the soul and one of the sales managers asked me if the red and white ones he had would look cool with racing stripes on them like the mini and i said yes so we have several of those souls like that running around town right now .