As the title says, I'm getting excessive brake dust build-up on the right-front wheel only. The wheel doesn't seem to drag. The pads do touch the rotor when I spin it by hand, but that's it, just barely touch. Seems pretty normal for disc brakes. The other side touches as well. I'm thinking that perhaps the slide return on the caliper needs to be lubricated, however I've never actually gotten into these brakes specifically. Maybe they're taking a bit longer to release than they should. The car drives, and stops, just fine. The only noticeable symptom is the dust.

Any thoughts?

 

Yes, sounds like you have a caliper dragging... I would pull your tire and check you pads, look for one pad showing more wear than the other (inside vs outside) it should be obvious if it is.

You may want to pull the caliper compress the piston (you can use a large set if channel locks to slowly compress the piston) feel for the piston dragging. Use brake cleaner to clean up the assembly and you can carefully apply some copper grease or anti seize to the guides and reassemble.

*WARNING*
Remember to pump your brakes to reseat the caliper before driving off.

Motor on!

 

I did pull the wheel, didn't really notice that much of a difference, if at all. I'll probably pull it again this weekend and really take a long look at it. I didn't have a pan to catch any brake cleaner fluid, so I just peeked at it from afar without really getting my face in there. I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell if the piston was dragging by using channel locks. I guess I could try, seems like you'd have to be a ninja to be able to detect that fine movement.

Funny story about that, I helped a buddy redo his Jeep brakes, and when he buttoned it up and backed it out of his garage, the brakes weren't pump up. He slowly drifted backwards and clunked into his van. He laughs now, but he said he went into panic mode when the pedal went to the floor. He could have even put it in 1st and pulled up, or at least stopped his momentum. He's got a nice little scuff to remember that incident by now. Lesson learned for sure!

 

One tip....
Mini's can activate a single brake for various reasons....
Some models use it for tourqe steer reduction (gen2 only, some models)......
Others various methods of augmenting stability with the DSC ETC....
I would check for a caliper pad issue to be safe....but my guess, all is aok.

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you thinking that the DSC could be intervening (or at least trying to) when it shouldn't be?

 

At a minimum pull the caliper and grease the slider pins (5 or 7mm allen.)

I did the brakes on my CRX years ago and forgot to seat the pad. Serious OH S#!T moment as I approached the stop at a busy crossroad...

 

The mini has what they called "ABC" braking...lots of terms...like CBC..corner braking control, etc...basicly the DSC computer can activate a SINGLE brake to argument stability...
Let's say you are in a hard fast right turn....the DSC may apply a bit of drag to the from right tire to help match the cars moment with what it sees you want based on the steering anglecsensor, wheel speed sensors and DSC computer.....
Many folks, based on driving style, find the rear pads wear faster than the fronts, and often the pads do not wear evenly from side to side (inner and outer on the same caliper SHOULD STILL MATCH)....
lots depend on how you drive....
Do check it to be sure you don't have a sticking caliper....but like I said, it might be normal.

 

Thanks for that clarification Zippy. I think at the very least I'll start with lubricating that caliper and go from there. I haven't driven it very hard, nothing that would induce a single wheel from generating lots of dust anyway.