Of course brakes wear out. I expect that. However first time at 25 K...rear brakes and rotors...Then Today I'm informed same thing. At 40K. (thank you extended warranty)

I thought most braking comes from the front. At least that what my brake dust coated wheels are telling me. DO minis do it differently? Or do you think the biasing of the front/rear is reversed?

Anybody Else?


Paul

 

Mine wear in the rear REAL fast. But, I drive it like I stole it. I'm also being hard-headed and wearing my rotors and pads down to brake death. 58K miles and I am still on my FACTORY rotors and my first set (EBC greens) of pads. Still stops like a champ. Especially when you have a WS6 TransAM cartwheeling over the cables into your lane. It was close!

 

Braking in our front-wheel drive MINIs should be about 80% front, 20% rear. It doesn't seem normal that your rears are wearing out much sooner than the fronts. Since you had your rotors replaced with the pads at 25K, it doesn't seem like it's attributable to warped rotors.

Do you use your handbrake to do powerslides or to stop the car when going 80mph?

 

I dont do power slides. I do use my e brake everytime I park.(applied when stopped)

I don't autocross and haven't driven it like I stole it since last brake pads. ($350 speeding ticket costs from drive down to charlotte for first brake pads)

Weird.


Paul

 

Well yes that's what you'd think, but things have changed on modern cars with EBD. My wifes Audi A4 was wearing the rears way more that the fronts. What they told me at service was that with EBD the rear brakes are used much more that they used to be. I buy that explanation, but did wonder if I was being sold a line of BS. As far as the parking brake wearing the rear pads, well maybe if you drove with it on or did hand brake turns all the time.

 

even through there is less force being used by the rear, the overall pad is much smaller, so the braking force is less, but the overall pad use is the same or more. the rear pads wear much faster on my TSX as well

 

Yeah, I had the same thing happen with our Mazda Protege5, the rears wore much faster than the fronts. I believe it was due to the caliper design, it had a tendency to stick easily, not good.

 

So the hundred million dollar question...WHy do Big brake kits go on the front???



Paul

 

I do drive the car hard. 6 to 8 track events per year.

Fronts wear about twice as fast as rears. I have standard brake calipers with Mintex 1144 combo pads and Helix slotted rotors front and rear. I use ATE Super Blue brake fluid.
http://helix13.com/mini/products/brakes

You have something wrong with your brakes. Take it to a competent brake specialist for a check out.

Alan

p.s. The standard MINI brake rotors are very soft. They lasted through the set of MINI brake pads plus one set of Mintex pads.

 

the rear brakes on the Minis have a really crappy setup. the pistons in the rear are the type that screw out as opposed to just push out, that causes them to freeze easily while applying pressure on the inner pads. i have yet to see a rear brake setup where the pads wear evenly on Minis.

what the tech should do, as i do, is to rotate the rear pistons a couple of times(a minute or so) back and forth, that way the piston is free, before completely turning it all the way into the caliper. what the tech should not do is to just turn the piston into place and continue with the brake job. when you do that you are not giving the customer a fair repair because the piston will freeze easier than before and eat the pads quicker.

 

Crap, it is the same design as that of my Protege5 then. I'll have to keep an eye on them as I don't need a repeat of having my rear rotors chewed up by the pads.

 

Over the last couple of years I've seen some issues with EBC Greens wearing out very quickly. A few of my friends and I stopped using them as a result.