Nothing wrong with that; I just don't like being told I have to, when I don't.

 

Is there a do it yourself, play by play, break down available yet online?

 

FYI with BMW it is always "recommended" that rotors be replaced with pads. However, BMW brakes last in excess of 60K miles. Even with 4 seasons of autox my M Coupe rotors/pads are at 50% after 44K miles.

 

I agree, although I don't know, maybe the Mini maintenance police will come after you

 

Yes! Interestingly that's so true, even with my 330i. My recently acquired '05 MINI Cooper has 26k on the clock and the front brake pads are not far from done. I took the opportunity and just replace them together w/ new rotors, mostly to reduce the darn brake dust. My 330i has about 65k miles on the brake pads and they still have fair amount of life left in them. This maybe due to my driving style also, but it's definitely interesting how much longer the BMW brake pads last compare to MINI.

 

my old 530i (replaced with the mini) I bought used at 44K miles had brand new brakes. I didn't need to change them until 120K miles just before I sold it. granted about 70% of the miles were on the freeway. 76k miles on one set is fantastic in my book.

 

The rotors on my 06 are noticeably softer than any other car I have ever owned. I noticed this when I changed my pads at 10K just to get rid of the dusty OEMs. If they don't need to be turned or machined, I always rough up my rotors with a sanding wheel on my drill motor.

The MINI rotors deglazed extremely fast with very little pressure. I can easily see if you use an aggressive or ceramic pad how they will eat through the rotors very quickly. When I need rotors, I will be going with something harder.

YD

 

The finance guy at Longbeach tried upselling the $2.5k extended (100k/6yr) maintenance as:

"A complete brake job is $1,200. They're typically needed every 30,000 miles. The first one is covered. If you assume two more: at 60 and 90, that's $2,400. It pretty much pays for itself before you even get in to oil changes and the like."

Of course, he was also convinced that the MCS came with run flats by default and tried selling tire insurance to cover the expensive tires I don't have... So he may well have just been full of something.

But it does imply that 25-30k is about what they push for and that, if you go through Mini, $1,200 is their standard price. An expensive markup but then $200 oil changes for $70 of parts is an insane markup too. It's how they, honestly or not, make their money.

Either way though, at 25k you're still well within the standard warranty so let them do it and let them pay for it too.

 

were you able to convince him that S models can come with non-runflat tires? I bet you never convinced him (or any MCS owner)

did you skip the tire insurance? by your second nail, you will wish you had it.

 

I did. It mentions nothing about tire rotation. Tire rotation is NOT included.

 

Back when I was in college (let's see - 1988), I used to change the pads on my '85 Camaro without pulling rotors the 1st time. However, I would always replace the rotors the 2nd time (about 15-20k later).

My first Mini was a 2002 MCS. I was told by Goodyear that the rear rotors could not be turned because the rear rotors were NOT designed to be turned. (when I had the brakes done - the car had 60k).... The front rotors were turned. I don't know if this is true or not, just what I heard.

I didn't have to replace the brakes on Starbuck this past December at all. They were fine and could have lasted to 50k. Right now I am running the M7 rotors and Mintex Red Box pads. So far, I am pleased with the stopping power (much better) and fade resistance. The 4 rotors and pads cost $400. Installation by a friend was $220 with an oil change. (I would have done it but I didn't have the time).

If you can do the work yourself, do it. You should be able to get better than OEM parts for a similar cost to OEM. I was told by my Mini SA that brakes are part of maintenance. BTW - you did pay for the maintenance when you bought the car, it's just wrapped into the purchase price.

 

im doing my research as i am badly wanting a MINI, i read this tread a couple days ago, today i saw a lady driving a cabrio, she pulled into a shopping center so i pulled in and asked her about her car, i mentioned that i read about $1200 brake jobs and she said she was still on her original pads at 43k miles. is it possible to get that many miles from a set of pads? and why wouldnt she have already had that done since its included in the maintenance package?

 

The better question is why WOULD she have had it done if it didn't require it. MINI isn't just going to replace your brakes whenever you ask them to just because you have a maintainance package. You have to actually NEED brakes.

A lot of things are possible, it completely depends on driving styles. There are some people with 150K+ miles on their stock clutch's and they're still going strong. There are others that burn them out in 30k miles. The same thing holds true for brakes.

I personally swapped my stock pads out at about 10k miles because I hated the dust and lack of stopping power. I ended up needing new pads about 15k miles later. I still have a decent amount of life left on my pads, but I have a big brake kit going on in the next few days anyway.

 

Well, I've got 32k on the factory pads. No scoring on the rotors, no braking problems, and the wear indicators haven't gone off. I'll be due for my next scheduled service this week, and the dealer measures the pad thickness as part of the service, so I'll see where I stand then, but 42k (or much more) on the stock pads wouldn't surprise me.

 

My stock JCW pads just kicked off the wear sensor at 46K miles, no tracking but a decent amount of "spirited" driving. I do try to down shift for slowing, but rush hour does have a tenancy to make that difficult and I end up braking.
I'm going with EBC Red and considering Rotor replacement as I have grooves - but they are not too bad so I may just hold out and do a rotor/pad replacement in another 25-30K. (I'm assuming the pads will wear out more quickly on grooved rotors.)

 

I happened to buy the extended service warranty, 1700 in my case. After learning the shop fees are 110/hour at Cincinnzti MINI I figured I will probably have at least two brake jobs, a clutch and 4 or 5 oil changes AFTER my 3yr/36K not to mention other schedule maintenace. I will probably break even but since I keep cars for a long time [my last car was a 14 year old Honda with 160,000 on it that was only replaced after totaling it in a snow storm]. I never buy extended warranties but this one is one of the few that actually made sence to me

 

Interesting. The finance guy I was dealing with just quoted me $2400 for the same warranty, with the argument that there would be at least three brake jobs within that time. Seemed excessive to me, although I was alarmed he felt that the brakes could go off at one year intervals (not with my driving style). I had a full brake job, rotors and pads, done on my Probe for $700; not high spec parts, but it sure didn’t make the service contract worth it.

BTW, can an OBD reader get info on rotor and/or pad wear?

Rob

 

The OBD might register a code when the pad sensors wear through and activate, but the sensors are binary - either the pads have worn through or they haven't, so the OBC doesn't track pad thickness. You can easily see the remaining thickness on the pads, though (at least with my wheels). I just had my second scheduled maintenance this morning (at 33k miles), and all four pads were still at 8 mm (new is 11 mm, and the replacement criteria is 3 mm). Of course, your mileage will probably vary, but you'd have to be seriously riding the brakes to routinely go through a set of pads per year.

 

A few thoughts... I believe MINI/BMW's policy is to change rotors when they change pads. My wife complained about brake noise in her X3 and they changed all 4 rotors and pads at each wheel. I believe they mic the pads and if they are below specs they change them and I think they do it (pads & rotors) because of liability. A few years ago my wife drove a Honda CR-V over 90,000 miles on the original brakes. Amazing??

 

100k wouldn't surprise me. I put that many miles on my last Civic without the pads or rotors going out-of-spec, and I'm on track to go about as far on my MINI, as long as the rate of pad wear stays fairly consistent (3 mm of wear in the first 33k miles, and 5 mm more to go until the pads are out-of-spec. )

 

Good thing i got the additional warranty's

 

I thought factory included maintenance included rotors and pads to 36,000 miles or 3 years. Why would they want $1200 dollars for a car with about 25,000 miles?

 

Porsche Cayenne brake jobs typically run $1100.00 per wheel and all 4 typically have to be done every 20k miles or so. $4400.00 total!
They, too replace pads and rotors...

 

For $1100 per wheel, they'd BETTER replace both pads and rotors!

Ouch!!

 

Not true, I had the brakes on my V8 Cayenne S replaced at the dealer for $1800 at 20k, if I recall correctly for all 4 sets of pads and rotors. Not sure what the old turbo S or new turbo with the giant brakes are, but it can't be that bad since they are steel rotors.

However if you have a 996 porsche GT3 or GT2 with PCCB (ceramic) rotors, then a brake job is about $11,000 if I recall correctly. If you track the car you eat them up pretty quickly. I think the rotors were something like 10k. Then again 2nd generation PCCB brake rotors are about the same but should last 100,000 miles even with tracking the car. Most everyone with 1st gen PCCB brakes spent 2k and swapped them to steel rotors. That's why you see many 996 GT3s with the 6 piston yellow calipers but steel rotors.