I just got back from a month long trip. My wife drove my 2006 Mini a couple times, and reported that the second time she drove it the brakes were making a noise. I figured the car was just damp and unused and it would clear up.

So yesterday I drive the car and when braking there is a steady thump thump thump. Braking seems completely normal as far as I can tell, and there is no resistance on the brake, and no grinding or other noise. The problem stayed the same as I drove, did not improve or seem to worse with distance. I had the brakes done about a year ago.

Any ideas would be appreciated, but I figure I'm in for a trip to the dealer this week. Thanks.

 

You've just got some rust spots on the discs from sitting that long, they may clean up themselves with continued driving - or a couple of real hard stops from high speed may do it too.

 

when i had the same symptoms before i had my whole front suspension & brakes checked. although it wasn't a thump i was hearing, it was more of a loud clunking sound that would happen when ever my foot was off the gas pedal and decelerating with/without braking. it turned out that my tie rods needed to be replaced. IIRC it made the same sound when i needed to replace my ball joints. HTH

 

How long was the car sitting? I've had similar experiences with other vehicles with the tires "flat spotting" from sitting. I think it depends upon the length of time the car sits and the construction of the tires. The good thing is if you drive it long enough the tires will re-round. Just a thought....it might be a possibility worth considering.

 

Rust spots usually go away after braking a couple times. Flat spots on the tires or if the vehicle had been towed with the E brake slightly applied.