How long do the stock pads last for? My car is in the shop right now because the rear brakes are metal to metal. I only have 23,000 miles on them...and most of those miles are highway miles...

 

Then my guess would be less than 23,000 miles.

 

Good observation...

 

It really depends on how u drive. I would assume that MINI
would anticipate 35k-40k miles.

Do you often engine brake, or let the brakes do the job?

_________________
03MCS IB/Blk: 123, Aerokit, R90 17x7, TK5 16x7, 6CDMP3, and a few more.

 

Close to 25K miles here and my rear brakes still have lots of life left on 'em.

You may want to have service check your parking brake adjustment when they replace the rears. Maybe you're draging the parking brake and that's causing unusual wear. I think that adjustment is part of the normal 25K service, but it sounds like you've not had that yet.

 

its very unusual for the rears to wear before the fronts. My front pads + rotors were changed at 30k. I drive hard, so i expected that.. but mabye you had the emergencey brake up on accident and it was wearing the rears.. or the auto adjust mechanisim is broken... those could do it.

Either way, if your front pads are fine, something is definately wrong.

 

I will ask the service people when I pick up the car. This should be under warranty right? I would think it would be. I always put the parking brake down, but I guess it could be the adjustment thingy. The brakes would grind sometimes even when I wasn't on them, and the hand brake was down...hmmmm...

 

>>I will ask the service people when I pick up the car. This should be under warranty right? I would think it would be. I always put the parking brake down, but I guess it could be the adjustment thingy. The brakes would grind sometimes even when I wasn't on them, and the hand brake was down...hmmmm...

When I bought my MCS the dealer told me the brakes were covered under my extended warranty and they would replace pads and rotors and all needed items.

Earl

 

If the brake wear is unusual and not deemed "normal " I susspect they would replace under warranty. But if it is seen as normal wear and tear, your paying for them. I know my wife just had pads replaced on her car after 17K miles, and we paid.

 

highway miles where? LA, sounds normal...but other long-trip, few brake applies, sounds like a rear caliper problem. Unless you use the park brake to slow when you fly past a cop

 

They said the problem was that the "L/R caliper is found to be binding up internally." Whatever that means, it was covered under warranty. All is good now.

 

I still don't see an answer to the question. How long should the stock brake pads last. I've got 40,000 miles on my 03 mcs and I still have roughly 5mm's of pad materal on the front and about 8mm on the back. And believe me I do not baby my brakes. In fact I've been trying to wear the dam things down so I can replace them with something that has less dust.
So, what has been the ballpark figure on the life of the stock pads?

 

Two words: black wheels

 

Been there done that. Not an option this time.

 

I changed my original pads at 70,000 miles. The fronts still had quite a bit of life left. The inner rear pad was within a few thousand of tripping the sensor. Chad (of Detroit Tuned) said it was up to me if I wanted to replace them or not. I chose to because the Dragon was right around the corner and I also wanted less dust.

So the answer to the question is....there is no stock answer!

 

Putting on my 3rd set of front pads at 13,000 miles rears are shot also.

 

There is no answer because it depends highly on the kind of driving you do, the way you brake and the loads you carry. There is simply no way to generalize. If you are one of those people who don't believe in engine braking, or wait to the last second and then jam on your brakes, or carry heavy loads/passengers, do a lot of stop and go driving, the pads will not last long. If you are gentle on the brakes, they can last a very long time.

In some cases, under certain circumstances, brake pads can "fossilize" and become harder than the disks, so that, when you brake you are wearing the disks rather than the pads. If your pads are lasting a long time without noticeable wear, you should have that checked. One hint of that happening is the noticeable decrease, or elimination of, brake dust on your wheels.

 

Wierd. From that data alone, I would conclude that you mainly drive in reverse and do a lot of compression braking.