After 2 years of scrubbing my wheels, I've had enough. I'm sick of scrubbing brake dust, besides I think that stuff is bad for you anyway...

I'm looking to replace the crummy dusty OEM pads with something else. Something that doesn't make my wheels look like crap after 3 days of driving.

EBC's are an option, and I know a lot of people have them and they're not prone to dusting the wheels. What's the general consensus on them? Do they have good stopping power? Do they squeel?

Any other suggestions? Keep in mind while I can hold my own on the twisties, I have no intention of doing any racing or autocrossing, so I have no need for performance grade anything... The OEM stuff meets my driving needs well, I'm just tired of cleaning up after them...

 

I put on the HPS ceramic brake pads about 2 weeks ago. The volume of dust compared to stock is amazingly low.

I haven't had any problems with brake squeal and the stopping power is the same or maybe a bit better.

Ordered them through tirerack

 

I am assuming you mean Hawk?

 

You can even reduce dust further with Hawk Ceramic!

HPS is still my personal fav, I like the dramtic initial bite.

Alex

 

Oops your right I got the ceramic not the HPS.

Guess I will correct my sig now :smile:

 

In addition to EBC greens (they stop fine, they dust the least, they can squeak in the rears), Hawk ceramic, HPS, there are also Mintex Redbox which are OEM for european MINIs. Mintex work fine for street use, dust less than stock but not quite as low as EBC green but also cost only about $36 a pair.
See Helix13 or outmotoring.

Squeaking brakes can be a function of how dirty they are so clean them good before installing brake pads. Also check rotors when changing pads. Anti-squeaking products can be used to help reduce noise but don't always work.

 

One thing to consider, and believe me, I understand your problem---my white wheels are grey after just driving for 30 minutes around town.

My hands are always black or grey since I'm always wiping my wheels clean.

Oh what I was saying, consider that most of the aftermarket pads will render your brake pad sensor useless. If you've never changed your brake pads before, check out my writeup I did a few weeks ago, and give it a go.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=38346

Pay attention to where I'm applying the antisqueal compound. It looks and feels like Vaseline. (No squeals after 800 miles).

Once you know what to look for, the brake pad sensor won't be a mystery anymore, and not having it won't be so critical.

It's really there for people who don't know any better. Heh heh, that was me before doing my writeup. I'm still running OEM pads, but they aren't cheap, the dust like mad, and replacing the brake pad sensor once it's tripped adds another $16 to your replacement costs. I plan to change to something else soon, and in the process will lose the function of the brake pad sensor light.




You can see how low my front pad was compared to the new one behind it in this picture. This is how much pad was left after my brake pad sensor had been tripped. Almost down to the metal!

 

Yeah, I'm not that handy so this wouldn't be a job I'd try myself. One of our club members owns a garage and does A LOT of MINI work, so I'll leave the job to him...

I just don't want to have the pads changed and then listen to my wife complain because the car doesn't stop as well or the brakes are squeeling etc...

 

It's really not hard to do, but I agree, if you're not confident in doing it, it's a safety item that requires a professional. My point though was that even if you have someone else do your work, you will still need to visually inspect your brake pads if you go with an aftermarket pad that doesn't support the OEM brake pad sensor. Depending on the year of your car, and version of pads you buy, EBC Green Stuff may be supported.

If you don't know how to check for pad thickness/wear, and you forgoe the brake pad sensor, you'll do serious damage to your rotors as well. Also note, it's common with EBC to have some squealing.

Richard

 

Richard,


My brakes sound like metal on metal, so I think it's time to change them. What I'm curious about is the wear sensor. I never heard anything other than this rubbing noise, so what exactly is the point of the wear sensor. Also, is there any logic behind changing the pads every so many miles and in that way saving the rotors, or will the rotors wear out anyway? In other words, I have 75 k on my first set of pads. I understand I will need to replace the rotors as well as the pads. If I had replaced the pads every 25k, would the rotors still be good? Is replacing the rotors difficult? I am fairly mechanical (rebuilt engines, etc), but time is precious, I don't want to spend my weekend doing it.

Thanks,
Jim

 

That doesn't sound good!!! EEEEEk.
The wear sensor is on the left front and right rear wheel. It's a little piece of plastic and metal with a wire attached to it. When your pad wears down beyond a certain point, it will wear through the sensor as a last sort of chance to save your rotors. Once it wears through that, your pads are pretty much nonexistant. If your sensor light hasn't been triggered--assuming you are still on OEM pads and the sensor was installed and is actually on your car, you are probably safe for a little while. Not sure why the grinding sound though.

The rotors are wear items and will need to be changed usually by the 3rd set of pads you change. However, there is also a wear limit--minimum thickness tolerance that should be checked even if you're only on the first set of pads. This is stamped on the rotor or can be found in the Bentley MINI service manual.

OMG, I just realized you have 75,000 miles on your first set of pads? How did you manage? I must stop a lot harder than you cause by 32,000 miles my front pads were completely gone.

In case you haven't seen, this is my writeup on changing the brake pads along with what the sensor looks like.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...+pad+octaneguy

One last thing, I'm no brake expert, nor a professional mechanic, so I'm just telling you what I know, what I've read, and what I've learned along the way.

My pads after 32,000 miles

 

My compliments on the write up, very thorough.

Anyway, I went to the dealer last night for an airbag light issue and he looked at the brakes. Yep, metal on metal in the back, not much better in the front. He was amazed at the fact I got 75k out of them. He and I both thought the back wearing out first was weird, but academic at this point. He wanted $650 to do the job, so I told him I would get back to him.

Talked to my mechanic, he said $675, but would match the dealer price. I told him my main problem with the dealer was that I didn't want the stock pads due to dust. He checked around and found other pads that have just come out that are supposed to be almost dust free and it reduced the price of the job to $550. I priced out parts at Moss and Mini Mania and it would cost me more in parts to do it myself. I've done a good number of brake jobs in the past so I'm not looking for the satisfaction of learnng it at this point. I'd rather sleep in and have another cup of coffee


So I thought I read something about this back brake wearing out first thing, am I right. Also, I had NO indication that the brakes were near death until critical mass was reached. Is this just a weakness of the early '02 cars, or is something amiss?

 

Title say it all. I put white wheels on the mini this morning and the wheels are already covered in dust... Who makes the best "dustless" pads? Ceramic? Red stuff? Green stuff?

Whatcha got and how well does it work?

Matt

 

EBC Greenstuff seems to be the best for clean wheels. I have tried stock, EBC and Mintex. EBC is by far the cleanest.

 

White wheels? What were you thinking?
Nah- probably looks great.
Keep them clean.

EBC green stuff- $80 a pair. Sometimes squeaky. Lowest dust, stops well.
Mintex Red box- Cheap $36-40 a pair. Doesn't sweak. Works well. Less dust than the stock pads but not as low as EBC green. I was happy with Mintex Redbox for street use.

EBC red stuff is for the track. Not for you if you don't like dust.
Generally track pads are for better stopping and higher heat range use, they may wear the rotors faster and do dust quite a bit- still not as bad as stock pads!

 

Are you still under warrenty? If so, get some new pads if needed from the dealer, and the money could be uses for another upgrade. And clean, clean, clean...

 

I have to chime in here. I bought some Mintex Red Box from R-Speed. The rears are worn down after only 10k miles!!! I do primarily freeway driving. My stock pads lasted 86K miles. I think I'll be going back to stock now.