with the majority of the MINI's weight distributed over the front wheels, why should my rear brakes have worn out well before my fronts? (they did)

 

Did you purchase the MINI new? I suspect a problem if so.

 

yep, june build , 2002 ,MCS , just rolled 50,000.

 

I'm guessing that you have DSC on your MINI. The DSC module can cause the rear wheels to have their brakes activated, hence they can get used more that the front ones.

I wore out my pads on the rear at 28,000 miles; front pads are still fine even though I have done four autocross events and drive pretty hard as a rule too.

There is nothing wrong with your car.

 

good info, and yes ,I do have DSC .The resident car Guru here at work said the exact same thing.I guess with my mileage, I don't have too much to complain about, but I'm going up Mt. Washington in a couple of months, so I'm going to treat this as a good excuse to upgrade the whole system..........what to buy, what to buy.................

 

Yup. It is quite common for the rear brakes to go out first. More that wieght enter into the problem. Brake biase, pad compound, driving style, etc. Many dealers are reporting the rears going first. Mine were out at 32,000 and the fronts soon after. The same for many people in this area. And bye-the-bye whoever came up with this brake pad should be flogged daily until the end of time.


Motor on

 

hey, i had that same issue... my rear pad were gone at about 15k miles and i got 24k now and im replacing the front ones now.

im almost sure it is due to the DSC... remember unless you take it off its workin all the time so it keeps using your breaks special i guess the rear brakes.

 

The finance guy at the dealership where I bought my car told me that his mechanic was reporting the same thing. He was also theorizing that the DSC was the culprit.

 

Why are you guys demanding all this help from the DSC??

57,000 miles on me originals still. They are ALMOST due.

 

see i just forget to turn the damm thing off sometimes and then i lunch hard or take a turn and there it goes....

now only does it slow you down as well as take the fun out the turn or lunch but it eats up your the rear brake pads

 

The DSC thing has nothing to do with my car,Pepper. Don't have it, don't want it. But Pepper's rears were still the first to go. 30,000+ on the pads living in the mountains and a couple of track days is not bad for the pads. And I don't really care if the rears went first. What difference does it make? Now the dusting problem is another story for another thread.


Motor On

 

I'd have to point the finger at compound more than stability control. Sure, more pressure more often means more wear, but you could get the same results I believe out of a longer life pad.

*!But then you could put larger rotors on the rear- they don't have to work as hard to get the same torque value! (ok, shamless plug)

 

Model Year 2002 MINI's have a bad habit of dragging the rear brakes (i.e. binding the calipers), even with the DSC off. The brake pad compound, or having the DSC on, has nothing to do with it