I did search but didn't seem to see any other posts...
My wife's 2017 Cooper S 4-door has very loud, squeaky brakes. Enough you can hear them from a good distance away (she heard them from the other end of the parking lot at wal mart even with all the other car noise, for example). I had the vehicle in to Mini working on something else and they figured there was just dust in them, blew them out with air, the problem seemed to go away, and we were sent on our way... but it keeps coming back. If I give the brakes a good rinse (either with air or water, such as at a car wash), the squeaking tends to go away for a few days but then it comes back just as it was.
I went so far as to take apart all the brakes on all four wheels, do a full clean with brake cleaner of the pads and both sides of the rotors. Problem went away... for like two days. Then it was back just as annoying as before.
Interestingly, it doesn't do it 100% of the time. Sometimes it seems just fine. but then the next time you stop it's just as loud as it had been.
I verified that these are official mini/BMW rotors and pads, and all pads/rotors have plenty of life left and would be nowhere near where I'd think they'd be worn out. With only 15,000 or so miles on it, would be surprised if they were truly worn out, but confirmed they are not. Didn't notice any type of wear you might see if the rotors weren't properly aligned to the caliper, etc. and wear on all brakes and all pads seemed consistent.
Even though the vehicle is "certified used", apparently the warranty doesn't cover brakes. Even though the brakes are nowhere near end of life.
I'm debating just replacing the pads and rotors with aftermarket just because this problem is so freaking annoying. Will be taking it back to Mini first, but guessing they won't have much more to offer, they usually don't.
Anyone else dealt with anything similar? Any tips on anything else to check?

 

Sounds like the pads are glazed

https://www.treadmagazine.com/how-to...ds-are-glazed/

Simple cleaning won't remove the glaze ..... you could remove 'em, sand 'em, then go thru a bedding process but I'd probably just replace 'em as pads ain't that expensive.

EBC reds is what I use . . .

 

Interesting... thanks for the feedback. Reading that article it doesn't really sound like it matches, as braking performance is perfectly fine, just really noisy... but yeah replacing brake pads might be a good place to start. I am concerned I could spend a few hundred bucks replacing pads, then if pads don't fix it replacing rotors, only to find there is something else going on, such as a dust shield or vent that should be getting air to the brakes but isn't....

 

I thought you'd do a lil more research ....

"What does glazed brake pads mean?
Overheated pads harden and crystallize. This glazing occurs on the rotors as well. The squealing sound is a result of these super hardened surfaces coming in contact with one another. Remember, it is the friction created by the brake pad against the rotor that stops a vehicle."

"You can temporarily relieve these symptoms by removing the brake pads and sanding their surface so that they are no longer mirror smooth again, but the material overall has already been tempered by heat and the only real way to fix this is to replace the brake pads entirely."

You Tube

 

I went ahead and replaced the front and rear brake pads... actually replaced the front first, and it seemed to make the noise quite a bit better... but was still squealing, so replaced the rears as well (when it squeals, oddly me or my wife and even an extra passenger couldn't really tell what wheel it was coming from, or even if it was coming from the front or the rear)... hasn't squealed since, but I'm not counting my chickens yet, since several times I've thought I had it fixed and then a few days later it'd start up again. So we'll see. Guess rotors are next if squeaking continues.
I had to buy the caliper compression tool for the rear calipers, which was something I've not had to do before, and I've done dozens of brake jobs in my life, but I've also never had to replace rear brakes on a mini before... our last mini countryman we put on 20,000 or 30,000 miles and never touched the brakes once.

 

I used to be really hard on brakes. Currently at 69yo not so much. I truly believe in the breaking in of brakes.In the 80s I had a 944S that had really noisy breaks. I had hammered them before they were broken in. So, no matter any comments to the contrary of opinions on Internet forums, I go through a break in process on my brakes.

 

Use this on the back of the brake pads prior to installation:

 

Yeah we tend to be fairly light on brakes. My last vehicle (Ford Escape) the brakes lasted to about 110,000 miles and even then I only replaced them because I was doing the bearing and so I was taking everything apart anyway - the pads still had at least 10-20% on them. That was the frustrating thing here - the pads were almost new, and I'd estimate had about 85% of their life left. When I installed the new pads, I barely had to compress the calipers to get it to fit.
I've been on the new brakes for 2-3 weeks now and so far no squeaking noise, so knock on wood the problem is resolved.
And thanks cooper for the link to that stuff as well... hopefully won't be needed but if it starts to squeak I can always try that first.

 

I agree with bedding in the pads. You need to drive the car harder! Only slightly kidding. Glad problem seems to be fixed for now

 

I just replaced the rotors (slotted and centrally vented) and went to ceramic pads. Bedded them in as per manufacturer recommendation. Hope these will be quieter than the OEM's! They sure stop nicely already! R1 is the brand I used. Hard to beat for 261.00 after 30% discount. Just had to get dirty and wallow around on the floor a bit. Found a nice way to get around having to use a computer to release the parking brakes on the back...just take the housing apart and manually turn the gear to retract the piston as far as it will go. Then, all it took was thumb pressure to push the pistons in the remainder of the way. Looks nice, too!