Hampton Roads Club Mini

I had new tires installed last weekend. I asked if they would look at the brakes while "in there". The mechanic (not a MINI dealer) came back and said that I needed new brake pads all around and new rotors on the front brakes ($400+).

I asked him how that can be after only about 30K miles, and he told me that "these German cars" are designed so that the pads and rotors decay together such that you usually need new rotors with about every 2 sets of pads.

This sounds like a load of hooey to me.

Brakes are performing fine.

Any comments?

Many thanks.

-B

I don't pretend to be an expert but in my opinion the largest factor in how long the brakes last on any given car is the driver. Different people drive different ways and use their brakes differently. Pad type and quality goes into the formula but I still believe the driver has a huge impact on the life of a set of brake pads. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to criticize anyone's driving (unless we're on the race track) but everyone has their own style of driving.

Brakes are a wear item. The more you use them the more they wear. The average Joe Blow driver uses their brakes more than they need to. How many times have you seen someones brake lights come on for no appearent reason? Think about it when your coming up to a turn or a stop light. If you lift off the gas sooner and let the car slow a little on it's own before you apply the brakes not only are you saving brakes but your saving gas as well. Don't drag your brakes. Use them to slow the car then get off of them. This is a big thing on off ramps, watch how many people's brake lights are on all the way around an off ramp. Here again don't get the wrong idea, I'm not saying to late brake for every turn or wait until the last second to stop for a light but just think about driving efficiently. Another point to bring up is use your brakes to slow the car not the transmission. Down shifting to help slow the car puts wear and tear on the transmission and clutch. It's a whole lot cheaper to replace brake pads than it is to replace a clutch or a transmission.

Okay, I'll get down off my soap box now if someone will bring me my cane.

Brakes are a warrenty item until you hit 36,0000 miles. If you take it to the dealer the first question they'll ask you is "has the brake light on the dash come on yet"? If it hasn't then they won't replace the pads and rotors. I'd say have someone else check your brakes. They will work just fine right up until the time they are completely gone.

I second that recommendation!

Jenn

As mentioned above, brake wear is proportional to the amount of time you spend using them.  The longer you use your brakes, and the harder you press on them, the more heat they generate.  This, combined with the material of the brake pads, determines how long the rotors last.  They must maintain a minimum thickness for heat dissipation and strength.

Most rotors can be reused by simply having them "turned."  All shops have these machines.  It removes the surface bumps by grinding off a few thousanths of an inch, creating a new smooth surface.  Usually, this can be one once or twice before the rotors are no longer usable.  However, if a rock or other material becomes wedged between the pad and the rotor, extra grooves of various thickness can be ground in, shortening the lifespan.

I changed out my rotors around 65K miles.  The computer had actually logged a code, which I found out when I went to CF one time.  I opted to buy them and put them on myself.  The front rotors are available from Autozone for $38/each, and the rear ones are $35/each.  They are online order only, and I believe you can opt to have them delivered to your house.

*raises hand*

I was told that Minis have a high performance race brake package and can not CAN NOT (I quote from CF Frank) use anything other than Mini brakes or they would cause damage to the rotors and possibly fail.

Call Frank!

I paid $800+ for my brakes when it was time for them.  High performance!  More like high priced.  And make sure CF washes your car after the brakes are replaced.

-Teresa

For that price you can get both pads AND rotors replaced!

Jenn

That comment about MINI's coming with high performance/ race brakes is a load of BS. While the brake system on the MINI is very good and well engineered - race brakes they ain't. I melted a set of old stock pads in 3 laps at CMP.

Your brakes slow the car by converting motion into heat. Different brake pad materials are designed to operate in different heat ranges. If you use your brakes below the heat range the pads are overly abrasive and will wear your rotors prematurely. If you over heat the pads the material breaks down and you loose braking power plus you can literally melt your pads. The goal is to select brake pads that will match your driving style. If all you do is go back and forth to work or piddle around town the cheap pads from the auto parts store will be fine. Since I've been known to cut an apex or two around town plus autoX the car I'm running a performance pad designed for that use. But you can bet your bippie when I'm on the big tracks I'm running full race pads.

Here is my opinion about rotors. There are many different types of rotors - plain, slotted, drilled, slotted and drilled, cryogenic treated, coated, plated, painted and I'm sure there are some with flowers on them. There have been a lot of testing done to figure out which rotor is THE rotor to end all rotors. While reading all of this stuff it looks like the slotted rotors do give a very slight performance advantage but not very much. In my opinion this extremely small advantage doesn't off set the higher cost of slotted rotors. They all start out as the same hunk of cast iron then a few companies sprinkle a little fairy dust on them and jack the price up. Another note of intrest is it's relatively common for cross drilled rotors to crack when used aggressively.

Another aspect in slowing a car down that most people don't think about is your tires. While the calipers are squeezing the rotors to slow down the spinning wheel the grip between the tires and the road are trying to keep it turning. If your wearing soft/sticky tires you will get more braking power to the ground before the wheels lock up and stop spinning. With harder/high milage tires there is less grip to the road and they will lock up with less braking power. Some of you might say "well my car has antilock brakes so this doesn't apply to me". Oh but it does. With harder tires you will engage the antilock feature before someone with stickier tires with more grip.

Remember that everything you do to make your car go, stop or turn is transmitted to the ground through 4 very small patches of contact - about the size of the plam on your hand. It's what you do with those contact patches that determine whether you stay on the road or end up in the weeds. And yes I've been in the weeds plenty of times.

I don't know about classic Minis TJ but I do know that on the modern Minis they are anything but simple unless you have the damn caliper tool!