[Bungy]

Just had 1st service done on MCS, 12 months old with 22,000 miles on the clock.

Dealer informed me that front brakes are 8mm and rear brakes are down to 4mm (suggest replacing at 3mm)

Both my previous cars (audi A1 auto had 45,000 after 2 years) and (Mini Cooper 46,000 after 2 1/2 years) neither of which required new brakes.

Service guy did say it's a bit unusual but couldn't compare it to other cars as mine is the 1st F56 they have serviced.

He suggested when the light comes on and i take it in they will raise a technical case with MINI. Estimated costs for rear brakes is £280.00

Anyone else had a similar issue ?

 

[polarisboy385]

Just had 1st service done on MCS, 12 months old with 22,000 miles on the clock.

Dealer informed me that front brakes are 8mm and rear brakes are down to 4mm (suggest replacing at 3mm)

Both my previous cars (audi A1 auto had 45,000 after 2 years) and (Mini Cooper 46,000 after 2 1/2 years) neither of which required new brakes.

Service guy did say it's a bit unusual but couldn't compare it to other cars as mine is the 1st F56 they have serviced.

He suggested when the light comes on and i take it in they will raise a technical case with MINI. Estimated costs for rear brakes is £280.00

Anyone else had a similar issue ?

Breaks are a funny thing between cars.
The composite of the brake pad in combination with driving habits can accelerate wear.

See if you could purchase higher quality brake pads. That's all I can think of.

 

[jeremybingham]

Weird usually fronts wear far faster. Handbrake binding?

 

[johnan]

Could the rear pads be less thick than the fronts before fitting, as they do much less work?
In which case the amount left on both sets of pads could be OK for a spiritly driven car, especially with these coarse surfaced discs that are fitted these days.

 

[lawrothegreat]

Strangely my MCS is also twelve months old with just 22,000 miles on the clock. The dealer didn't mention anything at the service and I agree with the above - I would expect the front pads to wear first.

 

[sirron]

My 2014 Cooper S's brakes leave a LOT of brake dust on the front wheels. The right wheel is MUCH dirtier than than left one.

 

[02fanatic]

Well, you may know better than anyone comparing to other cars.....but, IMO 22,000 miles in a single year is ALOT of driving/starting/stopping. If those were mostly highway miles then I'd be more concerned. However, 22k mi. in one year is much more than the average motorist puts on a car (10k mi/yr is normal in the USA).

So, "use" might have something to do with your "wear". Now, if you drive around like a little old lady in your MCS (doubt that!) your brakes might last longer huh?

I think it's all relative, unless the pad compound is inexplicably soft....you can monitor that and try a harder compound or ceramic pad.

I also agree that fronts normally wear faster than rears (at least on rear wheel drive cars). I have never owned a front wheel drive car before my MINI.

 

[sirron]

Weird usually fronts wear far faster. Handbrake binding?

I have only used the hand-brake when parking on a steep hill.

 

[Bungy]

Weird usually fronts wear far faster. Handbrake binding?

According to dealer, rear brakes not binding and handbrake is fine...

 

[Bungy]

Hi,

Most of my driving is on the motorway

 

[02fanatic]

According to dealer, rear brakes not binding and handbrake is fine...

What is your dealer telling you is "normal wear"/mileage similar to what you are experiencing?

 

[Blat7Chris]

The brake function of the cruise control uses the rear brakes to maintain speed down hill, do you use cc a lot?

I would be careful of fitting more aggressive pad to just the rear of the car, it upsets the brake balance which can mean locking at the rear. Also aggressive pads tend to do one of two things, either be soft and wear faster, or hard and wear the disc faster. I use very aggressive pads on my Caterham, but I think nothing of replacing pads discs and fluid every 1500 miles, (cost about £60 all in)

 

[polarisboy385]

One other thing I forgot. Wouldn't hil start assist also increase wear to the rears?

 

[Blue al]

Dynamic assist, roundabouts and corners = extra use ?

 

[CO2slave]

The brake function of the cruise control uses the rear brakes to maintain speed down hill, do you use cc a lot?

I would be careful of fitting more aggressive pad to just the rear of the car, it upsets the brake balance which can mean locking at the rear. Also aggressive pads tend to do one of two things, either be soft and wear faster, or hard and wear the disc faster. I use very aggressive pads on my Caterham, but I think nothing of replacing pads discs and fluid every 1500 miles, (cost about £60 all in)

The rears couldn't lock as the ABS will deal with it. I don't know about the latest cars but cars used to have a brake bias valve which diverted more pressure to the rear brakes when the car was loaded heavily. Not sure if mini use that system even if that was faulty the law of physics suggests that you cannot put a lot of braking energy through the rear wheels before the abs would work any way.
I had a 120d which was driven pretty hard and that went 95,000 miles before It needed discs and pads. A 120d weighs 1430Kgs , a MCS weighs less than 1100 Kgs ( not exactly sure in this figure TBF) so I would expect the MCS brakes to last longer than 95K.

I have a Cooper D which admittedly is not driven hard very often but at about 18K I took off all the wheels to clean the crud off the inside of the rim, while I had the wheels off I checked all the pads and they were all absolutely fine. I can't remember exactly the thickness but I do remember thinking the rear pads were down a fair bit so they were probably thinner than the fronts to start with but I would say they had at least 5mm.

One thing that does cause premature wear to discs and pads is washing the car and then leaving it i.e without drying the brakes. This causes rust build up on the disc and rips material off the pad the first few times you apply the brakes. The same can apply if you drive through puddles and then stop leaving the discs wet for a long time.

I definitely think your dealer should be speaking to BMW on this as even needing new pads at 22K wouldn't be acceptable to me.

 

[02fanatic]

....One thing that does cause premature wear to discs and pads is washing the car and then leaving it i.e without drying the brakes. This causes rust build up on the disc and rips material off the pad the first few times you apply the brakes. The same can apply if you drive through puddles and then stop leaving the discs wet for a long time.

Good excuse to buy one of those blow dryers to use when washing & detailing your car! Just blow those brake pads dry!

 

[Blat7Chris]

I don't rely on ABS ;-) all the favourite cars don't have it. Better feel without it.

 

[kenl]

I don't rely on ABS ;-) all the favourite cars don't have it. Better feel without it.

That may be true but for road safety and to prevent people skidding into the back of you it is a must.

 

[kenl]

To the original poster - have you looked or had someone else look at the pads?

 

[Mike]

Weird usually fronts wear far faster. Handbrake binding?

On my R50 and R53 the rears needed replacing earlier than the fronts.
According to the dealer this is a result of the EBD applying bias to the rear under normal braking.