[Christian6984]

Hi, some bad news, had an accident about a week ago, Damage is mostly to the front end, I've destroyed a fence and a small hedge but landed between two rather large trees so lucky to tell the story. My biggest concern about the whole thing was walking the road afterwards and finding part of the brake disc in the road. Poor Mini:crying:

Being a competition car, insurance is being a right farce to sort out as no one knows who its insured with and got no paperwork with the car when i collected it.

 

[sirron]

Hi, some bad news, had an accident about a week ago, Damage is mostly to the front end, I've destroyed a fence and a small hedge but landed between two rather large trees so lucky to tell the story. My biggest concern about the whole thing was walking the road afterwards and finding part of the brake disc in the road. Poor Mini:crying:

Being a competition car, insurance is being a right farce to sort out as no one knows who its insured with and got no paperwork with the car when i collected it.

Speed racer! MiniHaha----Indian red.

 

[Christian6984]

Speed racer! MiniHaha----Indian red.

haha i wish, i was only doing 35-40mph maybe.

 

[johnan]

I assume the cause of the accident was that the brake disc broke apart, under braking, probably jammed against the caliper locking the front wheel and causing the car to go out of control?

If so, quite worrying, to say the least.

Has MrMini anything to say re. accident investigation, exploding brake discs are not useful pieces of kit?

 

[Christian6984]

I assume the cause of the accident was that the brake disc broke apart, under braking, probably jammed against the caliper locking the front wheel and causing the car to go out of control?

If so, quite worrying, to say the least.

Has MrMini anything to say re. accident investigation, exploding brake discs are not useful pieces of kit?

You have pin pointed my problem, my mind tried to recreate what went wrong in the hours after the accident. Ill give a few details....

the road is a country lane and its a sweeping corner, not a tight one mind, the speed was less than 40mph, the road had mud on it presumably from a local farm, it was 5 degrees and the road was slippy under foot walking afterwards on my side (i dont know if all roads feel like this)

on the other hand the car wouldnt pull back to its own side of the road and it felt like i had wrestled it to keep it straight, next thing it runs along the opposite side pavement and mounts it and spins. the Brake disc was however found down the road so wasnt caused by the car smashing the fence, but was it caused by the pavement or before ive even touched the pavement?

Ive told mini UK my concern mostly over the broken Disc but they havent mentioned anything as yet. A few people at work told me to sue them but did inform them as to the concern of any other F56 owners safety

 

[hotrunner]

You have pin pointed my problem, my mind tried to recreate what went wrong in the hours after the accident. Ill give a few details....

the road is a country lane and its a sweeping corner, not a tight one mind, the speed was less than 40mph, the road had mud on it presumably from a local farm, it was 5 degrees and the road was slippy under foot walking afterwards on my side (i dont know if all roads feel like this)

on the other hand the car wouldnt pull back to its own side of the road and it felt like i had wrestled it to keep it straight, next thing it runs along the opposite side pavement and mounts it and spins. the Brake disc was however found down the road so wasnt caused by the car smashing the fence, but was it caused by the pavement or before ive even touched the pavement?

Ive told mini UK my concern mostly over the broken Disc but they havent mentioned anything as yet. A few people at work told me to sue them but did inform them as to the concern of any other F56 owners safety

OMG....thank goodness you were not hurt.......essentially the disc break caused your accident, exploding or disintegrated from use or stress, shouldn't happen either way .....I wonder if there is going to be a recall to replace the disc ?....bad design ? Bad metal from manuf ?.... Did you save a piece of broken metal for yourself to have it independently analysised ? Having evidence in your possession would help you. Please keep us informed what you hear back from Mini...my heart goes out to you first for your own safety and your poor car.

 

[Christian6984]

OMG....thank goodness you were not hurt.......essentially the disc break caused your accident, exploding or disintegrated from use or stress, shouldn't happen either way .....I wonder if there is going to be a recall to replace the disc ?....bad design ? Bad metal from manuf ?.... Did you save a piece of broken metal for yourself to have it independently analysised ? Having evidence in your possession would help you. Please keep us informed what you hear back from Mini...my heart goes out to you first for your own safety and your poor car.

thank you for your concern, amazingly no airbags deployed, I have sent the picture of the brake disc to Mini UK who i won the car with to ensure they're aware of my concern, heard nothing back but will let you know if they reply to acknowledgement as after all is a critical part in ensuring your car can stop

 

[Christian6984]

The car is a 2014 with 2700 miles on an the tyres had plenty of tread on and brakes shouldnt be of any concern as the disc were like new

 

[johnan]

I mentioned the noisy brake issue to my service dept a couple of weeks ago and got a standard " this is what to tell'em" spiel from the service manager and a week later from the head technician about the new materials used in brake disc construction that makes them more prone to rust and wear, and noisiness, than the older type.
So they are getting lots of owners asking them about the brake discs and they have been told what to say to keep us quiet.
It looks like there could be a material problem that has not been fully investigated.
Brake discs are not very expensive, if I read of another problem and there is no action from Mini I will change mine myself! (For some aftermarket "better" ones)
Just joking....well maybe not!

 

[Evlkarl]

Glad to hear nobody got hurt. Pardon my silly Question but did you Disc had Grooves in it? I got 607 Miles on my Mini now and the Front Discs on both Sides show grooves all the Way around like when you drive the Pads into the ground. It just looks strange to me that new Pads have such a deep groove already at closer inspection it almost looks like the Disc has been glued together. Sorry can not explain it better. When I looked at your Pictures it almost looks like Metal Fatigue too me. Of Course I am not an Expert but maybe something at the production Line went wrong not enough heat or cooled too fast. Keep us posted.

 

[jeremybingham]

All very odd and worrying. Glad you're ok.

 

[Blat7Chris]

Are your wheels broken?, if your wheels are in one piece I can't see why your discs will have been damaged during the accident given its located within the wheel.

Have you got a dash cam?

 

[Christian6984]

Glad to hear nobody got hurt. Pardon my silly Question but did you Disc had Grooves in it? I got 607 Miles on my Mini now and the Front Discs on both Sides show grooves all the Way around like when you drive the Pads into the ground. It just looks strange to me that new Pads have such a deep groove already at closer inspection it almost looks like the Disc has been glued together. Sorry can not explain it better. When I looked at your Pictures it almost looks like Metal Fatigue too me. Of Course I am not an Expert but maybe something at the production Line went wrong not enough heat or cooled too fast. Keep us posted.

The brakes do have light scoring in them but unsure if this was caused by braking to try and prevent the accident, I took it very easy from picking up the car with 16 miles on the clock, so the pads and discs don't wear unevenly (have always been told this by my dad no heavy braking for a few hundred miles to let them bed in properly.

 

[Christian6984]

Are your wheels broken?, if your wheels are in one piece I can't see why your discs will have been damaged during the accident given its located within the wheel.

Have you got a dash cam?

Three alloys are jiggered from hitting the curb, sorry if worded it as the wheels being broken, none of the alloys looked like they'd broken into pieces, the front wheels were pointing in opposite directions upon coming to a standstill and the drivers front was wedged at full lock by the driveshaft that has popped off, that wheel isn't attached in that way and also the disc has cracked around the bolts so would be independent to the wheel (should have taken a picture but was dark and could only see it up on the recovery truck)

No dash cam, Prob wouldn't see much as its dark and there's no street lighting

 

[rix]

that looks very alarming, glad you are ok! if you havent already i'd make sure that MINI are aware that you believe the broken disc to be the cause of the accident, rather than a result! I'd be very surprised if the didn't take it in for thorough investigation!

 

[Blat7Chris]

Dash cam work even in the dark ;-) and you whould have heard the disc fail before all the action started.

I can't see how a disc can smash, without smashing the wheel first. So if your 100% sure the disc caused it, get the metal examined to see if there was any manufacturing defect. Your going to need to have this done by a independent specialist at your cost, but if it's found to have had a defect I bet your get your money back.

 

[MOCIAP]

Sorry to read of your accident Christian.
IMHO it sounds as if the shattered disc is collateral damage as a result of a significant impact with the kerb. I've seen that before. Loss of steering control being a result of a loss of traction, due to mud on road.
IMHO, from looking just at the photo, the piece of disc says to me 'broken by a severe lateral force' and not from self-destruction.
Having been part of a responsible farming family for 50 years, I'm upset that mud was left on a corner by farming activity. Farmers do have a duty of care regarding this, so I hope you documented this apparent transgression. The farmer should have public liability insurance, if it comes to that, .
Hope you get around the insurance problems and back on the road soon.
You're OK which is the important thing, maybe some dented pride... keep it in perspective and put it down to experience.

 

[Christian6984]

Dash cam work even in the dark ;-) and you whould have heard the disc fail before all the action started.

I can't see how a disc can smash, without smashing the wheel first. So if your 100% sure the disc caused it, get the metal examined to see if there was any manufacturing defect. Your going to need to have this done by a independent specialist at your cost, but if it's found to have had a defect I bet your get your money back.

Cool didn't know they worked in the dark, I don't know what to think off it currently, as long as the fence is covered under insurance no money lost as the car isn't mine it belongs to Mini UK

 

[Christian6984]

Sorry to read of your accident Christian.
IMHO it sounds as if the shattered disc is collateral damage as a result of a significant impact with the kerb. I've seen that before. Loss of steering control being a result of a loss of traction, due to mud on road.
IMHO, from looking just at the photo, the piece of disc says to me 'broken by a severe lateral force' and not from self-destruction.
Having been part of a responsible farming family for 50 years, I'm upset that mud was left on a corner by farming activity. Farmers do have a duty of care regarding this, so I hope you documented this apparent transgression. The farmer should have public liability insurance, if it comes to that, .
Hope you get around the insurance problems and back on the road soon.
You're OK which is the important thing, maybe some dented pride... keep it in perspective and put it down to experience.

I come from a farming back ground also, it wasn't awful but more dried patches, The two big trees I landed between was the worrying bit, and the uncertainty of what went wrong, will be nervous about getting back behind the wheel of it in a way too.

 

[jeremybingham]

Came off on my bike in October, due to mud and diesel on the road from a farmer ,I'd seen it and was crawling but still plopped off. Very little damage except to pride and as you say confidence. He was very concerned, and came to see me but I was fine and the scuff to the bid cost me£60. Not like yours . Sadly. Hope you get it sorted.