[Ash92]

Hi. On visual inspection of my brakes, it appears as though the passenger side is noticeably more rusty (brownish) than the driver side.

When braking /driving, there doesn't appear to be anything noticeably wrong, however, visually it doesn't seem right.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing? My driver side discs look almost new still.

Cheers
Ash

 

[uke]

That suggests that the passenger brakes are not working as hard as the left brakes, or that the pads are settling in differently.

How do the brakes perform? Does the car pull towards the driver side under heavy braking?

If there's no performance issues, I'd say don't worry about it, and have the MINI guy check it out next time you're in for service. But if you notice pulling, throbbing of the brake pedal, or strange noises, take it in right away.

 

[jeremybingham]

Is It front rear or both? Rears can often get hard to clean rust wise. I see the handbook now suggests applying the handbrake while the car is moving slowly occasionally to clean the rust off. If front I think you may have a sticking call I per issue. How many mils, you need around 500 miles on the car before they bed in properly.

 

[CO2slave]

If you don't use your brakes hard occasionally and tend to do very short trips , then it is perfectly normal to see a light rust build up on your discs , the discs are made of a very ferrous material that is continually cleaned by applying the brakes , if rain and water ( ans sometimes road salt ) get on the disc they will rust it's as simple as that , there are many variables which affect this such as wheel design , even the wind direction blows the rain on the wheel usually on side more than the other . If the car feels like it is pulling to one side then you need to get to the dealer to get it checked out , otherwise just use the brakes hard from a reasonably high speed and they will be as good as new! If you find that the rear discs don't clean up very well then you may want apply the hand brake as suggested above by JB , bear in mind that if you do this too hard and the rear wheels lock up you don't have the benefit of the safety systems to catch you if it goes sideways....

 

[Ash92]

Thanks for the advice.

The car is coming up to 8000 miles. I'll try braking a little harder and get back to you! Do you think adaptive cruise control constantly braking can cause excessive wear?

 

[Ash92]

Also I think it was just the front, but I'll check again tomorrow.

 

[lawrothegreat]

Thinking about the wind and rain, do you always park the car in the same position?

 

[uke]

Do you think adaptive cruise control constantly braking can cause excessive wear?

If it did the rotors would be shiny. I don't think excessive braking is your issue; under braking, perhaps.

 

[Ash92]

Thinking about the wind and rain, do you always park the car in the same position?

No, my car is mostly left on a Naval base so parking spots can vary.