Forgive if already posted elsewhere (Mods - I have looked!!);

Wife has a 59-plate Dooper that is coming up for 30k miles. The brake pad service light has come on, so she has the car booked in to the local stealers in a couple of weeks.

I think this will be the first pad change on the car - does 30k miles sound about right? I know it's very much dependent on how the car's driven, but as a general rule what should she expect?

Is this covered by the TLC pack in the UK?

Also want to know if anyone knows how much life there is left in the pad when a) the sensor comes on, and b) when Mini recommend changing the pads?

TIA,
Bruce

30k isn't too unreasonable for a set of front pads through normal use. Don't know for sure, but in other cars with a sensor, it usually gives a couple of thousand miles warning before they need changing so I'd expect the MINI to be in line with that...

IIRC, brake items aren't included in the TLC (but could be wrong) so it may be that you want to go somewhere else to have them changed if you don't want to pay main dealer labour rates. :)

Chris

30k isn't too unreasonable for a set of front pads through normal use. Don't know for sure, but in other cars with a sensor, it usually gives a couple of thousand miles warning before they need changing so I'd expect the MINI to be in line with that...

IIRC, brake items aren't included in the TLC (but could be wrong) so it may be that you want to go somewhere else to have them changed if you don't want to pay main dealer labour rates. :)

Chris

Thnx Chris.

I'll check the TLC thing first...

tlc does not include brakes

I needed my pads changed last week and also found that they are not covered by the TLC pack.

Avoid going through the BMW MINI service as to me they should remove the "service" part.......

You will probably have to drop your car off for the day and it will sit there for most of the day and then you will get a phone call late on in the day informing you of ridiculous labour costs and overpriced parts.

Go to your local car parts centre or order them online and get your local garage to sit them, shouldn't be more than £30 to get them fitted and the front pads should be less than £35 for standard pads. You can upgrade the EBC Greenstuff pads and they will cost £49, a worthwhile upgrade.

heya, i have an 09 mcs and went through mini when my warning light came on at 14k! they replaced the front discs and pads all round because they didnt meet the bmw minimum specs at a cost to me of £650! next time round I changed the pads myself (have always done on past cars, just wanted to see what bmw standard was) at a cost of roughly £100 for new pads and sensors, upon taking the rear pads off I noticed the previous mechanic had not greased up the rubber seal on the piston which meant it had stuck and split... back to BMW to have that replaced which was a caliper as they cant order the individual part, thankfully done under warranty! oh and looking at the pads, they have roughly 5000 miles left on them! I should have left mine on tbh, the sensors are a waste of time in my opinion!

Just got around to buying a set of EBC Greenstuff pads and a replacement sensor lead.

Hope they fit out of the box, as I really don't want to faff around with filing bits of the pad off!!

Can anyone offer any advice ropoint me in the ditrection of a fitting guide? I've heard that the inner arch liner needs to come out to plug the sensor lead in - is this true?

Can anyone offer any advice ropoint me in the ditrection of a fitting guide? I've heard that the inner arch liner needs to come out to plug the sensor lead in - is this true?

Fitting Guide here: r56mini dot com/cooper/diydiscsandpads/ - can't post the actual link due to my low number of posts.



Not sure on the front arch liner but would assume you do need to at least partially undo it as you need to on the rears, took me longer to replace the sensor (due to arch liner & awkward cable ties securing the sensor wiring) than it did all the rear pads !:)

Fitting Guide here: r56mini dot com/cooper/brake pad set (http://www.partstrain.com/ShopbyBrand/Kool_Vue/Brake_Pad_Set)/diydiscsandpads/ - can't post the actual link due to my low number of posts.



Not sure on the front arch liner but would assume you do need to at least partially undo it as you need to on the rears, took me longer to replace the sensor (due to arch liner & awkward cable ties securing the sensor wiring) than it did all the rear pads !:)

this will be helpful because i am planning to change my pads this weekend. well i only have one question where do you guys get those EBC green thing? i found a site but i just i wanna compare prices first before buying such a thing.