Hello everyone,
I recently bought my 2005 Dark Silver MCS. Its a great ride, and I am loving every minute of driving it ! Its the best vehicle I ever owned !

Here's my first question....I only have about 200 miles or so on my MINI, and I see an excessive amount brake dust on the front wheels...so much that the alloy wheels are almost black ! There is a moderate amount of brake dust on the rear wheels as well !

Is that normal for a new car ? I guess it could be, but I just wanted to confirm from other MINI owners. Did you ecounter a similar situation with your new MCS !

Thanks all...this is a great forum !

Regards!

Yeah it is normal as you are bedding the Pads and Discs in :)
Your fuel consumption may also be higher for the first month or so aswell :)

Happy MINIing!

Thanks interceptor for the quick response !

Yeah I do see that I am only averaging about 20.8 MPG as of right now...hopefully once I have broken the MINI, it will improve.

Speaking of breaking, the manual suggests 1250 miles as the break in period, but the dealer told me 500 miles. Which is accurate ?

I really want break in the MINI quickly, so I can take long drives and "open up" the MINI ;) if you know what I mean !

Thanks again !

minimona - Get use to the brake dust. As long as you have the OEM pads you'll be cleaning your wheels. There are some aftermarket brake pads that produce less dust.
Use the 1200 mile breakin period. It seems like a long time but it will pass quickly and by the end you'll know all of your cars querks.

Brakes take 300 odd miles to bed in If u drive aggresivly with new brakes then-

a) they dont work that well :eek:
b) they can warp :mad:
c) u can die :(
d) will not last :mad:

Car is run in around 1000 miles but dont red line it til 1500 ???

Have loads of fun

Yeah it is normal as you are bedding the Pads and Discs in :)
Your fuel consumption may also be higher for the first month or so aswell :)
I never noticed any difference as there always seemed to be an excessive amount of dust even after 10,000 miles
...and as for Fuel Consumption getting Better :o :eek: :o

1250 miles it is then....

I have no intentions of redlining my Baby ! The dealer said not to go over 4000 RPM, and I have not done so. Infact I have been driving at about 70-75 mph briefly and at that speed I am only at 3000 RPM...

Needless to say I am not staying at the same speed/ RPM for more than a minute or two !

So I guess a weekly cleaning of the rims is in order for me....

Thanks everyone for your prompt responses ! This is a great forum and even better group of people !

Oh dear, or dear! Brake dust cleaning...

Get a nice comfortable seat to sit on, or some kind of comfortable kneeling mat, because cleaning the brake dust off is going to be a regular event over the coming years :eek:

However, there is every chance that you will enjoy driving this car more than you can possibly imagine, so it's worth every minute :D

Oh, and at the risk of starting off a very long and very heated addition to this thread, consider changing the oil at the end of the running in period (in addition to the 10,000 mile change) if you have any intention of keeping this car for more than a year or two.

Tigger.

PS Great to have you on board! Welcome to MINI2.

BMW brake pads = DUST .. a lot of it

that's why I swapped to EBC green second week I got the car ..

honestly I think if you want stopping power .. stick with OEM

Thanks tigger for your suggestions...

Yeah I myself was wondering about the oil change, and yes it would end up being a long thread. I think discussing oil change intervals always ends up as an extremely long conversation.

I also own an Acura MDX and on the forums at www.acuramdx.org, there are some pretty loooong threads on oil changes, and following manufacturer recommendations regarding oil change.

Do you think that there is a lot of peices of metal after the break in period ? I would like to follow manufacturer's recommendations since I trust the fact that they have a 3 yr warranty on the car and anything going wrong with the engine will be covered.

Thoughts ?

Pleeease don't get me started on this........

In summary, yes, your oil will have bits of swarf in it within just a few miles. Your oil is built to take some contamination and your filter is designed to help remove the bits.

However, if you think of the impossible job that oil is designed to do, under great heat and pressure, the last thing your nice new engine needs is oil that is compromised with contamination along with the resulting possibility of blocked oil feeds. I had a blocked oil feed in a new car recently (not a MINI); it resulted in a new set of camshafts and, subsequently, a complete new engine, even before the first oil change was due at a completely unreasonable 20,000 miles.

Yes, the manufacturer will pick up the pieces if the engine fails as a result of wear from contaminated oil. However, your engine is much more likely to not require repair but just age prematurely. For example: just running a little rougher and burning a little more oil than it should do.

As an example, I used to drive a car with 9,000 mile service intervals. I drove it to about 90,000 miles and it ran very well. Recently, I drove a couple of examples of the new equivalent of that car. Each had about 100,000 miles on it and had been serviced by the main dealer at the current recommended intervals of 20,000 miles. Each one worked and had never had any repair work worth mentioning. However, none of them sounded anything like as sweet as my 90,000 miler was when it was sold.

For the price of a can of oil and a replacement filter, why not just change it at 1,500 miles? Whilst you're at it - change half way between the 15,000 mile intervals as well.

Rant over! :rolleyes:

Tigger.

One good reason to wait until the 10K service to change oil:

The Owner's Manual says so :D

I haven't met anyone who knows more about the MINI than the engineers who designed it and wrote the Manual.

Each to his own, though . . .

Brake dust is a characteristic of all BMW products. My 04 MCS (with white wheels no less) suffers from it and my 2001 BMW 330CI also suffered from it. On the other hand, they work very well for OEM equipment. I've heard that the greenpad's don't have the stoppinpg ability of the OEM. Just wash those wheels.

If only it were left to the engineer's who designed the engine to write the manual and the marketing department hadn't been allowed a hand in it... We probably wouldn't understand a word of what they had written, but I bet they wouldn't have been the people insisting on stretching the first oil change to 10,000 miles.

minimona

Please accept my sincere apologies for what is about to happen on this thread. I won't be adding any more fuel to the fire though :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, enjoy your MINI and if you're ever in Cornwall (We have a club meet this Sunday!).... :D

Tigger.

Meanwhile, enjoy your MINI and if you're ever in Cornwall (We have a club meet this Sunday!).... :D

Tigger.

Tigger,
Your experience is very helpful...thanks ! Let me get to the 1250 mile mark and thats when I will think about the oil change ;)

Unfortunately, Cornwall is a little too far for me and my MINI....a whole ocean away !! But I hope to do a MINI run somewhere here in the US !

Thanks for the invite :) and a happy new year !

Tigger,
Your experience is very helpful...thanks ! Let me get to the 1250 mile mark and thats when I will think about the oil change ;)

Unfortunately, Cornwall is a little too far for me and my MINI....a whole ocean away !! But I hope to do a MINI run somewhere here in the US !

Thanks for the invite :) and a happy new year !

You're welcome!

Enjoy that MINI and, if you can't find a club to do a run with locally, start one!

Happy new year :)

Tigger

One thing you can do to ease the brake dust problem is seal your wheels with a good wax or sealer. I'm just today in the process of removing my wheels ...cleaning the backsides..and sealing them all with Klasse All-In-One and then two coats of Klasse Sealer Glaze. You can use whatever product you use on your paint. The theory is, though, that a polymer sealant like Zaino or Klasse will take the heat better than carnauba wax. Long threads on this can be found at www.autopia.org .


It doesn't reduce the dust..but it will make it a bit easier to remove.

Anybody wishing to go down the oil change debate path is invited to step down the hall and visit

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77936

An active and on-going discussion :rolleyes:

Peter..in Denver

I have used ROTEK pads on both a VW Passat and on a Miata. They have significantly less dust and there did not seem to be any degradation of braking performance, although I did not run either car on a track.

I purchased the pads from two companies in Georgia that specialize in brake pads, rotors, etc. I believe one was called "Bake Warehouse". They both advertise in Road & Track.

sorry ..but
whats OEM?

sorry ..but
whats OEM?
Original Equipment Manufacturers. i.e. what the car is delivered with.

I am always amazed at the number of helpful people on this site. :D