[leon1982]

Hi guys

I left my car for service at Niedderlassung BMW this morning. The service manager just rang me up and let me know that the disc brakes are undersize hence unroadworthy. Mine is Dec 01 built. According to him the disc brakes are original from the factory. Just wondering if any1 with similar build date have this problem?

They told me that the disc brakes need replacement and they set me back about AU$950 with the pads supplied and fitted. What I'm concerned abt is how can BMW sell the car if one of the parts is unroadworthy?
I'm not willing to pay $950 for something that I did not do

[haroldchrismeyer]

Take your car to a reputable shop that does brake work. Doesn't have to be a dealer if you are going to pay for it. Get several estimates by calling around.

[Todd!]

I think you mean Brake rotors... they wear out over a certain time. BMW discs have been known to wear thin very quick (well hard braking or high city km's abt 65000km) - as they are very soft material.

With the cost involved, maybe you have a look at putting something like DBA rotors... they have an excellent warranty and are Aussie made.

Anyone else jumped the same hurdle?

[7nut]

Your second set of brake pads is it sir? (most BMW's go through 1 set of discs to 2 sets of brake pads).

What the guy mean't was that your discs have worn (they become thinner) to their servicable limit and need to be replaced.

I'd suss out the cost of DBA rotors and some 3rd party brake pads if you don't want to foot the BMW service centres bill.

[21Blue]

Quote: Originally Posted by leon1982

Hi guys

I left my car for service at Niedderlassung BMW this morning. The service manager just rang me up and let me know that the disc brakes are undersize hence unroadworthy. Mine is Dec 01 built. According to him the disc brakes are original from the factory. Just wondering if any1 with similar build date have this problem?

They told me that the disc brakes need replacement and they set me back about AU$950 with the pads supplied and fitted. What I'm concerned abt is how can BMW sell the car if one of the parts is unroadworthy?
I'm not willing to pay $950 for something that I did not do

If the car was purchased recently, then you shouldn't have to pay for it. The car should not have been sold being unroadworthy. Anyway, is this price for 4 discs or 2? Seems a fair bit for 2 discs....

[IML337]

as 7nut asid, it means the discs have worn and they are too thin... not that the dealer delivered a car that has unroadworthy brakes due to the diameter of the disc being to small

I've done one set of front pads, but still using the same rotors with the second set of pads.

My rear pads and rotors were replaced last week, as after 65000km, one of the pads had gone down to the metal and ruined the disc (whoops, my fault) and the bill this morning had about $500 on it for that (from the dealer)

[Baker]

I'd go aftermarket - get some new DBA rotors or something similar if you like "driving" the car how its meant to be driven, perhaps with some greenstuff pads too.

[snoopy]

Yep some guys have gone thru a set oh pads and discs in about 39,000KM and it cost him about 650 for new fron pads and disc, with new rear pads.

Tim how is if your fault is you have the car only serviced at MINI, they should have noted the wear to you, also the introduction of brake wear senors seems to point to this is sore point with the BMW, as they are know for soft brakes.

[Todd!]

Considering how often you have your car in there Tim its not such a bad point that snoopy makes

[Todd!]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baker

I'd go aftermarket - get some new DBA rotors or something similar if you like "driving" the car how its meant to be driven, perhaps with some greenstuff pads too.

AVOID EBC AT ALL COSTS!!!

Alot of Aussie mini2ers have had no end of drama with EBC's... warped rotors, sponstanious combustion to name a few that I have read about...

[IML337]

To be honest, I don't care who's fault it is. I said that because I was the one who heard the scraping noise, had a pretty good idea it was brakes, but drove the car for another week or so until an existing service booking came around, instead of dealing with it straight away.

Either way, I would have had to pay for discs and pads on the back, regardless of whether a pad chewed a disc or not, so it's no big deal.

Quote: Originally Posted by Red&blackS

Alot of Aussie mini2ers have had no end of drama with EBC's... warped calipers, sponstanious combustion to name a few that I have read about...

warped calipers? you mean warped rotors, surely?

[snoopy]

Only get the EBC if you replace the disc with some other brand. as the BWM ones will warp.

I have EBC disc and rotors, and have no probs, but other with just ebc pads and BMW rotors warped them twice.

[snoopy]

Only get the EBC if you replace the disc with some other brand. as the BWM ones will warp.

I have EBC pads and rotors, and have no probs, but other with just ebc pads and BMW rotors warped them twice.

[Baker]

I've been told that the greenstuff is one of the best pads you can get! I wouldn't bother on the stock rotors as they are just not worth it...

[leon1982]

I just picked up my car today and yes u guys are rite.
What they meant was that the rotors are wearing out. But the guy who rang me up said that the rotors are too small and unroadworthy..that's why I was confused because I bought the car from them..
Then when I picked my car up another guy told me that the discs are actually worn out..so what the guy meant by 'too small' is about the thickness, not the whole diameter..problem solved now

Thanks for your opinion

[Todd!]

Quote: Originally Posted by IML337

warped calipers? you mean warped rotors, surely?

Sorry it has been a long day...

[kenhenry]

Quote: Originally Posted by snoopy

Only get the EBC if you replace the disc with some other brand. as the BWM ones will warp.

I have EBC pads and rotors, and have no probs, but other with just ebc pads and BMW rotors warped them twice.

This whole topic is a black art, so learn from other peoples experience.

I would agree on the 2 pads to one rotor wear ratio. I got about 40,000km and 18 sprint days out of my OEM rotors.

Two weeks ago I desperately needed a new set of rear rotors before a hill climb. I wanted slotted (but not cross drilled) OEM sized DBAs but they were a 3 week wait at the time, so I went for the EBCs rotors front and rear (slotted only).

Two competition MINIs up here were running Ferodo 2500 pads with good reliability and had had no luck with the EBC pads, so followed their recommendation.

Two weeks later (and three 50 second short-course hillclimbs and a couple of hot 2.2km 5 lap super sprints), I was surprisingly down to the metal on the front, with negligble wear on the rear.

As I said, it's a black art. EBC rotors with EBC pads may have worked.

But the EBC slotted rotors with the Ferodo 2500 pads, definitely didn't - unless it was a case of the right box with the wrong pads in them.

The front EBC rotors will be OK with a light skim, but due to another sprint day tommorow, I have had to quickly pick up a set of standard front rotors and another set of front Ferodo pads. So far feels good and the bias seems to be OK.

Anyway Ferodo are watching the outcome with much curiosity, with a view to paying if the problem shows up as dud pads the first time around.

Experimenting can pay off well sometimes, but it can also make you pay big time. This time I paid.

[enzothemaddog]

Sounds like you need the Tar-Ox 10 pot BBk system there

$950 for rotors.....get ****ed. Pop into repco for some DBA

[AndrewH]

Quote: Originally Posted by kenhenry

Two weeks later (and three 50 second short-course hillclimbs and a couple of hot 2.2km 5 lap super sprints), I was surprisingly down to the metal on the front, with negligble wear on the rear.

And I thought the break dust problem was bad on my car. Wearing them out that quickly, you must have had huge clouds of dust coming out of your wheels every time you used the breaks

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by kenhenry

This whole topic is a black art, so learn from other peoples experience.

I would agree on the 2 pads to one rotor wear ratio. I got about 40,000km and 18 sprint days out of my OEM rotors.

Two weeks ago I desperately needed a new set of rear rotors before a hill climb. I wanted slotted (but not cross drilled) OEM sized DBAs but they were a 3 week wait at the time, so I went for the EBCs rotors front and rear (slotted only).

Two competition MINIs up here were running Ferodo 2500 pads with good reliability and had had no luck with the EBC pads, so followed their recommendation.

Two weeks later (and three 50 second short-course hillclimbs and a couple of hot 2.2km 5 lap super sprints), I was surprisingly down to the metal on the front, with negligble wear on the rear.

As I said, it's a black art. EBC rotors with EBC pads may have worked.

But the EBC slotted rotors with the Ferodo 2500 pads, definitely didn't - unless it was a case of the right box with the wrong pads in them.

The front EBC rotors will be OK with a light skim, but due to another sprint day tommorow, I have had to quickly pick up a set of standard front rotors and another set of front Ferodo pads. So far feels good and the bias seems to be OK.

Anyway Ferodo are watching the outcome with much curiosity, with a view to paying if the problem shows up as dud pads the first time around.

Experimenting can pay off well sometimes, but it can also make you pay big time. This time I paid.

Hi Ken,

Interesting..

I have been using the Galfer pads with standard rotors for a long time, with good reliability and endurance.

Recently I changed to a set of slotted dba discs with ferrodo 2500's. I went to Wakefielkd park with around 90% of the pads, and wore completely though the fronts in 1 day at (80km of tracktime), with metal on metal. I have never seen wear like that before

The ferrodos were good pads, and the performance was great, but the wear with the slotted rotors was unbelievable

I've since gone back to OEM discs (cross-drilled) and galfer pads, with brake ducts, and the performance is awesome. The wear has been great, maybe 10-15% in a day at Eastern Creek with 200kms of track time (50 laps of the long circuit).

I think that the ferrodos were getting right on the limit of the heat capability, and are then being chewed up by abrasive rotors, with the added effect of the slots causing additional abrasion. Maybe it might be worth trying the 3000's. I used to use those on my M3, and they were a sensational pad for that car

Cheers

Robbo