[Flying Mini Cooper]

I recently decided to paint my brake calipers red, it looks really good. However today i went in to Mini to get my car inspection done and found out they replace the brake pads and rotors for you, but then i told them i painted my calipers red. They will not work with your brakes if you do this. Apparently you could seize up your piston in the caliper and cause a malfunction. this wont happen if you paint carefully. But its not worth it missing out on $1000 free brake job covered under your warranty. And of course voiding your brake warranty all together.

[frylock]

You might want to start looking at stuff like this: http://www.ravelco.com/magnusonmossact.htm. I'm sure the actual text of the law is available on the internet, too. What it boils down to is this--in the US, dealers cannot deny warranty service due to aftermarket mod's, unless THEY can PROVE that the mod's themselves caused the need for repairs. $1000 for a brake job is rediculous. Of course, I usually do my own work. Still 4 rotors + brake pads is probably <$500 and it'll take around 1 hour to change it all out. Also, you probably don't really need new rotors.

[Paul]

Agree with the above completely.

[St00ge]

yeh i think BMW replace the rotors every time they replace the pads. But you certainly don't need to.....

[rkw]

Quote: Originally Posted by frylock

You might want to start looking at stuff like this: http://www.ravelco.com/magnusonmossact.htm. I'm sure the actual text of the law is available on the internet, too. What it boils down to is this--in the US, dealers cannot deny warranty service due to aftermarket mod's, unless THEY can PROVE that the mod's themselves caused the need for repairs.

The Magnussen-Moss Act gets mentioned from time to time in the forums as something that will protect you for warranty coverage. In practice, it is more complicated. See this thread (note the outcome on post #52 -- 6 months after the initial post):
http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...ad.php?t=49580
The bottom line: the dealer or BMW don't have to prove anything until you sue and take them to court, and you will give up because it won't be worth the time or money.

In the case of Flying Mini Cooper, I think it will be a tough situation. The dealer is denying coverage for the very component that was modded. If they persist in their stance, I would just make the best out of the situation and take the opportunity to get low dust pads when it comes time to service the brakes.

[Wooly]

eh?? i've painted my calipers red too, are you saying that when the pads are finished they won't replace them?.
i have my service coming up in about 5000 miles time whats going to happen

edit: if you were to say buy some aftermarket pads like greenstuff, would they fit these though for free

[rkw]

I think the BMW position is that once a component has been modified, they will regard it as equivalent to having an aftermarket part, and they would have no further obligation to provide free service for it. Some dealers try to accomodate their customers' mods, and look the other way. Other dealers are more strict about following the rules, for fear of anything going wrong and a reaction from BMW.

On the issue of painting calipers, to be fair to BMW, they must have encountered some real cases of problems in the past. The dealer would be put in a position of examining and approving the quality of paint work that they had not done themselves.

[Flying Mini Cooper]

I was lucky because after they started working on my car they took a look at the brakes and realized what a miticulas job i did painting them. And they said I could come back in an they would do my brakes for me anyway. But they dont usaly do this I was a rare exception. Also they noticed that I had alot of rattles and squeeks in the dash and door panels and he said he would replace them all with the new ones wich are soposedley better. He said he would replace my sterring pump too which makes clicks when you turn the wheel all the way to the right and left, which is normal, but they made a better one. There was a whole list of stuff to replace that he rattled off to me, and he wants my car for the whole day. But untill he told me this i was pretty mad. Now i cant beleive how great the service is upgradeing my car with all new mini parts on my 04 Cooper S for free. I just wanted to warn people though not to paint the calipers because they may not be as nice as they were to me. I got exteremly lucky. The rotors did need to be replaced they were grooved in pretty far and it easier for them to just give me new ones.

[Flying Mini Cooper]

They are only otherised to install mini parts only so they will not put green stuff pads on for you. As far as the red calipers go i hope they can do something for you Good Luck!

[Wooly]

Thanks mate,
i took my time painting mine so hopefully they will make me another exception

welcome to m2 btw