[crazybri]

Yo, im new on ere so dont know if this has been discussed before but.....

Who's had a go at changing their brake pads?

i did!!!

what a pain in the ar$e!!!

To start chaging the front is easy!! takes about 15mins per wheel, but the rear!! well..... what a nightmare!!! I changed mine yesterday, ordered the pads from the steelers and started on the rear, all was goin well caliper off, pads out, then came pushin the piston back to fit the new pads in it just wouldnt go back!!! tried everything!!

called the steelers and found that u needed a special tool because the piston needs to be twisted and pushed at the same time!!! anyway i improvised with a set of grips and summat to push it with but still took me 4 hours for the rear!!!

if any1 isnt experienced with cars (like me!!) beware!!! front pads however are a piece of ******

l8az

Bri

[monsta]

You're right, the fronts are really easy!

The rears weren't!

But - the thing to remember is that the piston needs to be pushed as well as turned to get it to retract. I used some thin nosed pliers which allowed me to get a grip on the piston so I could turn it whilst pushing it back in.

Not an easy job - satisfying though

P.S. Welcome to MINI2

[punkeyfunky]

Quote: Originally Posted by crazybri

Yo, im new on ere so dont know if this has been discussed before but.....

Who's had a go at changing their brake pads?

i did!!!

what a pain in the ar$e!!!

To start chaging the front is easy!! takes about 15mins per wheel, but the rear!! well..... what a nightmare!!! I changed mine yesterday, ordered the pads from the steelers and started on the rear, all was goin well caliper off, pads out, then came pushin the piston back to fit the new pads in it just wouldnt go back!!! tried everything!!

called the steelers and found that u needed a special tool because the piston needs to be twisted and pushed at the same time!!! anyway i improvised with a set of grips and summat to push it with but still took me 4 hours for the rear!!!

if any1 isnt experienced with cars (like me!!) beware!!! front pads however are a piece of ******

l8az

Bri

As far as I know (which might not be much ), *ALL* recent cars with discs at the rear require a particular tool (a "wind back" tool) to rotate the pistons.

If you didn't have a locking mechanism, the handbrake would fail (I believe this was a recall issue for Pug or Citreon), and hence the locking mechanism was implemented. Of course, this required a way of twisting in the pistons. Early rear setups (like that on my old Rover 800) had a simple 'blade' type groove, which could be rotated with a big fat screwdriver.
More recent cars often have some sort of pattern. The cynical side of me says that manufacturers do it deliberately, to make an 'easy' task such as the rear pads more difficult, so that people take their cars to the dealers (which makes a fair amount of money for them)

-Lee

[jwardell]

Does anyone know where we could get one of these tools, cheaply? This is the one part of the job that has been holding me back from changing my pads.

[Malin Dixon]

Quote: Originally Posted by punkeyfunky

As far as I know (which might not be much ), *ALL* recent cars with discs at the rear require a particular tool (a "wind back" tool) to rotate the pistons.

If you didn't have a locking mechanism, the handbrake would fail (I believe this was a recall issue for Pug or Citreon), and hence the locking mechanism was implemented. Of course, this required a way of twisting in the pistons. Early rear setups (like that on my old Rover 800) had a simple 'blade' type groove, which could be rotated with a big fat screwdriver.
More recent cars often have some sort of pattern. The cynical side of me says that manufacturers do it deliberately, to make an 'easy' task such as the rear pads more difficult, so that people take their cars to the dealers (which makes a fair amount of money for them)

-Lee

Some cars, for instance Rover 75s, have a small drum brake for the handbrake, inside the disk. They don't need a locking mechanism on the disk. OTOH, on mine, the handbrake isn't very good. The one on the Mini has a lot more bite.

Malin

[Sushi]

I was thinking doing the job myself by the end of the month.

I found a good price for a good wind back tool at this address.

They say it fits BMWs . Does anyone know if it also twists the piston while it pushes?

Did anyone have a successfull approach changing the rear pads with such a tool?

[ASTON]

i payed £16 for the tool at my local motor factors

[Polmear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sushi

I was thinking doing the job myself by the end of the month.

I found a good price for a good wind back tool at this address.

They say it fits BMWs . Does anyone know if it also twists the piston while it pushes?

Did anyone have a successfull approach changing the rear pads with such a tool?

Looks like the right tool for the job. Price looks a little low, what's that about $60 ish USD?? but if the tool is remanufactured then just about right.
tool will turn piston while pushing back in.

[jwardell]

Hmm more like $75, plus shipping. Anything available over here? How bout a simpler tool?

[Polmear]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell

Hmm more like $75, plus shipping. Anything available over here? How bout a simpler tool?

the turnback tool is pretty simple, the multiple parts are to fit multiple piston sizes
harbor freight has a similar tool, similar price + shipp'g. (remanufactured); and I saw another link to a similar tool in another thread about brakes...could be the link to harbor freight, though.

[jwardell]

I think I've found it here:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40732

Will that do it? If so, great price, I may just pick it up and order my brakes and get going on this. Thanks for the tip

[Polmear]

yep, that's the one I saw before, should work fine.

[paulmon]

I've tried the "generic" rear brake tools and it didn't work on the MINI rear caliper. It was too big and the bumps on the tool didn't line up with those on the piston. Looks like MINI's rear brakes are yet another design and require yet another tool. MINI sell the tool themselves and I was tempted to get it, even though it's over $100us. However my local dealer said it's a pain in the butt to use and they just do it the needle nose pliars way.

The other method is to use a very large c-clamp with a rubber foot. I'm going to try this method the next time. Here's a pic:



Paul

[jwardell]

It does say it is compatible with BMW, is MINI different than BMW?
Back to the drawing board.

[jwardell]

I did my brakes yesterday and was largely successful.

I bought that generic brake kit and it worked. You use the #3 piece for the fronts, but for the rear NONE of the adaptor plates fit the piston. BUT with no plate on there, it fits just right! It had me stumped for a minute. So yes, the $40 kit will do the trick. The piston does go in faster than the threads on the device though so you will only get about half a turn before it falls off unless you are careful. Even so that is fine, one full turn is about all I needed, and it was pretty simple.

The only problem I came across really was it wave very tough to pull the rear calipers off the rotors...I checked the parking brake cable and it had play. Turns out moving up and down instead of just out got them off.

Then, I have have a pad wear sensor on the right rear ('04), and the mintex pads did not have a slot for it on the rear pads, so I just ziptied the sensor to the suspension. I assume it will be fine that way.

I was very nervous about the job, and I was very careful and did spend several hours, but everything turned out great, and it's another one of those things that I can chalk up as "why would someone pay for this" it's pretty easy! Thanks for all your help everyone.

[Sushi]

Cool. I've done the rear as well. The generic windback tool didn't work for me, so I bought a complete box (for £35). It was still not perfect though.
I was really stressed when it was about changing the sensor because it goes far under the rear car body, but finally it was fairly easy.

I took some pictures and think to write a very accurate how-to as soon as I'll find the energy

Meanwhile if anybody needs infos/pictures, just contact-me through mini2

[Parc77]

anyone know what resets the sensor when changing the brake pads I.e my warning light has just come on was hoping to just change the pads but someone has mentioned something about replacing a sensor?? Is there a way of reseting so the light goes out I.E in the same way as service interval indicator or in same way as tyre pressure warning light ??? anyone in the know? would be much appriciated. Thanks

[jwardell]

The sensor is activated by the rotor wearing through it, so it is destroyed and must physically be replaced.

[Parc77]

Is this difficult to do? and is it a seperate part??

Have changed pads in all my previous cars, no problems, is this going to be a pain in the rear end to do? if i go to Mini do i just ask for a set of pads and a sensor 2 sensor??

Sorry for all the Q's just need to get it done and dont wanna let it get to the stage where I need new discs too

[jwardell]

The sensors are a part and probably cheap. I'm not sure how hard as I'm not sure where they plug in (follow the wire, I guess). They just simply slide into the new pads though.

If you take a look at the pad you'll see the sensor slid in there and it should all make sense.