[Buz999]

Recently noticed a rubbing sound coming from rear offside wheel area and on investigation found the inside face of brake disc badly scorn down. Checked all brakes and found it was only that one affected so assumed caliper seized. Took her into garage yesterday to be sorted and all in all cost me £176. The caliper had completely seized due to excessive corrosion,the securing bolt sheared off which they had to drill out and retap thread and make new bolt, the sliders all needed de rusting then completely regreasing and all rear discs and pads had to be replaced.
Just after i brought her at Xmas one of the front pads decided to fall apart so they were replaced and new fluid put in.So to make myself feel better about the situation i now know all the brakes are new and safe.
Anyway word of warning to you all, go and check your brakes before too late to repair and need replacing!

[Root Ginger]

When I replace my pads I also polish the sliders with Meguiars All Metal Polysh (their spelling not mine) I then coat them with copper grease before sliding them back in and tightening them up. They do have a tendancy of getting pretty rusty and pitted. I will probably replace mine next time the pads are changed on my car just to be on the safe side.

[Rallyepete]

I had this a few months ago.

I bet the disc that was scored was the side that has no wear indicator on the pad?

In my experience the mini is the only car i have owned that doesn't have a wear indicator on each wheel.

Its very annoying to have to replace both discs as well as pads.
At least you are safe now...

[Buz999]

Since having this done they have squealed and smelt but the garage explained this was the bedding in process and no cause for concern so i continued to drive. The other night getting home i noticed constant squeal and discs became too hot to touch. I took it back to garage this morning to be told the pistons had now seized in calipers and binded onto discs. They now need to strip down brakes and order some new dust covers for the pistons which will take 3 days and cost £10.22 each. I told them this is their mistake as the first job was not carried out correctly and i will not be paying for anything!
Just looking for some suggestions as to what they have done wrong as i want to sound as though i know what im on about when i set about them if they try to bill me.
Thanks.

[Blusox]

Sorry to hear it. I've just been through a saga with my local Mini dealer, have a look at my thread:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-ty...-my-discs.html

My rear caliper also siezed but they tried to pass it off as a problem with my GTT disc saying they were 0.8mm wider than stock, which was a load of rubbish!! I ended up with 2 new rear calipers and I think they also changed the pads. Since then the constant squeal has gone but a still get a little bit when braking.

Quite shocked that these problems are not been covered by warranty as you would expect a caliper to last the life time of a car, they are by no means a consumable item!!!

[Buz999]

Well i ended up paying £24 for the seals but nothing for labour so i thought that was that. Oh how wrong was i, drove it again this weekend to face the same problem, the discs were untouchable due to heat. Went back to the garage this morning and left it with them to sort. They rang to say they were stumped all seemed good on ramps but again got hot after decent road test. The only explaination they have come up with is perhaps the replacement discs/pads are faulty or sized wrong so they have ordered genuine BMW bits to fit tomorrow, told them to carry on but again not paying to which they agreed. I am now worried that if this solution fails WTF is wrong?

[Meeerrrk]

just a note; the rear pads/ disks on a mini are very easy to change DIY. you just need the caliper piston retraction tool which is about £20. worth noting for the future.

Mark

[Buz999]

Got car back last night after having genuine BMW parts put on and all seems fine. There is no squeal under braking and definately no excessive heat so fingers crossed all is sorted and the cause of the problem was crap after market parts, fingers crossed.
Positive outlook is that all my calipers have been stripped, cleaned and relubed and new seals plus discs/pads so all should be well for a good while to come!

[..Blackadder..]

Which after market pads and disks did you have fitted if you don't mind me asking.

[Buz999]

Sorry i dont know what make they were just standard replacement ones from the local motor factor place the garage gets their parts from.

[..Blackadder..]

No worries just wondered if they a well known company's good luck with the new set.