Mini dooper r56

[Wheatley173]

My wife's 58 plate mini is showing on the servicing schedule that the brakes need changing, which is fine and were getting sorted shortly, but she's concerned that her brakes will fail

That's squeakers haven't come in yet and brakes are still very strong

Am I right in believing that the bmw service schedule would be a bit premature any way and will be fine for her to drive for a short while

Also do the minis brakes still have squeelers which really let you know it's time to change or do they just rely on on the wear sensors?

Thanks - any one with mini experience would be greatly appreciated

[talksthetorque]

According to....

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=MF32&a...

Your better half's mini has brake pad sensors to tell her/you when the pads need changing.
If the car is not showing a yellow "circle in brackets" on the dash then there is enough pad material.
The service schedule is probably telling you that the brake FLUID needs changing.
This needs doing periodically as the fluid attracts water, which boils when it gets hot, reducing braking efficiency.

[MrBarry123]

Wheatley173 said:

My wife's 58 plate mini is showing on the servicing schedule that the brakes need changing, which is fine and were getting sorted shortly, but she's concerned that her brakes will fail

That's squeakers haven't come in yet and brakes are still very strong

Am I right in believing that the bmw service schedule would be a bit premature any way and will be fine for her to drive for a short while

Also do the minis brakes still have squeelers which really let you know it's time to change or do they just rely on on the wear sensors?

Thanks - any one with mini experience would be greatly appreciated

Yes, you have time, there is a tolerance set into the service notifications to allow the car to continue to be driven for a set amount of time. The brakes aren't going to suddenly fail.

[Wheatley173]

Fluid was changed 9 months ago.

I know they have the sensors, but was wondering if they have they manual squeelers like cars used to which really indicated time to be changed. It will be getting done in the next week or so, but hard fitting it in round her work at the moment, but don't want her to drive it if it's dangerous

[TheRainMaker]

Is it the symbol red or yellow?

The mini we had had set service intervals for different things on the car (brakes, brake fluid, oil change etc etc) which would make the service light come on no matter what the condition of the items.

You can rest that yourself if you are happy they don't need changing.

If the symbols are red the car has detected a real fault and needs looking at asap.

[TheRainMaker]

Oh and have a look on youtube, you will find out how to use the dash to tell you exactly why the service light is on and how long to have to the next service etc etc.

[Slashmb]

This was covered in the MINI section not too long ago. If you have the red brake symbol lit up constantly in the speedo (like if the handbrake is on) then you do need the pads changing rather than the fluid. I did mine about 6 weeks ago and I reckon the pads were good for at least another 2-3k even though the sensor had tripped.

You may need discs too. What mileage is it on? FYI mine was on about 46k