Minor whinge (Cooper SD)...

[Zetec-S]

Apologies for the whinge, just wanted to hear some thoughts... (even if it's just telling me to stop whinging )

We got our F56 Cooper SD last April, really like the way it drives and the balance of fuel economy/performance, and with the rear seats folded flat is surprisingly practical. However, we seem to have some bad luck with a few issues costing us more than I'd have hoped:

- So far we've had 2 replacement windscreens due to stone chips. I guess the angle of the windscreen being much steeper than most cars means flying debris is less likely to glance off? In contrast we've only had 2 replacement windscreens between us in the last 12 years. Anyone else find MINI's more susceptible to this?
- Similar to the above, we had to replace a headlight unit (about £300ish) last year due to a stone flicking up.
- Front tires (Michelin Primacy 3) barely lasted 12k miles.

On top of this my wife took it to the dealer for it's first service this week (19k miles) who are saying the rear tyres are down to 4.2mm so need replacing soon (£157 each), and the rear pads also need changing (£200). Thankfully she didn't commit to anything, so I'll be checking it myself at the weekend. Obviously tyres are still fine, but rear pads worn after just 19k miles seems a little early to me?

[rsbmw]

They do seem to eat brakes, but headlight/windscreen just sound like bad luck

[BOR]

19k is actually quite good. The rest of us are having to replace them at 12k.

Pads are 50-75GBP. Replacement will take you round about an hour. You need the generic ebay tool to wind the pistons back.

[steve-5snwi]

My R55 windscreen is battered, its the angle, tyres at 4mm certainly don't need replacing. The rear brakes at 19k, you have done well. I changed them at 11k on our F57.

[Zetec-S]

Thanks for the replies, sounds like I shouldn't complain about getting 19k from the brakes then!

I'll be shopping around for a better price though...

[steve-5snwi]

It should be less than £100, £30 to fit and around £50-£70 for the pads and wires.

[Deep Thought]

Zetec-S said:

Apologies for the whinge, just wanted to hear some thoughts... (even if it's just telling me to stop whinging )

We got our F56 Cooper SD last April, really like the way it drives and the balance of fuel economy/performance, and with the rear seats folded flat is surprisingly practical. However, we seem to have some bad luck with a few issues costing us more than I'd have hoped:

- So far we've had 2 replacement windscreens due to stone chips. I guess the angle of the windscreen being much steeper than most cars means flying debris is less likely to glance off? In contrast we've only had 2 replacement windscreens between us in the last 12 years. Anyone else find MINI's more susceptible to this?
- Similar to the above, we had to replace a headlight unit (about £300ish) last year due to a stone flicking up.
- Front tires (Michelin Primacy 3) barely lasted 12k miles.

On top of this my wife took it to the dealer for it's first service this week (19k miles) who are saying the rear tyres are down to 4.2mm so need replacing soon (£157 each), and the rear pads also need changing (£200). Thankfully she didn't commit to anything, so I'll be checking it myself at the weekend. Obviously tyres are still fine, but rear pads worn after just 19k miles seems a little early to me?

Relatively powerful FWD hatch, so its going to take brakes and tyres at a higher rate than normal.

I havent had the stonechip problem yet, but the windscreen does attract a disproportionate amount of (dead) flies.

I'm expecting to get less than 10k from my front tyres by the looks of them so far

[Zetec-S]

Quick update - new pads supplied and fitted at the weekend for £100 by the local indy. The old ones were not a pretty sight, we definitely got our money's worth from them. I'll be making a note to pay closer attention to them from now on, I'd rather not leave it so late in future.