7 Minute Miles

MINI Rear Brake Pads


Last fall, I attempted my first ever do-it-yourself car repair job, replacing the front brake pads on my 2005 MINI Cooper. The brake light indicator didn’t go off, so I decided I’d replace the rear brake pads as well. I got the pads for Christmas, but was waiting until nicer weather (as they didn’t appear to be that thin on inspection–turns out it was the interior-side pad that was worn way down).

With sunny skies and temps in the low 60s, today was the day.

I started on the rear right tire, as that is the one that has the extra step of replacing the brake pad sensor cable. Got the wheel off and did the cable first. It was much easier than the front one for me, but still involved some painful laying on my back on the cement floor while twisting my arms around in weird angles.

Following the wonderful instructions at North American Motoring, I took the tool I purchased from Harbor Freight to get the piston pushed in. It went about half-way in and wouldn’t go any farther. I checked in with my friend (and car expert) Chuck Goolsbee, who suggested taking off the brake fluid cap. I did that (along with putting on thicker gloves) and was able to get it much further in. This was accompanied by a pop of the rubber sleeve curling back on itself, which scared the hell out of me. It didn’t rip, though, and I was able to reverse it back into position. Hopefully that isn’t a major issue down the road.

The other rear tire was rusted on and didn’t want to come off. I applied some WD-40 and got a rubber mallet from a neighbor and eventually got it off after following the advice of my wife (“hit it from the other side” – duh). Once it was off, the install process went smoothly. I did have to remove the brake fluid cap again and some spilled out, but the piston tool worked perfectly.

Everything is back together and the test drive around the block went fine. The brake pedal going all the way to floor at first still freaks me out a little, but it pumped right back to normal. The car goes into the dealer on Tuesday for a scheduled oil change, so I’m curious to see if they say anything about me messing things up. The damn indicator light is still on too, so maybe they can fix that for me.

One less thing on my procrastination list!

MINI Photo Gallery

Originally published by DK on April 5, 2008 at 6:31 pm in Cars


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