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2002 Mini Cooper S

ExplorerDMB

Moderator/Technician
Moderator Emeritus
Joined
January 26, 2004
Messages
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City, State
Mechanicsville, Virginia
Year, Model & Trim Level
2004 Acura TL
I get home one night from a class, and my neighbor comes over and starts to chit chat and finally gets down to what he wants - a brake job. I haven't seen many Minis (haha lots of many/minis) around, hardly even looked at one and he wants me to do the front brakes on it and change rotors. At first, I was thinking "yeah, no problem" - but then I thought - "BMW?". I know how tricky those foreign companies are and throw complete odd ball stuff at you when you least expect it. Anyhow, I did some research using the internet and alldata (we never seen a Mini in the shop before, so all 11 techs are useless there - except for one guy who worked at BMW). The calipers don't look to hard to get off, but the rotors are what threw me. I saw this picture:

DSCN2792.jpg


BMW, a few Lexus', and I'm sure others use the full stud instead of just lugs -- thats no problem til you think "so, what's holding the rotor on?". Then you see that huge axle nut. Well if you look at the picture, look at the bottom stud hole and then to the left of it just a little. That should be a 7 mm bolt (hex) which is holding the rotor on (atleast what alldata says). But look at this picture; it looks like the axle nut is part of it:

DSCN2866.jpg


I'm sure I'll be able to tackle it, but I'd like to get some feedback from anyone who's dealt with these minis/bmws before. Any help would be great. Basically, I just need to confirm that the rotor is held on just by that bolt. It looks like it is (here is a better picture):

DSCN2830.jpg



Let me know what you think. Thanks guys! :thumbsup:

-Drew

ps - those pictures aren't from the actual car. And to others reading this; if you do a few things on a vehicle (brake job, head gasket, etc.) you get more confident and you feel as though you can do anything; but then when someone asks you about a Nissan when all you've worked on is Ford - you get a little nervous. Don't worry about that, all engines, brake systems, etc are pretty much all the same. Now, I say that - but take it with a grain of salt - the problem I'm having here is that the tools are limited (doing it at my house, not the shop). So what I dont want to run into is getting something apart, and then not being able to put it back together cause I need "special tool: J-4205-683B" - understand? And my life lesson is done for the day ;) lol
 



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alldata is usually pretty reliable, thats what we used at the shop i worked at. that bolt may or may not hold on the rotor. its hard to tell (for me anyway) if im not there. it wouldnt hurt anything to take off that hex bolt and try and remove the rotor. BTW: ive never done a mini or bmw, so its just a guess.

EDIT: it looks as though the lugs go into the hun thats behind the rotor, i dont know if im pointing out the obvious or not here. but thats what im guess the rotor bolts to as well.
 






I did a brake job on an Acura sometime back and it also had that stupid little hex bolt.
 






90ranajo said:
I did a brake job on an Acura sometime back and it also had that stupid little hex bolt.
ahhh, thats the other kinda car i was thinkin of that does that, my dads acura has screw that holds it in. thats the only thing holding it on.
 












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