This applies to all 2007-2013 Mini Coopers with the regular brakes.  I’m only going to show the fronts here. Do all work at your own risk:

What’s needed:

• 13mm & 16mm socket
• 17mm socket (for wheels)
• 15mm wrench
• Torx T50 (for rotors)
• Brake cleaner (for rotors)
• PB blaster
• Copper antiseize
• Brake pads (Stoptech 309.13080 – Front; 309.13090 – Rear)
• Brake rotors (Centric 125.3410 – Front; Centric 125.34094 – Rear)

Step 1 – Car up on stands, wheels off.

Step 2 – Always a good idea to use PB blaster. Blast early and often on the torx bolt that holds the rotor on. Don’t remove the rotor or that torx bolt yet.

Step 3 – Remove the calipers – There are 2 13mm bolts in the back that hold the sliders, and 2 16mm bolts that hold the brakes to the hub. Loosen the 2 13mm bolts & then remove the 2 16mm bolts. Then remove the two 13mm bolts to free up the unit to swap the new pads in. This will make the caliper hang freely. Either tie it up or hang it on the springs, as I did (picture already shows swapped rotor). *Note – on the driver’s side, there is a brake wear sensor. Use a needle nose plier to pull this out if you plan on reusing it. If you don’t, you can simply cut it off.

Step 4 – Clean the rotors. You can skip this step if you’re only doing the pads. Before swapping in the rotors, make sure you clean them off with brake cleaner. I believe all rotors ship covered in some kind of oil to prevent rusting. Both my dba rotors and my centric rotors did this. use brake cleaner and wipe off until clean.

Step 5 – Swap the rotors. You can skip this step if you’re only doing the pads. Use the T50 torx to pull the torx bolt out. Be sure it’s inserted all the way in, as it’s tightened pretty hard from the factory. Mine only had 24k miles when doing this swap, so it did not give me any issues. With that, the rotor should come right off. Align the new rotor on & reassemble. If desired, you can put a small layer of antiseize between the wheel hub & the rotor.

Step 6 – Swap in the brake pads. The pic below shows how the OEM pads were slotted. If you lose track, compare the pattern on the back of the pad. The one that has the circle will be the one on the side of the piston. Swap these pads out and slide in the new ones. These will just slide in and they will not hold in place very well. On the side touching the piston, cover it with antiseize where the piston & the back of the pad will make contact. On the other side, where it will be touching the caliper body.

Step 7 – Open the brake master cyliner and use a turkey baster to draw out some of the brake fluid. This is because when you push the piston back in place, Use a pad spreader or a c-clamp to push the piston back. Do not push in the bottom of the piston. Once it has been pushed back all the way, the caliper can be reassembled with the pad holder and put into place.

Step 8 – Reassemble. Use an image of the assembled caliper if you forget which way the caliper and pad holder sat. For the driver’s side, I clipped the used brake wear sensor back in. Alternatively, I think you should just zip tie it up somewhere and cover it. I first inserted the 13mm bolts to the slider pins so the assembly would hold together (but did not tighten). Then slid the assembly onto the disc, lined up at tightened the two 16mm bolts.

Step 9 – Tighten everything down! While I did not do the rears, the steps are pretty much the exact same. The rears had plenty of life left so I decided to leave them alone.