Brake jobs

[jaye944]

So just looking into some info for the moment.

My 1'er is under the extended w'tee so a bit loathe to do anything not right for fear of having potential w'tee issues.

So my suggested front brake service is due in a while yet, but it's next on the list.

I've done too many brake jobs on my cars, on my Porsche the only comparable one to the bimmer I only ever did pads.

On other cars again generally pads (again) unless there is obvious wear or judder.

I know usually rotor jobs are a cash gouge by the dealer.

That said, I saw in a post the below

"BMWs have great brakes - this is due in part to the rather soft pads and rotors they use. Don't expect them to last more than 30-50k miles. The rotors generally wear at the same rate as the pads so 'machining' the rotors OR replacing pads without rotors is not recommended. There is a 'brake pad low' warning light that is triggered by a wear sensor that will illuminate on your dash when you are due for new brakes. It looks like this: . When you replace your brakes, you also need to replace the wear sensors ($10-20 each). There's one on the front left wheel and one on the rear right wheel. Parts for all 4 rotors, pads, and sensors are generally $200-500 and labor is about the same."

So that being said, how many folks have done pads/rotors and sensors IF they don't need to be done. I can check the pads rotors etc but can I insist that only the pads are done?

Your thoughts

cheers

[EJT86]

You're under warranty why would you want brakes done before they need to be?Are you asking if you can have your brakes done ahead of schedule? They will measure rotor and pad thickness as sole means of judging whether they'll do ur brakes. If there's a problem while braking or judder you can ask them to test drive it and feel then they'll take a look and determine what needs to be done. Is your warranty running out soon is that why? If so post an ad on here looking for min thickness pads and rotors swap them and then bring the car in for a brake job before warranty is up

[jaye944]

hey and txs

I'm out of the 4 year w'tee and by extended w'tee has kicked in.
So I have to pay.

no, the brakes are not due yet as I said, but will be the next thing due.

When I go in for the brake service, they will check the brakes,
what I'm asking is ... do I "have" to have the rotors changed WITH the pads (if they need doing)

I've never heard of a dealer ever just saying "only pads" so I want to ascertain if they say, you must have both, whether it's BS

Originally Posted by EJT86

You're under warranty why would you want brakes done before they need to be?Are you asking if you can have your brakes done ahead of schedule? They will measure rotor and pad thickness as sole means of judging whether they'll do ur brakes. If there's a problem while braking or judder you can ask them to test drive it and feel then they'll take a look and determine what needs to be done. Is your warranty running out soon is that why? If so post an ad on here looking for min thickness pads and rotors swap them and then bring the car in for a brake job before warranty is up

[jaye944]

hahah sneeky... but I like it

Originally Posted by EJT86

min thickness pads and rotors swap them and then bring the car in for a brake job before warranty is up

[insanecoder]

Originally Posted by jaye944

hey and txs

I'm out of the 4 year w'tee and by extended w'tee has kicked in.
So I have to pay.

no, the brakes are not due yet as I said, but will be the next thing due.

When I go in for the brake service, they will check the brakes,
what I'm asking is ... do I "have" to have the rotors changed WITH the pads (if they need doing)

I've never heard of a dealer ever just saying "only pads" so I want to ascertain if they say, you must have both, whether it's BS

So then go to an independent and get a second opinion..

[omasou]

Originally Posted by jaye944

So just looking into some info for the moment.

My 1'er is under the extended w'tee so a bit loathe to do anything not right for fear of having potential w'tee issues.

So my suggested front brake service is due in a while yet, but it's next on the list.

I've done too many brake jobs on my cars, on my Porsche the only comparable one to the bimmer I only ever did pads.

On other cars again generally pads (again) unless there is obvious wear or judder.

I know usually rotor jobs are a cash gouge by the dealer.

That said, I saw in a post the below

"BMWs have great brakes - this is due in part to the rather soft pads and rotors they use. Don't expect them to last more than 30-50k miles. The rotors generally wear at the same rate as the pads so 'machining' the rotors OR replacing pads without rotors is not recommended. There is a 'brake pad low' warning light that is triggered by a wear sensor that will illuminate on your dash when you are due for new brakes. It looks like this: . When you replace your brakes, you also need to replace the wear sensors ($10-20 each). There's one on the front left wheel and one on the rear right wheel. Parts for all 4 rotors, pads, and sensors are generally $200-500 and labor is about the same."

So that being said, how many folks have done pads/rotors and sensors IF they don't need to be done. I can check the pads rotors etc but can I insist that only the pads are done?

Your thoughts

cheers

You can insist all you want. The dealer will only replace what they know BMW will reimburse them for.

On my X5 they replaced pads and rotors on the front and pad only on the rears.

[EJT86]

Originally Posted by jaye944

hey and txs

I'm out of the 4 year w'tee and by extended w'tee has kicked in.
So I have to pay.

no, the brakes are not due yet as I said, but will be the next thing due.

When I go in for the brake service, they will check the brakes,
what I'm asking is ... do I "have" to have the rotors changed WITH the pads (if they need doing)

I've never heard of a dealer ever just saying "only pads" so I want to ascertain if they say, you must have both, whether it's BS

Ok wasn't sure if you had extended maintenance also. Well if you're out of warranty the dealer is now just like any old mechanic shop. They'll do what you pay them to do. You wanna pay for just pads then sure they'll do it they'll will prob try to sell you on rotors also but it's up to you after you measure thickness. Since you've done them before a simple pad swap should be super easy for you, there's nothing unorthodox in the caliper design. Or if you really don't want to I'd suggest finding a good Indy shop that won't rob you as much

[overcoil]

Hey jaye944, first how many miles/kilometers are on the car? And had there been any previous brake work?

I would find out what the brake rotor thickness is for new rotors, then I would THINK about maybe buying a pair of measuring calipers to measure rotor thickness yourself.

If you think that a set of pads will last just about as long as the remaining rotor life then particularly if you do the work yourself then go for just the pad replacement.

But I think to some extent you need to defer to the dealer as to what needs replacing - they probably won't on policy just do pads if they think your rotor thickness will approach minimal while there is still plenty of brake pad thickness.

[jaye944]

Hey Scott;
so about 50k, bought it on 24k, do a lot of highway millage
don't know if brakes where done, doubt it.

my thinking and experience is they will say with a sharp intake of breath, you "need rotors and pads"

Of course I could check the rotor thickness too.

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Hey jaye944, first how many miles/kilometers are on the car? And had there been any previous brake work?

I would find out what the brake rotor thickness is for new rotors, then I would THINK about maybe buying a pair of measuring calipers to measure rotor thickness yourself.

If you think that a set of pads will last just about as long as the remaining rotor life then particularly if you do the work yourself then go for just the pad replacement.

But I think to some extent you need to defer to the dealer as to what needs replacing - they probably won't on policy just do pads if they think your rotor thickness will approach minimal while there is still plenty of brake pad thickness.

[silvergray545]

Check the rotor thickness. If it's close to the minimum, replace. If not, put new pads on and keep driving.

[Axius]

Brakes on the 1er are like changing brakes on a Civic. Just as easy as any other brake job. The sensors are dumb, I probably haven't replaced them, if you don't have enough sense to check your own brakes regularly then replace I guess.

[jaye944]

dude, I have "enough" sense to check stuff, I've done brake jobs, that's NOT what I'm asking.

You can check pads visually easily, rotors not so, you can't detect minor warping or thickness without the right tools.

I started off by saying "my car is still under extended w'tee" if my car was 10 years old or without a w'tee, I have no issues.

I DONT want BMW to turn around at some point and say you w'tee is not valid because you refused us to do the rotors and that's caused a problem.

Likewise I don't WANT to bend over and take it like a man when they say that the rotors need changing, when they don't because they wanna make some money.

I did do some research on rotor changing, which I quoted, just trying to see what other people have done or experienced

Originally Posted by Axius

Brakes on the 1er are like changing brakes on a Civic. Just as easy as any other brake job. The sensors are dumb, I probably haven't replaced them, if you don't have enough sense to check your own brakes regularly then replace I guess.

[Reborn_]

Originally Posted by jaye944

dude, I have "enough" sense to check stuff, I've done brake jobs, that's NOT what I'm asking.

You can check pads visually easily, rotors not so, you can't detect minor warping or thickness without the right tools.

I started off by saying "my car is still under extended w'tee" if my car was 10 years old or without a w'tee, I have no issues.

I DONT want BMW to turn around at some point and say you w'tee is not valid because you refused us to do the rotors and that's caused a problem.

Likewise I don't WANT to bend over and take it like a man when they say that the rotors need changing, when they don't because they wanna make some money.

I did do some research on rotor changing, which I quoted, just trying to see what other people have done or experienced

If you aren't going to measure the applicable parameters on the rotors yourself, then you will have to trust the judgement of the shop. If you are overly concerned about the dealer blatantly lying about the condition of the rotors, then you should:

1.) Change dealers.
2.) Find a better place to have your maintenance done.

[John 070]

I did all 4 at 50k. The fronts were maybe 50% gone, and the rears I'd say 70%. The CBS said like 24 fronts left, 16 rear. I did feel I was wasting the rotors, but I paid like $100 and $120 for OEM, not cheap, but proper. Many other cars yes I just do pads if the rotors are good. Our OEM pads bite into the rotors. on the flip side it's rare to got 150 mph to 0, repeatedly, like they might do in Germany.

btw as soon as the rear pads were replaced, I had to experiment by keeping the old rotors on the car. The squeak squeak squeak that has been present since 20k was instantly gone. So the forum was right, new pads are the only way to get rid of that sound, even replacing prematurely.

edit ps I never understood the not replacing the sensors business, about $14 ea.

[jaye944]

txs all,
I think I have 22k before brake service, the car will have done about 70k
and I got the car at 22k, (I do 80km a day)
So chances are I will need to do them,
The brakes on the BM are really good, I guess somethings we can't take for granted.
I'll get my own tech guy to give it a once over before then and also when I do the winter tires.

But as I said I read that our pads do bite into the rotors.

Anyway just a kind of straw poll, to see what your all doing

cheers agin

[ASAP]

Lol not sure why this is in OT...

But on my 135i, I replaced the brakes after 50K miles of driving and I can assure you that they were very worn... pads were nearly gone and the rotors had a massive lip on the edge... oddly enough the car still stopped perfectly fine and those sensors are a load of horseshit... i nearly had no pad left and they didn't go off until about a week or two before when they should have been going off for months.

[Kong Sheng Han]

Im going through rotors faster than pads.

[jgoens]

By changing only the pads you will run the risk of having squealing. On most cars the rotors are not thick like they used to be and could be just turned. I have tried to cheap out a few times by only doing the pads and then I had pretty good squeals. And my understanding of the sensors is that they are designed to be changed as well because the plastic is brittle and the heat deteriorates them leaving a pretty good chance of failure if they go for a second round of brakes.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

Im going through rotors faster than pads.

#trackcarproblems

The 08s leave a nasty layer of pad transfer that I can't get rid of.

[Kong Sheng Han]

Originally Posted by silvergray545

#trackcarproblems

The 08s leave a nasty layer of pad transfer that I can't get rid of.

Lol

I'm pretty sure my rotors have pad transfer, too. I can check/take a photo for you tomorrow if you want. No issues though.

I don't use any of the anti-squeal shit, so I do hear rears squealing at low speeds when pads are warm. Braking when reversing is the best part!

[Kong Sheng Han]

Originally Posted by silvergray545

#trackcarproblems

The 08s leave a nasty layer of pad transfer that I can't get rid of.

Saw your post on M3F. Not sure what the problem is, but since you have drilled rotors, just go ahead and replace them with blanks or slotted rotors.

F

R

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by Kong Sheng Han

Saw your post on M3F. Not sure what the problem is, but since you have drilled rotors, just go ahead and replace them with blanks or slotted rotors.

F

R

I'm not sure either. I never had pad transfer issues when I ran Hawk pads. My rotors are seriously ugly looking. I might sand them down and rebed them.