Brake Job from Hell #$%@!&

[dandruff]

I posted this on the Kansas City BMW Club forums, doing fronts for the X5 ..

Friday morning DHL brings the new Brembos, and I am now glad I didnt goto work friday and started on them right away. 2-4 hrs is what the DIY writeups say, it took me 23 hrs and we are just talking fronts.
First the two Bolts holding the caliper carrier bracket get stuck, spend hours + broke my 16mm socket, called Ben who suggested PB Blaster the crap out of it, so thats what i did. 5 hrs later no go. Enlisted help from our neighbors, no go (and these guys run marathons) ... Desperately called Ben again, its late at night almost 11ish, so I am glad Ben makes it, well he broke his socket as well you know somethings amazingly wrong when Ben cannot get it loose. Anyhoo, Ben suggested contacting John Bremer at NTB.

Its very late so I leave everything as-is, wake up at 5AM starting putting old brakes, done by 6:30, take it to a neighbor who boasts of his air compressor setup. Nada. So its 7:30, I take it to NTB on 119th & Blackbob, its snowing and slushy. Luckily, John Bremer is in. Very cordial, polite guy, takes me in immediately. Guess what, he tries Snap-On sockets and impact wrenches ... no go. I am loosing hope. He looks perplexed too. He says, there is one more thing: try with ingersoll-rand and if that doesnt work, we are in big trouble. The heads are now stripping somewhat. I really appreciate him going out and getting this ingersoll-rand. The impact wrench alone is $800. well its worth every penny, took some forward reverse and the bolts came out. woohoooo. no cross threading either. John refuses to let me pay saying it was a challenge for him as well. its 9am by now. Highly recommended. He is moving to Metcalf store btw. And will still give BMWCCA discounts.

So off i goto Baron to get new bolts. I-35 is littered with accidents. Baron has only 1 bolt in stock. Oh well, I will reuse three old ones. Come home jack up everything, take the carrier bracket out. Guess what the ROTORS are stuck. keep in mind this is almost 12 hrs soaking in PB Blaster. I keep on hammering them 60 minutes each while soaking with my second big can of PB Blaster. I remember Chucks post on X5 world about this as well as others - keep on ahmmering is the only solution. Well I dont ahve anymore stamina so I call my stron neighbor, whack whack he goes for 30 minutes. No go. We have ruined the rotors so we are at a point of no return. Finally one comes loose, so i start finishing that side. Its saturday 4pm now. The nighbor is whacking and soaking the other one. Time for game getting close. Finally the other one clangs free, we had setup pillows to break the fall, but noooo ... it drops on the concrete floor and chips it. its 5:30. time to clean and watch the game.

the new bolt from Baron is now a revised bolt with 18mm (old ones were 16mm), so off i goto find 18mm imapct socket, tried autozone/ kmart collection of sears craftsman / oreilly ... apparently no one makes a 18mm impact ... oh well off i goto bed the brakes. Thanks again to Ben and John Bremer. I dont think I am going to attempt doing the rears on my own

[Bushman2]

Wow! That made me upset just thinking about it! I have done my own brakes on many occasions, but never (Hopefully won't ever) had(have)that problem. I'm so sorry!

[Tomaz]

I've been in that same situation in the past. It's like the car is possessed. Glad it finally worked out for you. I'm guessing that where you live they salt the roads in the winter. The salt and moisture create a caustic mixture that corrodes metals and causes problems like you encountered. There is really no solution. Don't let one bad experience convince you to not try again.

[fast4d]

make sure you put some anti-sieze past on the rotor/hub and maybe a little on the new bolts too.

[HPIA4v2]

I heard stories like that, is your area get salted during winter?
Good move, I'll suggest for others as well get small air compressor and IR impact wrench, life saver (if not knuckle saver).
I'll say go for the rear, can't get any worse right

[vinuneuro]

Screw impacts. I've not encountered anything yet, a big breaker bar + leverage hasn't been abe to tackle. Liquid Wrench imo works a lot better than PB Blaster.

[2002Silver4.6is]

Originally Posted by vinuneuro

Screw impacts. I've not encountered anything yet, a big breaker bar + leverage hasn't been abe to tackle. Liquid Wrench imo works a lot better than PB Blaster.

The problem is there is no room under the wheel well to use a breaker bar. I use my floor jack and a socket wrench!! Worked very well on the one side. On the other I just hung off of the wrench and jerked on it till the bolts came undone. This is truely a job for an impact wrench. It took me the better part of the weekend to do my front brakes.

Did you read my post on changing my front calipers?? You could have called me!!! I would have told you what you were up against!!!!

PB blaster worked wonders on my stuck rotors!!

Please read my post on my rear brake job experience and letting air into the ABS module!!!! It cost me $450 for BMW to cycle the air out of the ABS module.

Mind you my rear brakes were a hell of a lot easier to do after doing the fronts. The bots were much much much easier to get off of there!!!

Let me know if I can be of any assistance......

[dandruff]

Originally Posted by 2002Silver4.6is

Did you read my post on changing my front calipers?? You could have called me!!! I would have told you what you were up against!!!!
Please read my post on my rear brake job experience and letting air into the ABS module!!!! It cost me $450 for BMW to cycle the air out of the ABS module.

Mind you my rear brakes were a hell of a lot easier to do after doing the fronts. The bots were much much much easier to get off of there!!!

Let me know if I can be of any assistance......

Thanks guys for the encouraging words ... I am sure I will end up doing rears as well and all 4 corners on the Z3 too ... just very disappointed for wasting a 4 day break ... yes we do salt our roads here ... and i did use anti-seize ...

2002Silver4.6is, i will definitely read ur posts ... i just ahve to make sure i start friday incase a 2 hr job again becomes a 3 day ordeal thanks again guys ...

[vinuneuro]

Originally Posted by 2002Silver4.6is

The problem is there is no room under the wheel well to use a breaker bar. I use my floor jack and a socket wrench!! Worked very well on the one side.

I find that hard to believe since I can use a breaker-bar on basically anything in the wheel well area when working on my Honda. I'm sure the X5 has a much larger one. The breaker won't 'fit' in the wheel well, it'll stick out, which actually makes it easier.

[fast4d]

no room for breaker bar? you can't turn the wheel?