Just changed pads & rotors/discs, a few tips!

[sportypants]

Hi, I followed the excellent tutorials in the articles section to change the pads and rotors (or discs as we call them in the uk) and stumbled across a few small issues I thought I would share.

My biggest problem was removing the 2 x 16mm bolts behind the caliper. These were done up super tight on my car and as I was doing the job on me drive I didn't have enough room to use a breaker bar. I ended up applying heat to the driver side front and they came off really easy. The others needed some serious persuading, however I imagine everyones car is different so you may not experience problems yourself.

My next issue was removing the 2 x 7mm hex bolts on the rear calipers. These weren't done up tight but there is very little room to access the bottom hexes, I ended up cracking them first, then undoing them by hand!!!!

Removal of the rear discs were also a little frustrating, I ended up on my back smashing the discs from the rear and turning the disc so I managed to hit almost every part with my rubber mallet. They soon came off. Ensure you dont have the handbreak on as there are shoes on the rear which activate when the handbrake is on. I had to turn the ignition on and put the car in drive to durn the rear wheels. Also keeping the ignition on made my battery go flat as I wasn't really taking any notice that the ignition was on so long.

Next was the brake fluid level. When I started my brake fluid was below the max. Obviously pushing the calipers in will have some effect on the levels and when I finished the resevior is over the max! Im only noting this as some people suggest undoing the cap on the master cylinder, in my case it actually overflowed slightly which could mean brake fluid going on the some of the paintwork under the bonet which will no doubt annoy the hell out of some people! You could use a turkey baster to suck some of the fluid out but just a note of caution.

I know most people have different points of view with regards to bedding in the brakes but I followed the tutorial on this site (7-8 times accelerated to 60mph, hard broke to 10mph then back up to 60 to do it again. Then I drove around for 15 mins cruising. By the time I got back I hit the brakes again and they were really responsive. I imagine they will get better and better. A word of caution, after you have fitted the brakes pump the pedal 5-6 times and be aware that you will have almost no breaks for the first 10 stops, they definately need bedding in, mine did anyway.

I bought the pads and discs from german, swedish and french autoparts, www.gsfcarparts.com I paid £185.00 + VAT and the parts do look good quality, all parts were made in Germany. BMW wanted over £1000 to do this work. The pads alone from BMW were almost £200.

Anyway I hope this offers some insight into possible isues when it comes to doing the job yourself.

It probably would have all been a bit easier if I didn't have a mickey mouse set of tools but anyway I managed to pull it off and the brakes are considerably better that they were when I bought the car from BMW around 1 year ago.

Overall Im very happy with the results. My car had 31,000 miles and the discs definately needed changing. For the extra effort I would advise anyone to do it as after I removed the old discs there was a noticable difference from the new ones (around 2mm).

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write the articles, I referred to them almost every 5 minutes lol.

[JCL]

Good post, glad it worked out for you.

You should be careful with the brake fluid spillage, as brake fluid is an excellent paint stripper. Just a caution.

[sportypants]

Yeah, that's why I made a note of it. Mine had just a small overspill, I was keeping an eye on it after every caliper. Luckily none of mine spilled but it could easily happen and bubble your paint!!!!

[acattaneo]

FYI:
When you work on the drivers side , you turn the wheels to the right so you can get a wrench on the bolts holding on the brakes. For the passenger side you turn the wheels to the left so you can get a wrench on the bolts holding on the brakes.
You should have opened the brake bleeder before you compressed the calipers back in and replaced the brake fluid afterwards anyway.

[Laurence]

Originally Posted by sportypants

Removal of the rear discs were also a little frustrating, I ended up on my back smashing the discs from the rear and turning the disc so I managed to hit almost every part with my rubber mallet. They soon came off. Ensure you dont have the handbreak on as there are shoes on the rear which activate when the handbrake is on. I had to turn the ignition on and put the car in drive to durn the rear wheels. Also keeping the ignition on made my battery go flat as I wasn't really taking any notice that the ignition was on so long.

I had the same problem getting the rear discs off.
The handbreak shoes have a manual adjuster that needs loosening to allow the discs to be removed - this should remove the need for the mallet .
The adjuster is accesible from one of the bolt holes on the hub and is turned using a flat head screw driver, part number 9 on this diagram:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...91&hg=34&fg=30
It is a PITA to adjust tho!