brake failure !!
 

some of you may be aware I changed my front 'thrust arm bushes' 6 weeks
ago after only 52k miles .....
now they need changing again http://www.xoutpost.com/./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif

looking into the problem I have discovered the rear brakes do not engage
so all the stopping is carried out by the front ( hence the bushes going )

After bleeding the brakes yesterday and a full diagnostic £117 !!......no change
The diagnostic could not find anything ??

I bought some ramps and jacks today to lift her up tommorrow for me
to investigate for myself ......

.........Any tips on what I should be looking/checking out for ??

any help mucho thanks !!

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If Life Was Meant To Be Easy, Michaelangelo Would Have Painted The Floor

For a start, I bet you fitted another set of soggy OEM bushes or didn't pre-load them properly! You should have fitted the polyurethane ones.

As for the brakes, if it is possible to bleed the rears then I presume there is fluid flow to them so I would suspect seized calipers.

X5Girl, xxx

How did you determine the rear brakes aren't engaging? Also, when you replaced the bushings was the vehicle still off the ground (on jacks or lift) when the bolts were all tightned, or was it back in it's wheels...?

Thanks for the replies so far....

x5girl...... for a start your right ...oem bushes put back on... full brake system was bled (green bowers of haverfordwest)

weasel.... tested all 4 wheels on a 4wheel roller after i noticed my rear
discs were 'cold' even after 3 hours of driving .... dealer confirmed rear
brakes were not engaging .......

any advice is so thankful

If there was normal fluid pressure while bleeding, then I'd concur with X5girl, seized calipers... But for both to seize at the same time is kinda weird.

But rear discs cold after 3 hours of driving, yeah... I'd think there could be a problem. Are the rotors rusting at all from the lack of brake engagement?

cheers again 'weasel'.... glad the both of you have the same opinion as myself..... i will be checking them tommorrow !!....
regarding the rust on the rear discs......always there !!.....front nice and shiny !!

your black kidneys look good ......

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there is nothing wrong with the OEM bushings, the suspension on BMWs are not designed to last forever, they are maintance items, if you want to put aftermarket ones on, go ahead, but dont knock the OEM ones as they are good for 30K miles.

Thrust arm bushings...no tech or even susp. smartie here, but I just had thrust arm bushing replaced in my '01 with 73k miles; first time.
Done by a very thorough and trusted Indie, German MotorWerks of Asheville. Their head tech went through my front suspension for almost
an hour, (he had done it a year ago in my quest to eliminate/reduce my wheel shimmy under high speed braking.). He changed them out this
time, using OE parts, and showed me the oe bushings were still firm, pliable, usable, etc. But, as my WD ext warranty was expiring this weekend,
we were afterw hatever we could "fix", w/out being a predatory azzhole.

My point is, the TA bushings on my car were still very serviceable...but replaced.
And, guess what, I still have the shimmy, lmao!

So, I guess I am agreeing with killcrap, though that wasn't my point. Nothing "wrong" with oe bushings as original parts, or replacements.
Back at the ranch, I suspect the OP has some serious other problems that aren't necessarily bushings or, simply front end related, but wtfdik. :D

To sum up killcrap's post and MD's post, the OEM bushings are designed to have some give to soften the feel of bumps for driver comfort. They will last ~30k miles in hard city driving and apparently over twice that in sensible rural driving.

If you would rather the softer feel for lighter driving styles, the OEMs are great. If you have sport suspension and want to whip that baby around like the sports sedan it is at heart, the solid poly bushings will be a good investment as they will firm up the front suspension.

Me, I plan on going with the solid poly bushings in the near future as I prefer the solid sporty feel over the soft comfort.

But it would appear the OP does indeed have either a pair of seized calipers or a brake fluid delivery problem. As long as there was a normal amount of brake fluid pressure during bleeding them, calipers would be obvious.

And, to keep beating on TA bushings, and simply to expand on Weasel's usual great
info: my '01 is Sport, we do live "rural", though we have continually hammered it
in our twistyazz mtn surroundings, and most of the mileage is from hard humping
road trips back to NJ/NY/FLA. The oe TA bushings our tech pulled out did not look
very diff. from the new oem ones he was about to install, and ours had 8 years on
the bastards.

I guess my point is, like our orig window regs, (knock on wood), some oe parts
really last, and...some do not for some of us, and vice versa. Meanwhile, I still have
some wheel shake upon hard, high speed braking, but I have new Michey Dias
coming next week and I bet the new tires, with new TA bushings cure most of my long time ills.
GL,mD