[lon3lyone]

So my front brake sensor went off indicating I need to change my front brakes. So being the DIY kind of person, I went to take a peak at my brakes and it looked like I have some good pad life left.. But also being the caution kind of person I thought, might as well take it to the dealer to see why my sensor went off to make sure I was not delusional.

So The dealer comes back confirming that it was my front brake sensor but also said I have about 3mm pad life left and I should change my pads. 3mm really?! I was like, no way, if so I will just change it myself.

Now being the paranoid kind of person that I am too and before I go change it, I am now staring at my brake pads, thinking, am I looking at this wrong?... I am pretty certain I have some life left on my pads... I included pics.. What do you guys think?.

FRONT


REAR

[cpie168]

Sub'ed. Thanks.

[skeetx3]

Those pics are your outer pads but I would also check your inner pads as well. The ones on the other side of the rotor, where the actual brake pad sensor is attached.

[dhanni848]

Originally Posted by skeetx3

Those pics are your outer pads but I would also check your inner pads as well. The ones on the other side of the rotor, where the actual brake pad sensor is attached.

^this. Mine went off about a month ago, outter pad looked great, and the inner was a bit less. I bought new sensors and just kept an eye on it until I finally changed them today. I had more life but already had the pads.

[Rmk392]

Those pads have more than half their life left. The brake sensors go off on mileage interval as well. Not based on your actual mileage but the mileage timer on the service part

[J-Spec Dan]

most likely the sensor got old or got severed. it has happened twice to me. best to replace both front and rear sensors. i think one in the left front corner and one in the right rear. Either way, it's the same part number.

[David1]

The yellow brake light comes on based on a computer estimate. When the sensor trips and turns the light red the pads are at 3mm and you can go a few thousand miles more. I never let that pads go to 1mm. At 3mm you can swap the pads and reuse the rotors if the first pad change

[stanlalee]

The brake pad sensor warning system is useless. I have reset mine at least 4 or 5 times. I changed my rotors and pads today (mostly to upgrade) and ALL my front pads had 70-80% left compared to the new pad. The old sensor hadn't even been touched against the rotor! It was as perfect as the new one that came with the pads abs snapped out the old pads with no damage. So somebody tell me why "replace pad" warnings are showing up every 10 to 15k miles? Luckily resetting it is nothing more than holding and pressing a few buttons.The warning system must make for some good profits for the dishonest and unsuspecting!

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Rmk392

Those pads have more than half their life left. The brake sensors go off on mileage interval as well. Not based on your actual mileage but the mileage timer on the service part

I'm at 99,400 on my original front pad and rotors, i've never had to reset the brakes and my brake counter is still at 1. Its now showing i have 390 miles remaining. I don't agree that it is mileage based because people who track a car wear out brakes fast and freeway drivers like me just cruse along at 30mpg on an FBO 335xi

[David1]

Originally Posted by stanlalee

The brake pad sensor warning system is useless. I have reset mine at least 4 or 5 times. I changed my rotors and pads today (mostly to upgrade) and ALL my front pads had 70-80% left compared to the new pad. The old sensor hadn't even been touched against the rotor! It was as perfect as the new one that came with the pads abs snapped out the old pads with no damage. So somebody tell me why "replace pad" warnings are showing up every 10 to 15k miles? Luckily resetting it is nothing more than holding and pressing a few buttons.The warning system must make for some good profits for the dishonest and unsuspecting!

That was a problem on the 07 cars. There is a software updater for it. My 07 did it until it was reprogramed.

[belcom]

I was just wondering about this. Got the car back in November and put about 8,000km so far. They installed new front rotors and pads in the front.

Anyway, idrive reports that I need to replace the front brakes in 14,000km.

That's sounds fishy to me. No stock/original pad in any car I've driven in the last 17 years ever worn out that fast.

So does this have to do with the software update? It has to be wrong. I doubt the fronts will be worn out that quick.

[mweisdorfer]

If the brake pads are not wearing evenly, it is because the grease on the sliding bolts is non-existent. You will need to either replace the sliding bolts or take some fine grit sand paper and clean them up. Make sure to put a good amount of high temp brake grease in the rubber mounting cylinder prior to remounting the caliper to the mounting bracket with the clean sliding bolts.

CRC makes the best brake grease I have found to date. It's range is -50 to 3000 degrees.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0091K...537981-9563438" rel="" target="_blank">http://<a href="http://www.amazon.co...81-9563438</a>" rel="" target="_blank">http://<a href="http://<a href="http...563438</a></a>

If this does not solve the problem, then my next guess would be that your brake caliper is bad.

[weq92f]

I've been running with a destroyed front sensor for about 5 months now. Just last weekend, I swapped out the front rotors, pads, sensor then cleaned and greased the caliper pins. The pads had less than a quarter of an inch of material left and were still operating fine. The rotors however were too thin to reuse.

Had to remove quite a bit of brake fluid from the master cylinder in order to push the pistons back into the caliper! 78k miles and this was the first service to the brakes.


-klb