[nukezero]

The CIC is telling me rear pads are at 1800 miles left and counting down. Yet, when I look at the rear pads themselves, they still got a ton of meat left. I would say atleast 4.5mm of meat.

What happens if the CIC counter runs down to 0, would that automatically trigger the brake sensor to replace pads? Or would it just stay at 0 miles?

I'm thinking the estimations are way to liberal and changing the rear pads this early is a waste of money.

The front are about 6mm of meat, just slightly more than the rear, yet the maintenance minder is telling me it has 45000 miles on that left. That sounds more accurate.

[Efthreeoh]

The only thing that will happen is the sensor will finally trigger the brake pad light. Just wait for that to happen. The CBS mileage is just an estimate. The sensor is what triggers the light to come on, not the CBS mileage estimate.

[nukezero]

Well thats pretty stupid then. i guess its not worth the money to replace the sensor just to reset the counter again

[Efthreeoh]

You don't understand how it works then. You just can't replace the sensor to reset the system. The sensor wears down as the pad wears down (gets thinner). So trying to put a new sensor in a worn pad is stupid because it won't fit. A new sensor is designed to go into a new pad and then start the wear process as the pad wears. The CBS calculates the rate of wear once the sensor goes through its first wear stage. Unless the sensor somehow gets dislodged from its mount on the pad and wears faster than the pad, there is no way for it to indicate the pad is worn out before it really is. The only other way the CBS would greatly under estimate the wear of the pad is if some dork replaced the pad but did not replace the sensor and did not reset the system. The CBS can't determine when a human interacts with the brake system in ways other than it is programmed for.

[nukezero]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

You don't understand how it works then. You just can't replace the sensor to reset the system. The sensor wears down as the pad wears down (gets thinner). So trying to put a new sensor in a worn pad is stupid because it won't fit. A new sensor is designed to go into a new pad and then start the wear process as the pad wears. The CBS calculates the rate of wear once the sensor goes through its first wear stage. Unless the sensor somehow gets dislodged from its mount on the pad and wears faster than the pad, there is no way for it to indicate the pad is worn out before it really is. The only other way the CBS would greatly under estimate the wear of the pad is if some dork replaced the pad but did not replace the sensor and did not reset the system. The CBS can't determine when a human interacts with the brake system in ways other than it is programmed for.

Dealership replaced rear rotors, rear pads, and rear sensor on 8/10/2012 at 47509 mileage. I'm at 73k miles now.

I remember when the dealer reset the CBS, the rear pad showed 26-28k miles remaining from the start. This is much less than the fronts which shows a whopping 48,000 miles remaining.

So 47509 + 26000 miles = 73509. The countdown is correct. But it looks like the "estimate" for the counter is quite a bit off as the rear pads still show atleast 4mm left. Yet my everytime I start my car now, it just says "Service due soon", not the red car on a lift. So looks like I have to live with this annoying reminder for another 10-15k miles.

Well that's stupid is what I'm saying. Because BMW just wants you to bring the car to a dealer to get ass raped and get the rear pads replaced too soon so they can make money. In reality, the pads can last 40k yet the system is being too conservative and making you change it at 26k.

I have the rear pad and sensor sitting on my desk. The pad is only about 8mm thick (new) so comparing to what is on my car (4mm), I'm sure I can get atleast another 10k miles. I just want to reset that annoying indicator reminder without screwing up the whole system.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by nukezero

Dealership replaced rear rotors, rear pads, and rear sensor on 8/10/2012 at 47509 mileage. I'm at 73k miles now.

I remember when the dealer reset the CBS, the rear pad showed 26-28k miles remaining from the start. This is much less than the fronts which shows a whopping 48,000 miles remaining.

So 47509 + 26000 miles = 73509. The countdown is correct. But it looks like the "estimate" for the counter is quite a bit off as the rear pads still show atleast 4mm left. Yet my everytime I start my car now, it just says "Service due soon", not the red car on a lift. So looks like I have to live with this annoying reminder for another 10-15k miles.

Well that's stupid is what I'm saying. Because BMW just wants you to bring the car to a dealer to get ass raped and get the rear pads replaced too soon so they can make money. In reality, the pads can last 40k yet the system is being too conservative and making you change it at 26k.

I have the rear pad and sensor sitting on my desk. The pad is only about 8mm thick (new) so comparing to what is on my car (4mm), I'm sure I can get atleast another 10k miles. I just want to reset that annoying indicator reminder without screwing up the whole system.

The pad doesn't go all the way to no material left.

[nukezero]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

The pad doesn't go all the way to no material left.

yeah I know that. I have the Bentley service manual. Minimum thickness is 2.5mm. I'm assuming that's the point when the sensor will be triggered and I get the red car lift symbol. But I'm still not that close yet.