[cman321]

My car's 50k warranty is about to be up. I would love to have bmw replace my brakes for free, instead of for $1500 outside of warranty. I remember my prior bmw brakes were shot before warranty ended.

Any thoughts of trying to get free work done within warranty (outside of just abusing my brakes and wearing them out completely.)

[VTECaddict]

Your car should have an estimate of how many miles are left on your brakes according to your driving habits.

[cman321]

where would you find that estimate

[bsamoul]

On the dc stalk. You flip the little knob up until you get to service and it should show you an estimate for front and rears with how many miles you have left.

[John 070]

I have misread that thing for over a year--I thought it was telling me to change the brakes at 28000. Only today, I realized that I have 28000 left. I cannot drive that much by Nov.....

Can anyone say if BMW brakes are any different than "normal" brakes? I have never paid anyone to do brakes, incl rotors and calipers. So why wouldn't brake pads cost say $100 if they're premium. How does the number grow to $1700 for a 335? Throw in rotors at $150 ea, now we're up to $400. I know my cousin said his E36 M3 was $1800 back in the day.

[chromisdesigns]

Most good independent BMW shops will do an "end of warranty" inspection for you for an hour of labor +/-. Well worth it, you'll find out what state everything is in, and what needs or should need replacement under warranty. Then take it to the dealer to get the work done. Even if you don't find anything right now, it is a good estimate of what you may need to do in the near future. Even a small repair picked up now and done under warranty will more than pay for the inspection.

[wsybert]

Originally Posted by John 070

I have misread that thing for over a year--I thought it was telling me to change the brakes at 28000. Only today, I realized that I have 28000 left. I cannot drive that much by Nov.....

Can anyone say if BMW brakes are any different than "normal" brakes? I have never paid anyone to do brakes, incl rotors and calipers. So why wouldn't brake pads cost say $100 if they're premium. How does the number grow to $1700 for a 335? Throw in rotors at $150 ea, now we're up to $400. I know my cousin said his E36 M3 was $1800 back in the day.

Nothing special. I just helped my neighbor do front and rear pads, sensors, and rotors on his 328 last weekend.
$550 and an hour and a half later. Done.
Purchased cool carbon pads and Zimmerman rotors at Pelican parts.

[CirrusSR22]

I just looked up a full brake set from AutohausAZ the other day for a 335 and it was $608. Four Zimmerman rotors and a full set of Textar pads. The 328 would be even less. And there's nothing special at all about BMW brakes, you can do them yourself quite easily. Especially if it's just the pads.

[MrDummy]

Well my CPO'd BMW 325xi has the original rotors and pads on the front with 7,000 miles of life left according to BC.

And the Rear pads were swapped so I have 37,000 miles left on them. So I am thinking the rear pads get worn out a lot faster than the fronts.

When I bought my car last May of 09 I had 9mm on the rear pads left and 7 mm on the fronts.

But I only put about 6K worth of mostly highway driving on it so far, so I am hoping the fronts will last another year or so.

Will they?? I drive like an old lady

[jayhudson]

Easy solution...... take it to the track a couple of times

Jay

[///Mik3]

Originally Posted by MrDummy

Well my CPO'd BMW 325xi has the original rotors and pads on the front with 7,000 miles of life left according to BC.

And the Rear pads were swapped so I have 37,000 miles left on them. So I am thinking the rear pads get worn out a lot faster than the fronts.

whoa, if that's true, that's really strange. I've never heard of a car that wore it's rear brake pads faster than the fronts. Are you positive your pads have never been changed?

[MrDummy]

^^ according to the service records and the CPO inspection documents I have with the mm readouts of pad life on them and everything. It was a lease vehicle by a middle adged skinny lady, thats all they would say on previous owner, and that according to their service records only the rear pads have been swapped with new sensors as well.

I always thought that the 3 series had a 50/50 brake distribution and that would not make any sense to me either unless it is something to do with it being an XI model?

ANY GURUS out here that can shed some light on this??

[Memphis1]

i used to have a E90 and the rears wore faster than the fronts. the dealership told me the car is set up that way so that it wont squat or dive under braking.

[Memphis1]

Originally Posted by cman321

My car's 50k warranty is about to be up. I would love to have bmw replace my brakes for free, instead of for $1500 outside of warranty. I remember my prior bmw brakes were shot before warranty ended.

Any thoughts of trying to get free work done within warranty (outside of just abusing my brakes and wearing them out completely.)

it wont be $1500... check the OBC and if the computer says 1k miles to go you could walk into the dealership and tell them you're planning on keeping the car and getting the brakes done "under warranty" and ahead of time. if it's like 6k miles to go you wont get it for free, but then again it wont be $1500

[MrDummy]

^^ If my fronts now say 7000 miles left if I drive withOUT hard braking how long would you think they would last?

Like stated above I drive mostly highway, but the city driving I do due causes me to brake heavy once in a while but I usually try to feather stop.

PS I still have 37K on rears left according to BC.

THANKS

[John 070]

Originally Posted by wsybert

Nothing special. I just helped my neighbor do front and rear pads, sensors, and rotors on his 328 last weekend.
$550 and an hour and a half later. Done.
Purchased cool carbon pads and Zimmerman rotors at Pelican parts.

Good deal, thanks for the info. It's been a while since I've ordered Nissan parts so I took a look--I can get 30% off, but the list prices have skyrocketed. A fog lamp (haha $47 new on eBay) is like $225 list now. It was $185 list when I needed one two years ago. And even Nissan brake pads list at nearly $90 now (was only $57 five years ago).

So I can understand if BMW parts are expensive, nothing we can do about it. But seems like we can do something about the labor....(DIY)

[777ER]

Originally Posted by MrDummy

I always thought that the 3 series had a 50/50 brake distribution and that would not make any sense to me either unless it is something to do with it being an XI model?

ANY GURUS out here that can shed some light on this??

It's 50/50 weight distribution.

In a typical car, the front brakes wears out first since most of the weight is transfered to the front under braking and this = more braking power used in the fronts.

Other than that, in most late model cars, the braking bias is always dynamic which is constantly varying between the front and back depending on the speed, turning, and road conditions.

[777ER]

Originally Posted by memphis2012

i used to have a E90 and the rears wore faster than the fronts. the dealership told me the car is set up that way so that it wont squat or dive under braking.

Not only that, it's the DSC and DTC also controls the rears alot. Mine went due @ 31k, and now my fronts have about 1,000 miles to go and I'm changing them this afternoon, the rotors have worn down to min. spec. so that's getting replaced at the same time.

[777ER]

Originally Posted by John 070

I have misread that thing for over a year--I thought it was telling me to change the brakes at 28000. Only today, I realized that I have 28000 left. I cannot drive that much by Nov.....

Can anyone say if BMW brakes are any different than "normal" brakes? I have never paid anyone to do brakes, incl rotors and calipers. So why wouldn't brake pads cost say $100 if they're premium. How does the number grow to $1700 for a 335? Throw in rotors at $150 ea, now we're up to $400. I know my cousin said his E36 M3 was $1800 back in the day.

Originally Posted by wsybert

Nothing special. I just helped my neighbor do front and rear pads, sensors, and rotors on his 328 last weekend.
$550 and an hour and a half later. Done.
Purchased cool carbon pads and Zimmerman rotors at Pelican parts.

It's dealership inflated $$$ = big profit for them.

I asked them how much to do my front brakes, they quoted me $800 and change.

Ordered front brake parts online from Tischer BMW and it costed:

Front pads $120
Front rotors $90 each
Front brake sensor $23

Came out to $323 + shipping.

Got the service manual on DVD and it looks like a simple job that anybody who has done a brake or two could do it.

[MrDummy]

^^ how much longer do you think I have if BC says I have 7K miles left on fronts? Driving normal, like I stated above..

THANKS

[777ER]

Originally Posted by MrDummy

^^ how much longer do you think I have if BC says I have 7K miles left on fronts? Driving normal, like I stated above..

THANKS

Do the math by rounding off the miles you drive per day on average and estimate in changing the brakes out around 1k miles left.

It's slightly longer than u think...depends on your driving conidtions really.

The pad wear sensor is the one that determines by the thickness of the inboard brake pad on the driver's side front caliper.

As the brake pad wears halfway through, the rotor is grinding the sensor tab off which indicates the OBC that there's half pad life left...when it grinds all the way flush, it sets off a red brake warning on the OBC telling you brake change is due NOW!

[MrDummy]

^^ doesnt that happen @ 4mm of pad left or is it 3mm?

Either way I wonder how much pad would be left @ 1000 miles?

THANKS A TON though for info