[redfred18t]

Hey everyone

A few weeks ago, my idrive was showing I needed to "replace brake pads" for both front and rear. So thinking this shit was covered under the warranty, I brought it in. Apprently it wasn't. I bought the car used about 6 months ago and had no issues with anything up until today. The dealer claimed the front sensor wasn't oem, and the rear sensor wasn't even installed on the brake pads. They said the rear sensor was oem, but the rear pads werent, and would need to be replaced with new oem pads. Long story short, they wanted like $500 to put right. Fuck that noise.

So my question is: Regardless if the pad is oem or aftermarket, can I install the sensor? I havent pulled the brakes off to see how it goes together so I really dont feel like dropping a lot of coin on it.

Also, once I replace the sensors, I'm assuming theres a brake reset I can do clear the "replace brake pads" and the lit red "brake" light. is this true?

Thanks for checking this out

[evanboyle]

Hey man,

Sensors can be purchased from tirerack and it doesnt matter what pads you use.

I have a spare front wear sensor and a set of pads you can have (off my 335i coupe, sport)

Where in MA are you located? I am in Malden and work in Andover.


I can give you a hand and make sure you dont get screwed by the dealership.

BTW what branch tried to bend you over?

[redfred18t]

Originally Posted by evanboyle

Hey man,

Sensors can be purchased from tirerack and it doesnt matter what pads you use.

I have a spare front wear sensor and a set of pads you can have (off my 335i coupe, sport)

Where in MA are you located? I am in Malden and work in Andover.


I can give you a hand and make sure you dont get screwed by the dealership.

BTW what branch tried to bend you over?

Thanks man I'd appreciate that. Brakes are nothing new to me, I've done them before 2 or 3 times on my jetta, and a number of my friend's cars. That's why it was such a surprise to me that the guy said you couldnt use oem sensors on aftermarket pads.

I'm from the springfield area so I'm kinda out there. It was BMW of West Springfield. Place blows.

I dropped my car off on wednesday at 7:30am and didnt pick it up until friday morning.

[evanboyle]

Yea dealerships have a tendency to try to get you to spend as much money as possible.

The wear sensor clips into the caliper and the rotor actually wears away the metal strip as your pads wear down. When it finally breaks, you are presented with an open circuit that your car's ECU sees and trips your "service brakes" indicator (or in your case, the iDrive warning).

If you ever worked on MKIV VWs, the sensor would have been buried in the brake pad, but still functions in the same way.

You can order new pads / sensors from Tirerack / Turner / HMS / etc. I recommend Hawk HPS pads as I have used them on my DD as well as autocross cars but any aftermarket pad made for your car will work.

If you want me to send you my stock fronts + slightly used wear sensor i'd be more than happy to but new might be a better route for you.

[redfred18t]

Originally Posted by evanboyle

Yea dealerships have a tendency to try to get you to spend as much money as possible.

The wear sensor clips into the caliper and the rotor actually wears away the metal strip as your pads wear down. When it finally breaks, you are presented with an open circuit that your car's ECU sees and trips your "service brakes" indicator (or in your case, the iDrive warning).

If you ever worked on MKIV VWs, the sensor would have been buried in the brake pad, but still functions in the same way.

You can order new pads / sensors from Tirerack / Turner / HMS / etc. I recommend Hawk HPS pads as I have used them on my DD as well as autocross cars but any aftermarket pad made for your car will work.

If you want me to send you my stock fronts + slightly used wear sensor i'd be more than happy to but new might be a better route for you.

Yeah I think I will just order new wear sensors. I'm not sure if I'm going to get new pads or not. Do you have you remove the caliper in order to install the sensor, or is it an extremely easy procedure? New sensors seem pretty cheap, like $20 each and I think I only need one per side. If I have to pull the calipers off, then I'll just throw new pads on it but I'd rather save $$ and time lol.

Also yeah, hawk HPS are the way to go. Had those on my mk4 jetta, and I'm ordering a set front/rear for the miata I just bought.

[evanboyle]

Super easy procedure. There is only a wear sensor on the driver's side. Here's an image of what it looks like:



Shouldn't need to even remove the caliper to replace.

[redfred18t]

awesome.. thanks for the help man. I think im just going to order wear sensors and hopefully this solves my problem

[BKV122]

Yea the senors are easy to replace. The picture above explains it all, but if you want a lil more information check out the DIY section on Replacing brake pads. Pull the sensor out and follow the wire back unclipping it as you go to the box. The rear sensor I think you need to undo some of the wheel well to get to the box. Then gotta reset it through the idrive or turn signal stalk(non idrive)

And you only need 2 senors, one for the front and one for the rear.

[redfred18t]

doesnt seem too bad at all. I'm going to order the sensors from tischer today

[David1]

If the pads do not have the groove for the sensor, you can not intall the sensors. But, I have yet to see a bmw replacement pad that did not have the groove for them.