[Lotus99]

So my warranty is coming up in about 6 months, and am hoping to get my pads replaced under the program just before it's up, as the BMW Maintenance Program in the US (where the car's from and I'd drive south 3 hours for this, if I can get them covered) covers brake pads.

Is there a minimum thickness (anyone have it in mm's?) that they must be before you can get the dealer to change them, or you have to wait for the car to tell you?

Or is there a minimum "mileage left" on the pads, according to the computer, before you can get them changed? Currently, it says they are about 12,000 miles away, which is about a year's driving for me.

[Fun w/N54]

year and miles on car and I assume they are original brakes? grace period for replacement is 4000 miles. Rear min rotor thickness is 20.4mm and 28.4mm for front.

[blaster3500]

My dealer told me 3mm

[07lilredwagon]

Originally Posted by blaster3500

My dealer told me 3mm

3mm is very very very very very thin!...too thin for comfort imho.

sounds like he does not want to do it under the coverage.

I have taken brake pads to that limit...but not necessarily on purpose!

You have to check BOTH outer and inner pads...sometimes the inner ones wear a little faster than outer ones.

JP

[ZhengHai]

Originally Posted by blaster3500

My dealer told me 3mm

Mine said 3mm as well when i took my car in last month.

[der_kommissar]

I'm in a similar boat, except my plan is up in less than a month. I've gotten them to do the rear brakes by saying they were squealing, but no dice on the front. They say I still have 9mm of pad left so they won't change them, even though they really are making noise.

[fireline43]

yep mine was at 6mm when i brought it in and they said they are fine.

[Kellen]

Mine were replaced with 3700 miles per the dash menu. Not sure of mm left. Glad because I was in the same boat, 2000 miles until warranty up and just CPO.

[07lilredwagon]

on the other hand, brake pads are not difficult to do yourself if youre so inclined...a good independent can do them as well...

Depending on how many miles on the car, you can get away with changing just the pads...but ideally the rotors should either be resurfaced if they are thick enough, or replaced if they are getting a little thin...Im not sure what the allowances are on the rotors....

there are one or two brake pad threads in the DIY section that might shed some more light on this one....


JP

[smallseafishie]

Complain that your brakes are squealing. Seems to work for me.

[ChuckBMW3]

Originally Posted by der_kommissar

I'm in a similar boat, except my plan is up in less than a month. I've gotten them to do the rear brakes by saying they were squealing, but no dice on the front. They say I still have 9mm of pad left so they won't change them, even though they really are making noise.

Were you out of warranty when they replaced your rear brakes?? I'm under extended maintenance (I'm out of warranty) and have tried MULTIPLE times to have the fronts replaced bc of excessive squealing. Any tips??

[justwannagofast]

I am also under extended maintenance and have had HELL trying to get the brakes done. They squeal A LOT, and not even usually when I'm braking, but when I'm slowly accelerating from a stop, or driving through a parking lot/neighborhood/etc (doesn't happen at higher speeds). I had already reached the mileage requirement, but they wouldn't do it. I was told I'd have to wait until the light came on. So I did. I brought it right in, they ran the key, and finally I thought I was in the clear (by the way, this was probably the 4th or 5th time I had been down there, over the last 6-8 months). My appointment was the next morning, and when I went to pick it up, they hadn't done the brakes because even though the sensor indicated they were due, the pads were still not worn down enough (to 3mm)... So basically I'm being told you have to hit all 3 criteria: mileage, sensor, wear. Ridiculous.

[ddeliber]

CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.

Not sure what to say to them but the first thing that came to my mind was this:

I think you should try another dealer.

[bender rodriguez]

I have said this before time and time again.. Drive fast brake hard.. do this a few times and spray your rotors down with ice cold water

[David1]

Originally Posted by 07lilredwagon

3mm is very very very very very thin!...too thin for comfort imho.

sounds like he does not want to do it under the coverage.

I have taken brake pads to that limit...but not necessarily on purpose!

You have to check BOTH outer and inner pads...sometimes the inner ones wear a little faster than outer ones.

JP

3MM is still plenty left. You can still go a few thousand miles on that. On most of my BMW's I keep the pads on until the sensor trips red and I have still gone 3k miles and still had pad left.

[Lotus99]

Thanks for the replies all. Sorry, was away a few days. The car's a 2010 5 series actually (my other N54!) with almost 40,000 miles on it - original pads and rotors.

I didn't think in our cars anyone replaced pads without rotors? I'd heard that's the rule of thumb, and resurfacing them was a no-no.

I'll try to measure the pads and see how many mm's are left.

[techwhiz]

They replace pads without rotors.
I know because my CPO was done because the rotors still met spec.
I think before my car comes off, the rotors will no longer meet spec and because they won't they will need to be replaced. Doesn't matter what the other stuff says.

[Lotus99]

So I took my winter tires off last night, and checked its pads for now. The computer says there's about 10,000 miles to go on the front pads and from what I could measure using my tire tread gauge as best as I could, there is about 4 mm's left on them. So I guess I have a ways to go, if 3 mm is the threshold.

To figure out if rotors need replacing too, is it just based on thickness? Someone told me they should be replaced if they also have a ridge forming on the edges of the rotor. Mine definitely have a ridge, or is that normal?

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by Lotus99

Thanks for the replies all. Sorry, was away a few days. The car's a 2010 5 series actually (my other N54!) with almost 40,000 miles on it - original pads and rotors.

I didn't think in our cars anyone replaced pads without rotors? I'd heard that's the rule of thumb, and resurfacing them was a no-no.

I'll try to measure the pads and see how many mm's are left.

BMW is two-faced on this issue: If it's on their dime, they will do it without blinking an eye -- they only replace the rotors if they fail to meet minimum thickness and runout specs.

OTOH, if it's on YOUR dime, they will tell you each and every time only to replace pads and rotors in sets...

[ddeliber]

Originally Posted by chromisdesigns

BMW is two-faced on this issue: If it's on their dime, they will do it without blinking an eye -- they only replace the rotors if they fail to meet minimum thickness and runout specs.

OTOH, if it's on YOUR dime, they will tell you each and every time only to replace pads and rotors in sets...

Yep. Sort of like that attempt at increasing the OCI.

[blacknbean]

my tip is to wear those suckers out. i did a months worth of 100mph to 0 stops everyday on the way to work and by the time i went to the dealer they were done and replaced no questions asked. i mostly had to speed up the process b/c my extended maintenance was expiring, but i also had some squeaking which they did nothing about so I wanted them replaced asap!