[wannabe]

I bought my car used and it says I don't need to service the front brake pads for 50,000 miles. This can't be right. I thought there were sensors on the brake pads, could they be broken?

Also, it says the rear brake pads need to be replaced soon, but the carfax I got from the dealer says they were replaced about 9000 miles ago.

Is it possible that when they replaced the pads, they cleared the service indicator for the wrong ones? Even still 50,000 miles seems like an error.

[Saintor]

My brakes are smaller than yours, I do heavy traffic every weekday and I am at 55000 miles with the original front brakes. Going by thickness I guess that they are good for another 10000 miles.

[wannabe]

Also, I looked through the carfax again and it shows that the rear brake pads have been replaced twice. No mention of the front pads, but it shows brakes checked several times.

[mhenry7]

I just replaced my fronts for the first time at 67K. Rears were replaced at 40K and reads 17K remaining right now. All the cars I've owned the fronts wore faster, first time I've had one where rears go faster.

[chromisdesigns]

Everybody is seeing the same thing on 335's -- rear pads are typical around 45K, fronts last much longer. I agree with the other poster, I never had a car wear the rear brakes faster than the front before now.

Just had my rear pads done at 44K, rotors still in spec (barely...), and the fronts have a long way to go yet.

[Jace_91]

Brakes are covered under first 4ys/50k? maintenance right? I only have 16k miles, but less than a year left on my maintenance so I might have to do some extra spirited braking to have those replaced before my maintenance plan is up!

[username604]

Originally Posted by Jace_91

Brakes are covered under first 4ys/50k? maintenance right? I only have 16k miles, but less than a year left on my maintenance so I might have to do some extra spirited braking to have those replaced before my maintenance plan is up!

yessir they are covered. that extra braking will not only wear out the backs but also the fronts... so the money you save replacing the backs will be spent on replacing the fronts sooner... or so it seems
then again, the service reminder is based on the rate of wear, so if you can just get it to say within 1000 miles, then you're good to go, even if your pads are good. some guy on here was almost out of the original warranty period, and so he tracked his car and got the brakes down from a couple thousand miles left to 800 miles

[username604]

^Then again, about them replacing the brakes even if they have some life left, i'm not going by personal experience, but by consideration of them having to replace the sensor because of the service indicator, and therefore the brakes along with the sensor. i could be wrong though

[Jace_91]

Very true, you'd have to wear down both for it to be "worth it" and it probably still wouldn't be, when I'm coming close Ill try to get them to replace them anyways.

[NaTuReB0Y]

rear at 48k...........and front at around 60k+........

[waterp7]

How often do the dealers replace rotors under warranty? Mine were never out of spec throughout the warranty period so I don't think my fronts were ever changed. I just changed my rear pads/rotors after about 48k because of the low speed squeaks.

[RoundelM3]

Had my front brakes checked several months ago at 30K miles and still had 80%+ left on the pads.

[1997gtx]

I have 38,000 miles on my 328xi and both the front and rear say about another 20,000 miles. Dealer checked them a few weeks ago and said they were perfectly fine.

[badassfajita]

I've got 28k on the clock for 08 335i and my OBC says 15k more for the rears and a whopping 60k more for the fronts!!

[pruettfan]

Brake pad life varies a great deal based on driving conditions and habits. 50,000 miles for one driver can be totally different than another driver. The sensor estimates life based on 'Normal" driving. As an example I can get about 70,000 miles from a set of pads because I drive almost all freeway miles. My experience with the E90 is the rear pads wear quicker, probably due to pad size and brake bias settings. The best way to confirm is to visually check pad thickness. It is possible the sensor is not picking up the thickness properly.

[sappersix]

I just had my rears replaced (48k) for sensor squeak. When I visually inspected the pads before bringing it to the dealer, I figured I had another 10-20k on the pads themselves. The SA said with the rear sensor squeak issue, they just go ahead and replace the pads and sensor because just replacing the sensor would be too thick for the existing pads.

My fronts are still showing 20K on the CBS and I'm now at 55k.

DSC will cause your rear pads to wear faster than usual as DSC will activate rear brakes independently in over- & under-steer conditions. Also, since stock 335s have an open diff, DSC applies the brakes on the free spinning wheel so that power is transferred to the wheel with traction. So the more aggressively you drive, the faster your rear pads will wear... :-)

[Patrick303]

I just brought my car in to the dealership this week for other service (brake flush, micro-filter) and they said my front and rear pads are almost due for replacement. I'm at 56k miles and out of my maintenance free warranty so I asked for a ballpark estimate as I was leaving. The SA said "$600-$700 per axle"! That seems a bit extreme to me for brake pad replacement! Is there really that much labor involved? I've changed my own brakes on other cars before, but not the bimmer. Has anyone done this themselves? Anything overly difficult about it?

I'd MUCH prefer to just pay $150-$200 for some good brake pads and just do the work myself. Hell, I could even buy that StopTech Stage 2 upgrade kit that comes with pads, slotted rotors, braided lines, and new fluid for half what the dealer is planning to charge me!

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by Patrick719

I just brought my car in to the dealership this week for other service (brake flush, micro-filter) and they said my front and rear pads are almost due for replacement. I'm at 56k miles and out of my maintenance free warranty so I asked for a ballpark estimate as I was leaving. The SA said "$600-$700 per axle"! That seems a bit extreme to me for brake pad replacement! Is there really that much labor involved? I've changed my own brakes on other cars before, but not the bimmer. Has anyone done this themselves? Anything overly difficult about it?

I'd MUCH prefer to just pay $150-$200 for some good brake pads and just do the work myself. Hell, I could even buy that StopTech Stage 2 upgrade kit that comes with pads, slotted rotors, braided lines, and new fluid for half what the dealer is planning to charge me!

No but parts will be around $500 for both axles. Pads, rotors, and sensors.

[witeagle]

Brakes are very easy to do, BMW or not. It takes more time to replace get the car lifted and the tires off then it does to pull the caliper and swap out the pads!

The only thing I am very curios to know is if you replace your pads, does the car automatically re-adjust the values in the iDrive system.

[Kolyan2k]

all my brakes and front rotors were replaced at 46-47k ....free of course

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by Patrick719

I just brought my car in to the dealership this week for other service (brake flush, micro-filter) and they said my front and rear pads are almost due for replacement. I'm at 56k miles and out of my maintenance free warranty so I asked for a ballpark estimate as I was leaving. The SA said "$600-$700 per axle"! That seems a bit extreme to me for brake pad replacement! Is there really that much labor involved? I've changed my own brakes on other cars before, but not the bimmer. Has anyone done this themselves? Anything overly difficult about it?

I'd MUCH prefer to just pay $150-$200 for some good brake pads and just do the work myself. Hell, I could even buy that StopTech Stage 2 upgrade kit that comes with pads, slotted rotors, braided lines, and new fluid for half what the dealer is planning to charge me!

Now you know why you should take your car to an indy shop!

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by waterp7

How often do the dealers replace rotors under warranty? Mine were never out of spec throughout the warranty period so I don't think my fronts were ever changed. I just changed my rear pads/rotors after about 48k because of the low speed squeaks.

Never? Hardly ever? This is one of my pet peeves with BMW service -- if the rotors are a fraction of a mm over minimum thickeness, BMW won't replace them, even if they might need it a month from now! OK, I guess that's fair enough, but...

EVERY TIME you bring your car in for brakes when YOU are footing the bill, they will tell you BMW brake pads and rotors should ALWAYS be replaced in sets! Just try to get them to agree to do just the pads -- they tell you this never having even looked at the brakes!

Given BMW rotor generally can't be re-surfaced, it's probably good advice. However, they don't follow their own advice when it comes to their dime!