[lux.sh]

For 2006 BMW 330i with 75000 miles.

Front brakes are squeaking. No warning sign on the dash yet. Few questions I have.

1. For E90 (I assume its all same for 328/330/335), do you have to change both rotors and pads at the same time??

2. If I can just replace pads, I want to DIY. Any good cheap pads you guys can recommend?

[BKV122]

That noise could be the break sensor starting to rub against the rotor. How many miles does tour car say till u need new front pads?
You dont need to replace both rotor and pad at the same time. Theres a minimum thickness the rotor should be to be changed. Some cheap pads are OEM.

[lux.sh]

If I have to replace the sensors, any rough guess how much it will cost?

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by lux.sh

For 2006 BMW 330i with 75000 miles.

Front brakes are squeaking. No warning sign on the dash yet. Few questions I have.

1. For E90 (I assume its all same for 328/330/335), do you have to change both rotors and pads at the same time??

2. If I can just replace pads, I want to DIY. Any good cheap pads you guys can recommend?

LOOK (with your eyes, not a code reader) and see how much pad is left and then make your decision. Anything 3mm or less is probably worth considering doing a brake job.

Brakes squeal naturally unless something is done to stop it. This is why anti-squeal paste must be used as part of a brake job. If there wasn't enough paste, or it's dried up or oozed out of place they will start squeaking and all you need is a little more paste.

1/ Generally BMW rotors will not last two sets of pads and stay above the minimum thickness. On one hand, I believe that the min thickness is meant to be assessed at the time of a brake job, not in real time throughout the life of the brakes. This means that you can probably run one set of rotors for two sets of pads. If you're ordering from a good OEM parts place, rotors aren't that expensive though and it's not a bad idea to replace them too.

2/ Take the word "cheap" out of there. These are your brakes. Look for OEM compounds for OE-style performance. Autohausaz.com, bimmerspecialist.com, and many others sell sets of OEM/OES pads for a lot less than dealers (even the discount ones everyone talks about here). OE pad brands are usually Textar, Pagid, Jurid. Textar has usually be my favourite.