540i6 brakes...

[WannaBeBoosted]

I need to replace my brakes on my 95 540i6. Ordered all the parts from AutohausAZ.com and attempted to do the work a couple days ago. The rear rotors they sent me don't match up. Same size and appearance but they sent me vented and the ones on the car are solid. Did some browsing and all I saw for sale were vented. Has anyone ever seen a 540 with solid rear rotors? The pads match up just fine. Not sure the calipers will even fit over the rotors with new pads in them...any suggestions or thoughts?

[sbeckman7]

Very strange, I don't believe you should have solid rotors on that car. PO wanted to downgrade?

[Trasportador]

540 rear rotors are vented, 525 rears are not

[ross1]

530 rotor are solid also. 540 r caliper casting # is 40/300, 530 etal is 38/10
Are the new front rotors thicker than your existing?

[K Fox]

530 rotor are solid also. 540 r caliper casting # is 40/300, 530 etal is 38/10
Are the new front rotors thicker than your existing?

I was wondering this, but I didn't know enough about the baby 8 cars. So basically, OP has a swap car?

Fox

[ross1]

I was wondering this, but I didn't know enough about the baby 8 cars. So basically, OP has a swap car?

Fox
Or re-badged. I didn't want to go there.
VIN will tell the tale.
I think you could get away with 10 mm rotors on a 540. I don't know how ugly it would get as the pads wore down.

[WannaBeBoosted]

530 rotor are solid also. 540 r caliper casting # is 40/300, 530 etal is 38/10
Are the new front rotors thicker than your existing?

Haven't taken the fronts off yet. Plan on doing that tonight. Will take a look at the rears for the casting # as well.
Car is a true 540 based off of VIN and numerous other items equipped on the car.

[6erWEBB]

Car is a true 540 based off of VIN and numerous other items equipped on the car.

Youre missing the brake ducts for the front bumper too if the 540 is the car in your sig.

Could have been a case like my wagon where someone parted it out a bit and the next owner decided to make it work and had to do so on the cheap.

OOHHH heres a sure fire way to tell if its legit (unless someone swapped an entire drivetrain. The out put shafts from the diff are much larger on 540s and M5s than the other e34s:


508203

[PorscheH6]

Your rear throwing stars are on backwards.

[K Fox]

Youre missing the brake ducts for the front bumper too if the 540 is the car in your sig.

Actually, the brake ducts were 94 only (for some silly reason), and OP stated that his is a 95, so that's actually normal.

So on the brakes, I'm just thinking out loud here, but maybe someone replaced the brakes once on the cheap and just happened to have the 530 brakes on hand? :dunno I say that because as mentioned above, the non vented rotors son't work with the proper calipers for the car - they'd never actually work, and might even pop the pistons out. So the calipers have to match the non vented rotors, and that means that someone switched something somewhere along the way. T'is an interesting conundrum...

Fox (curious as to what this turns out to be)

[ross1]

Actually, the brake ducts were 94 only (for some silly reason), and OP stated that his is a 95, so that's actually normal.

So on the brakes, I'm just thinking out loud here, but maybe someone replaced the brakes once on the cheap and just happened to have the 530 brakes on hand? :dunno I say that because as mentioned above, the non vented rotors son't work with the proper calipers for the car - they'd never actually work, and might even pop the pistons out. So the calipers have to match the non vented rotors, and that means that someone switched something somewhere along the way. T'is an interesting conundrum...

Fox (curious as to what this turns out to be)


I think they would but haven't tried it to confirm. With fresh pads the pistons would be well in the bores, about as 1/2 worm pads with correct 20mm rotors. It might get ugly as the pads wore.
Just speculation. where is the OP?

[WannaBeBoosted]

Sorry. Didn't get a chance to look at them last night. Wife wasn't feeling good. As long as the rain holds off tonight, I will check them out tonight. Did the 530 use the same pads as the 540? The pads on the car are identical to the new ones, that I remember.

[ross1]

Sorry. Didn't get a chance to look at them last night. Wife wasn't feeling good. As long as the rain holds off tonight, I will check them out tonight. Did the 530 use the same pads as the 540? The pads on the car are identical to the new ones, that I remember. Yes, pads are same. 540 brakes have identical swept area, just additional cooling.

[SwissCheeseHead]

I have a 530i. Can I put vented rotors on the rears? I never confirmed or thought that the rear rotors were solid.

[Layne]

I have a 530i. Can I put vented rotors on the rears? I never confirmed or thought that the rear rotors were solid.

Yes, if you replace the calipers too. Wouldn't make any sense to upgrade only the rear though.

[SwissCheeseHead]

Yes, if you replace the calipers too. Wouldn't make any sense to upgrade only the rear though.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind when doing my next brake job if I end up getting vented rotors by mistake.

[WannaBeBoosted]

So I finally got around to this again. Front brakes were all correct and went on without issue. Took the RR wheel off to verify the casting number and found 40/300, which is correct for the 540i based on a previous post. Rain is preventing me from attempting to put them all on right now. Will report back when I get a chance to do so.

[ross1]

So I finally got around to this again. Front brakes were all correct and went on without issue. Took the RR wheel off to verify the casting number and found 40/300, which is correct for the 540i based on a previous post. Rain is preventing me from attempting to put them all on right now. Will report back when I get a chance to do so.
Someone put the wrong rotors on. I'll bet the pistons were extended quite a way.

[WannaBeBoosted]

So I've run into another issue with this. Now the rear rotors are stuck on the parking brake shoes. I've tried pounding them off from the back and they just get stuck worse. I've tried everything I can think of. Any thoughts or ideas?

[atl530i]

Parking brake on?

[ross1]

Back off the adjusters through a lug hole. I think the adjusters are on the leading edge but stand to be corrected.

[WannaBeBoosted]

No. Parking brake is not on. Didn't think I had to mention that

[Binjammin]

No. Parking brake is not on. Didn't think I had to mention that

You would be surprised. Not because people around here make that mistake, but because people in real life make that mistake all the time as well.

Back the adjuster off, or rip it all apart.

[excelsisba]

Oddly enough, just went and checked my back and PO but solid rotors on my backs as well... Fronts on mine look right though. Guess I'll need to do a brake job next paycheck.

[WannaBeBoosted]

Brakes are all done. Took some serious effort to get one of the rear caliper pistons to retract but I got it done. Feels a lot better now.