DIY: Replacing Brake Pads & Rotors

[ph0ngvu]

so long, I have a few DIY and have no time to put it up.

Once you have the yellow brake light turn on, it's time to change your brake within 2 weeks.

Here is how to change your front brake pads/discs in less than 1hours. And dealer will charge you roughly $650+ part & labor for either front or rear. Here DIY will cost you ~$120 parts + a drink for the front.

1) determine which rear or front requires replacement. Buy German genuine dealer parts. I purchased rotors/pads/sensors/oil filter for both front & rear for $239 tax included.

*Notice, the front sensor wire is shorter than the rear one.

2) Prepare your tools.


3) before get the car up, spin the steering wheel to the left if you changing the left brake and vise versa (so it will not stretch out the brake fluid pipe while you remove the caliper. After the normal routine, remove the wheel. You will see this.


4) remove the brace using the flat head screw driver.slide in and push against the disc.


5) Look behind, remove the 2 plastic cap (each on edge of the caliper holder).

(Blue arrow - brake fluid pipe. Red arrow - clip holding the sensor wire. Remove it at this point.)

6) use any kind of hex 7 tools to remove.

**** Very important, after you take out the caliper, use a string or anything to hang it on the spring so you will not break the fluid pipe.

6a) a) At this time, you can use a plyer to remove the sensor (blue arrow).
b) use a flat head screwdriver or pry bar slide to each side of the caliper (red arrows) and push it while you can use your other hand to pull it out.


7) Remove the 2 screw "A" (look at "A" @ step #5 for another view) to take out the caliper holder.



8) Now that the caliper & its holder has been removed.
a) use hex wrench to remove the screw (red arrow)
b) Use your left hand hold the rotor while your right hand hold the hammer smash hard into the "X" area of the rotor several times until the rotor fall of.


9) Now you can see everything has been removed. You also see the caliper is hanging.



10) follow the sensor wire and you will see a small box attached on the side of the frame. Replace the old sensor.


11) Most of the time your newly purchased rotor will be soaked with oil. Use W40, grease removal to clean it or it will smell bad in the first couple days.

a) put the new rotor to the axle & do not for get the hex screw.
b) then put back the caliper holder with the new pad on the outside.

12) Attach the sensor to the pad.



13) put in the pad then use the C clamp or prybar or brake tools to push back the caliper piston flat to make room.



14) putting back the caliper and you are finish.



notice, make sure you slam the brake a few times after you first start the engine.

Have Fun and save $

[jetmetalman]

I did that and brakes click now when you depress brake pedal...why??

[viperocco]

check all your bolts and rattle clip

[markuscfc]

I'm going to be tackling this on this coming saturday, ordered all the parts but only ordered 1 pad sensor for the rear and 1 for the front. Might be a stupid question but do i only need 1 sensor for the rear and 1 for the front or 2 of each (so 1 on each pad)?

[D. Hitchcock]

There are only two wear sensors on the car, left front, right rear.

To the OP, good writeup and pix.

A couple of notes.

The hex screw that holds the rotor to the hub commonly gets corroded and is tough to remove. It is easy to strip the head out. Then you need to drill out the rest of the head and/or bash the rotor off with a sledge. The remaining stub from the hex screw can usually be removed with vice grips.

Using antiseize, lubricate the backs of the brake pads and the contact points where the pads contact and slide on the calipers. Also use antiseize on the rotor hex bolt.

And when you're finished with the install, work the brake pedal a few times to reseat the calipers, but bedding new pads is more involved than just hammering the pedal a few times.

There ought to be proper bedding instructions included with the pads. Follow them. Different manufacturers recommend different bedding procedures, and it's an important step to completing a brake installation.

d.hitchcock

[ildude02]

I bought the break pads and sensor for the rear(325i) from the dealer for about $110 and they were charging 96$ a peace for the rotor, so the total bill for parts was roughly $330 for rear brake set. I'm wondering if I should really use the OEM parts from the dealer, since it seems expensive compared to $120 you paid for the whole set. Is there any suggestion as to where(web site/brand) I could buy the parts and still be OK and get the same quality as OEM parts.

Appreciate any response.

[John in VA]

ildude02,
There is a classified section with many sponsors selling parts for the cars. Some parts meet or exceed BMW parts quality. You can save a bundle on brake parts without sacrificing quality or performance. Plus the BMW pads leave your wheels nice and black...

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...play.php?f=125
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...2&prefixid=E46

[ildude02]

Thanks John. If you can, would you be able to recommend few of the sponsors, from your past experiance or knowledge. I hope it's ok to recommend without any forum violations, since too many options can sometimes be intimidating.. Appreciate it!

[JMBMW]

There are a few things to consider while completing this task. Depending on your car, how long you have owned it, and your tire dust accumulation..the lugs and rotors might have built up corrosion around the bearing. This makes them hard to remove.

Don't be afraid to use some "muscle" on these things!

First- the tires:
Once you have it on jacks, with the lugs out...give the tire a few hard heel kicks. This will make the tire fall right off.

Second- the Caliper bolts:
It took me a while to crack these with an impact wrench even after spraying liquid wrench and hanging on them with the standard wrench for a couple of hours. These bolts had to either be installed by machine or another yee-haw with an impact wrench.

Third- the Rotors
Take the set screw out and bring out the big guns. Grab your sledge hammer and give a hard whack in this order 3:00,9:00, 6:00, 12:00.This may be the reason BMW specs out new rotors on this change. It will loosen and you need to take some brake cleaner and wire brush to what remains.. spray clean and put on anti-seize fluid all around the bearing. I went ahead and replaced the set screw with a new one.

Forth- Sensor install
Keep in mind that the sensor connection is underneath the under-lining of the wheel well. There are 6 bolts to take off in order to have enough room to disconnect old one and connect the new one. You must install this or your warning lights will continue to trip.

The last tip - you may not want to overlook this: Brake Pad install
The springs on the back of two brake pads are pliable. For my E90, the pads I purchased, one of them had a spring on the back which was sprawled out so far it would not go into the brake piston. So I bent the bottom one just enough to change the angle slightly, used a vice grip to compress the top springs, and it fit right in. Once it was in there, I then used a flat head screwdriver to bend the spring back to its original position.

Installed:
2x Centric Rotors - Rear
4x EBC Red Stuff low dust pads
Realistic time: 3 hours - Depending on your tools and help... I would estimate at least 40 minutes per rotor

[luckydawg003]

Gonna tackle this job soon. Bought the new brake pads and sensors for front and rear at Pepboys for $110 total, sensors were only $8. Cheapest that I found.

Thanks for the DIY writeup.

[SS Minnow]

Hey All!

I have my replacement parts on hand and wanted to tackle this over the weekend. However, the website where all of the images are stored for this DIY seems to be down. Does anyone know of a backup source I could reference?

Have a safe weekend everyone
Sean

[TerraPhantm]

Hey All!

I have my replacement parts on hand and wanted to tackle this over the weekend. However, the website where all of the images are stored for this DIY seems to be down. Does anyone know of a backup source I could reference?

Have a safe weekend everyone
Sean

I used this one the first time I did a brake job:

Front Pads
Front Rotors

Rear pads
Rear rotors

I think the screws used a different size bit on the 330, and the 330 only has one rotor set screw per rotor instead of two.

[SS Minnow]

I used this one the first time I did a brake job:

Front Pads
Front Rotors

Rear pads
Rear rotors

I think the screws used a different size bit on the 330, and the 330 only has one rotor set screw per rotor instead of two.

Many thanks, TerraPhantm! I still have not done this job as my Chief Financial Officer (a.k.a. wife) had me landscaping ever since I last posted. I am looking forward to wrenching starting Friday night

[threadstone]

A hack I use to keep the caliper from falling and snapping your brake line using zip ties tied from the spring to the caliper.

It also can be adjusted to the right length to help slip the caliper right on. Acts as a third hand really.

There's enough space you can just clip the zip when you're done.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Auks6PrpEoMtixxpDZpfgmMTv-IK
https://1drv.ms/i/s!Auks6PrpEoMtix0IAvXrxDgKXd43
https://1drv.ms/i/s!Auks6PrpEoMtix6wJ1eRW0RwiB_U