[Cropwell]

What sort of disc life have people been experiencing on front discs?
Had a number of BMW's previously including higher performance coupes and I am not hard on brakes. X3 is not really a car that can be driven that hard.
Previously never been through a set of discs under 45K miles.

Car went in for front pad replacement per diagnostics, now dealer has rang back to say that rears need replacing(pad sensors showing 11,000 miles) as these are down to the limit, would expect less wear on these than fronts- Then tell me that front pads have another 1500 miles and discs need replacing also £531 !! Car has done 29K miles.
Suspect the dealer is taking the p???.

Am going to get front discs checked independently and obtain alternative quotes.

Is this just the case of deterorating BMW quality which I have experienced with of bits of the car?

[clivem2]

It's the stability software applying the rear brakes. This is normal.....

Sorry I see it's the front discs. Should be better life, no problem with mine yet. 30k.

[ianfp]

I have disc issues on my car and my car has only done 10,000 miles. I have a really badly scored front disk - one week it was fine and the next, major scoring across the whole disk. The material must be very soft, but should be cast iron.
I checked service status in the idrive to see what the pad status was and the fronts were showing as OK, but it says that the rear pads will need changing in 1500 miles. I have never had a car needing new pads at 11,500 miles.

Worth an independent check!

[Cropwell]

Pad sensors are rubbish do not rely at all on these at all. Last year pad sensors showed new pads required after about 13K but dealer advised faulty sensor and reset. Rear sensors now showing 11K life but actually none!

[Andy_o]

My x1 flashed up rear brakes need changing in 6000 miles about 6000 miles ago .. Since which time the car has been serviced and mot'd ... And guess what it is still saying brake service in 6000 miles

Hmmm

[bmwsiman]

30,000 "spirited" miles covered & indicator showing another 10k+ to go. No problems here.

[cooldude00]

same here... sensors actually came up saying fronts to be replaced.. went in and was reset... now 24k miles with 4k to go (x3 2.0d)

[Ranger 6]

Originally Posted by Cropwell

....Car went in for front pad replacement per diagnostics...

Here's your problem - don't use any form of electronic brake pad life indicator on the dash, you should rely on the Mk1 eye ball. Any more than 3mm pad depth is fine for a sensible amount of time.

I have a quick look at mine regularly but they were change last year so will be good for a while. Incidentally I changed the pads before the wear indicator came on as they would've been completely FUBARed had I waited.

[Cropwell]

Clearly the pad indicators are totally unreliable.

Has anybody any further comments on expected life of front discs ?