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      07-02-2018, 12:49 PM   #1
raagnihi
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Front Brake Pads Question

have a MY14 - x3 28i with 19000 Miles + ...( low miles as this is used for dropping off kids to school and back)

In the vehicle status dropdown, I notice that the front brake pads indicate a yellow triangle with 1100 miles and the rear brake pads with 24000 miles

I am assuming this is the wear sensor measured/estimate of life.

I am not a Do It Yourself...

I tried to schedule an appointment at BMW dealers but they can arrange for an appnt next week (given that this is July 4 independence day week/end)

Planned for along trip from Michigan to South Carolina and Back. ( roughly 2000 miles total)

I did schedule the appnt for next week with the service tech here. He said that I shuld be okay to drive this trip before the service and there is no risk...as the vehicle was serviced only in Nov 17 and there is no other concern...and then do the brake pads replacement next week.

My question is ...is there no risk with this 1100 miles estimate from the front brake pads sensor ...for this 2000 mile trip...Or will the rotors start loosing the surface with damage ... ?
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      07-02-2018, 05:24 PM   #2
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Depending on your driving style, I believe once the pad sensor has zero life left. There’s probably some pad left as a buffer. (1-3 mm of pad left)
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      07-03-2018, 10:46 AM   #3
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How the heck did you go through a set a pads in 20k miles dropping off the kids? Given your "driving style" I would not agree there is no risk. If you start eating into the rotors BMW sure isn't going to cover it because some guy on the phone said it was ok. Maybe try some lift and coast, your pads should last much longer.
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      07-03-2018, 11:35 AM   #4
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From my experience brake wear sensors are pretty generous. Even after over driving by 400-500 miles there were still plenty of pad left. Also 1100 is an approximation, with highway miles and not a whole lot of braking you can probably stretch that number out by a bit. Of course just my 2c, so attempt at your own risk.

Last edited by Cpt.K; 10-16-2018 at 11:34 AM..
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      07-03-2018, 11:09 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpt.K View Post
From my experience brake wear sensors are pretty generous. Evan after over driving by 400-500 miles there were still plenty of pad left. Also 1100 is an approximation, with highway miles and not a whole lot of braking you can probably stretch that number out by a bit. Of course just my 2c, so attempt at your own risk.
Google photos of new pads vs worn pads. You will get a good visual reference of what is actually considered "worn."

Take off your wheels and do a visual check of the pads. Depending on what style wheels you have you might not even need to take the wheels off.

The problem with all these sensors nowadays is that people just blindly go with whatever the computer says.
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      07-04-2018, 05:55 AM   #6
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2015 X3 28i X

Just had to do a full brake job on my wife's 2015 X3 28i....28,000 miles. Rotors basically disintegrated. Like you, the I drive brake pad warning activated at 5000KM remaining...not a red brake dash warning triggered by the sensor...in our case the rear pads were still at 5mm....the front 4 mm. Take a look to see what your own situation is...but my guess is you are likely fine...tried to submit pics but the site won't let me...
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      07-04-2018, 06:13 AM   #7
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X3 Brake job...Brembo Rotors...far better than the OEM junk installed....saved about 1500 Cdn Dollars doing this myself....55 mins for the front...3 hours rear...took my time in 40C humidity...
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      07-04-2018, 09:04 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Bilbofraggins View Post
X3 Brake job...Brembo Rotors...far better than the OEM junk installed....saved about 1500 Cdn Dollars doing this myself....55 mins for the front...3 hours rear...took my time in 40C humidity...
Very nice, i'm amazed how under spec'd the oem brakes are for the f25's compared to my e90. I also went with brembo rotor's on the e90. Those OEM ones seemed to have deteriorated quite a bit.

Thought about powder coating the calipers. Anyone done this on their's?
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      07-04-2018, 12:26 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by E90705 View Post
Very nice, i'm amazed how under spec'd the oem brakes are for the f25's compared to my e90. I also went with brembo rotor's on the e90. Those OEM ones seemed to have deteriorated quite a bit.

Thought about powder coating the calipers. Anyone done this on their's?
How long ago did you replace with BREMBO rotors on the E90? I'm wondering if they weather well....they look like they will...quality seems night and day compared to the chinese junk...The calipers and brackets on our X3 were made by TRW...they also did not weather that well....but will stay for now.

I thought about powder coating hers...but just rubbed in rust check on the rears to see how it holds up.

FYI, my lad has an E90 323i 6 speed Std....150,000km that we have had since new...Had BMW inspect it...60 bucks + with a years roadside thrown in (they spent two hours looking at it)....they came up with a list of repairs totaling some 7K Cdn...on a vehicle 2008 worth about same....we did the lot for under 2K Cdn and it's as good as new...Bought most of the stuff from AutoShack who have a great selection of # series parts at great prices.

Last edited by Bilbofraggins; 07-04-2018 at 08:13 PM..
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      07-04-2018, 03:35 PM   #10
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^ incredible. I've never seen them disintegrate like that. I do know on both our X3's that the outer edge of the rotor has a ring of corrosion but it has not eaten through like that. Usage was about the same.

I hope the Brembo OE replacements fare better for you. I swapped OEM Audi rotors for Brembo blanks like you did - ended up about the same anyway.
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      07-04-2018, 08:18 PM   #11
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^ incredible. I've never seen them disintegrate like that. I do know on both our X3's that the outer edge of the rotor has a ring of corrosion but it has not eaten through like that. Usage was about the same.

I hope the Brembo OE replacements fare better for you. I swapped OEM Audi rotors for Brembo blanks like you did - ended up about the same anyway.
I was tempted to have them turned (particularly the rears) ....but thought better....By comparison, the rotors on my 2013 X6M are original....and look new, weathering well at 88,000KM....just replaced the pads although they still had a fair bit of life left.
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      07-04-2018, 09:39 PM   #12
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Thank you for the feedback and the additional information shared on this thread.
The rotors show the same corrosion on the outer edge as in the pictures...

So, I think its normal..The michigan weather was a suspect in my mind...

I had the dealer inspect it and they said that the front brakes and rotors need to be replaced.

they also mentioned that the rear pads and rotors will given in within the next two months and recommended that they be also replaced. (although the vehicle status drop down shows 20K miles for rear brake pads...)

they quoted me 1500+ US $ ... parts 980 and rest labor...(including wear sensors...)..did not make sense...

I checked a neighbourhood auto garage and he quickly quoted me 770 parts and labor (3 hrs..285 for labor and rest for parts)..far reasonable than the 1500 dealer price.

I will swing by them tomorrow AM.

they said they can check around the stores and get the parts..but if they cant find any then I may have to pay for the dealer price at the dealer.

I did check the AUtozone in my area and they have Durablast rotors/pads and rear wear sensor for store pick up tomorrow AM...the BREMBO rotors will need to be ordered and not available for store pick up tomorrow

What is the experience with the Durablast pads/rotors /wear sensor from the X3 members ?

I may have to go with Durablast as we want to go for the long trip the next day.

ANy feedback on Durablast ?
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      07-05-2018, 11:57 AM   #13
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Given that our OEM rotors on these vehicles is border line junk...equivalent to the cheapest aftermarket IMHO - then a premium aftermarket coated rotor can’t do any worse. I had all the stuff ready for my job...to save running around. It does not look like any discount was applied to your dealer parts quote....and the Labour par for the course. Durablast Gold look like they would do the job....Rockauto a good place to compare a fair few brands...
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      08-06-2018, 04:29 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilbofraggins View Post
How long ago did you replace with BREMBO rotors on the E90? I'm wondering if they weather well....they look like they will...quality seems night and day compared to the chinese junk...The calipers and brackets on our X3 were made by TRW...they also did not weather that well....but will stay for now.

I thought about powder coating hers...but just rubbed in rust check on the rears to see how it holds up.

FYI, my lad has an E90 323i 6 speed Std....150,000km that we have had since new...Had BMW inspect it...60 bucks + with a years roadside thrown in (they spent two hours looking at it)....they came up with a list of repairs totaling some 7K Cdn...on a vehicle 2008 worth about same....we did the lot for under 2K Cdn and it's as good as new...Bought most of the stuff from AutoShack who have a great selection of # series parts at great prices.
Replaced them about two years ago. They've held up nice but I don't have that e90 anymore. They replaced EBC green pads w Orignal oem rotors.
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      08-06-2018, 06:06 PM   #15
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Duralast sucks, but it'll work.

You must really ride those brakes. I'm at 46k miles on the original pads on my 2013 X3 28i and they still have tons of meat left on em. The stock brake pads are terrible they don't stop for crap as they get older. I'm going to replace them with some Centric 104's. That should do the trick. My rotors look like brand new and well within spec they should last til at last 100k.
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      08-06-2018, 06:26 PM   #16
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Just did mine
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      08-18-2018, 03:48 AM   #17
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I have insane amounts of brake dust and want to replace pads with akebono and discs with brembo. But my brakes work great so I wait.
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      09-16-2018, 02:50 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by oaklandish View Post
I have insane amounts of brake dust and want to replace pads with akebono and discs with brembo. But my brakes work great so I wait.
hey Oaklandish, not always correlated but I think it's the rule of thumb, brake pads with a lot of stopping power create a lot of brake dust. So if you went with one that creates less dust, it might not bite as hard. Just fyi
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      09-16-2018, 02:52 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilbofraggins View Post
X3 Brake job...Brembo Rotors...far better than the OEM junk installed....saved about 1500 Cdn Dollars doing this myself....55 mins for the front...3 hours rear...took my time in 40C humidity...
Thanks for all the photos! Huge n00b to BMW's, do you mind me asking why the rears took so long compared to the front? Is it the electronic parking brake?

An hours time doesn't sound bad to replace the front rotors and pads. Any chance you have a write up? I'm due for front brakes soon.

Lastly, does any one know, do we always have to replace the brake pad sensor with every brake job? Thanks!

Last edited by ja4an; 09-16-2018 at 02:53 AM.. Reason: typo...it's late
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      09-16-2018, 05:21 AM   #20
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Surprised your front brakes gave in first and so early. Unless you were on the second set of rears already.
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      09-17-2018, 03:59 PM   #21
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If there's no coating then the rotors will most likely rust and deteriorate. OE coated Zimmermann
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      10-16-2018, 09:42 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ja4an View Post
Thanks for all the photos! Huge n00b to BMW's, do you mind me asking why the rears took so long compared to the front? Is it the electronic parking brake?

An hours time doesn't sound bad to replace the front rotors and pads. Any chance you have a write up? I'm due for front brakes soon.

Lastly, does any one know, do we always have to replace the brake pad sensor with every brake job? Thanks!
Just saw this, certainly it was the electronic parking brake aspect...and my first time. Also, I cleaned off a ton of rust on the rear wheel bearings and treated the metal...

3 months on...all looks as new...Happy with Brembo so far.
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