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      08-13-2023, 03:55 PM   #1
Stevex3
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Smile Replace Front/Rear Brakes on X3 - Wear Sensors

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Hello Experts,

I did my very first brake job on my 2018 X3 and was not sure if I should replace the Wear Sensors. From what I read on the forum boards the heat and dust could make them unusable. So I did buy factory original BMW Pads and Sensors. I have attached photos of the old pads and the new Pads from before installation.

Note:
BMW did NOT give me 4 new clips for the rear pads? I thought this was a mistake but the Parts counter said no, BMW said to reuse the best two of the old clips. I thought that was strange but I used a Wire Brush and they came out pretty clean so I did not have an issue. Please see photos for these clips.

Also, I did NOT expect the X3 to have the rear pads as worn out as they were. Although the pictures look like the same pad, what you see is the FRONT Wear Sensor (Very Worn Out, no pad left), and ALSO the REAR Wear Sensor (just a few MM of life left before the wear sensor). Anyway, the Sensors were only ~ $21 each online and I thought since the brakes were being replaced why not replace the sensors also?

Useful TIP #1 - Wear Sensor Front Brakes - Saving the White Clip from Damage: If you are using a new front Wear Sensor, there is a white plastic clip that connects the wear sensor to the brake line. The clip can be easily broken to just disconnect from the brake line and CUT THE WIRE on the Wear Sensor, as you may damage the clip! This way you can just feed the new wear sensor wire thru the white clip without worrying about breaking it! Disregard if you don't have any clip connecting the wear sensor to the brake line.

Useful TIP # 2 - REMOVAL OF REAR ELECTRIC BRAKE MOTOR FROM BRAKE CYLINDER to PREVENT DAMAGE - I am not a professional auto mechanic and I do not own a fancy BMW SCAN TOOL to put the car in BRAKE SERVICE MODE. This will allow you to compress the rear brake cylinders to install the new brake pads. However, if you DON'T have the Scan Tool, there are two bolts on the electric brake motor to remove these from the brake cylinder. Then once removed you can then use a TORX T45 on the exposed brake cylinder and turn the cylinder CLOCKWISE to completely retract the electric screw in the brake cylinder. This will allow you to just use your thumbs to compress the cylinder to completely flush and install over the nice new pads!

I hope the photos and some of this information might be helpful to the next person trying to do their first X3 front/rear pad replacement with sensors. Thanks to everyone on this forum for answering my questions to help me get my brake job completed!


Thanks,

Steve
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      08-13-2023, 05:31 PM   #2
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