So my JCW is now complaining that it's brakes need to be replaced in 800 miles. I was told that if I wait too long it will start to eat the wear sensor, does that start to happen when it hits "0" miles on the warning?
I'm pricing out pads and rotors and need to know if I need to budget for sensors as well.

 

Typically, the car will not trigger the brake replacement indicator until the wear sensor has been worn down. I would take a peak down there and perform a visual to see how much pad you actually have left. My F60 JCW had very little pad left, and my wear sensor hadn’t even been triggered yet.

 

I'll take a look next time the car is out, with the rain in CA here its been tucked in since the week before Christmas.

Also to clarify, its an amber warning saying the brakes will need to be serviced soon. NOT that they need attention.

 

The amber warning usually means the sensor has worn to trigger, then the computer figures you have so many miles left before they need to be replaced.

 

personally i have completely deactivate this sensor , removed and tie wrapped to the strut , no point for me as i always change the pads earlier than the sensor warning indication which is apparently very close to the limit .

 

Defeats the whole purpose of the wear sensor, no?

 

sensors are cheap. Throw it in your basket at check out!

 

Yes totally that was i'm telling you, if you monitoring the maintenance of your car by yourself like me, there is no meaning of brake sensor ,
personally i do visual inspection of the brake pads very often , and replace them way before the sensor trigger! this is called proactive maintenance
so there is no need for me , it's a bit strange sometimes needs deactivation through obd , at least at my clubman s f54 , at my f60 nothing just disconnected and tie wrapped at the strut , and no faults at the ecu at all .

apparently just for info ,only one time at my life i left the brake pads until the sensor trigger , and it was a dreadful noise and very bad brake performance .
so what i suggest at least for the JCW owners or those who drive the F60 and push the car on limits ,do not trust the sensors , change the brake pads before that , for your safety .

only when i sell the car i revert everything back to normal set up, cause maybe the next owner do not have a f@ckin clue about cars

 

Man at least for mine, you're underselling the "worn to trigger". I finally pulled the brakes off and that sensor was mangled.

 

They're so cheap, which begs the question as to why we're discussing this LOL.

 

My daughter ran over something and it tore the cable on one side. So I looped it together and called it done, move on. Not going to tear down brakes (they didn't need to be done because we monitor them visually) for that. I still have the other side in the front working.

 

only one side is the monitoring cable mate , if you talk about the same axle . yes i'm doing the same visually check of the brake pads its very easy

 

One advantage to keeping the wear sensor is if there is an issue with your caliper or brake system, the sensor will trip and tell you to check it out before deep damage might occur.

 

I'm trying to remember how it all works there. The driver side front is the one I bypassed. I thought both fronts had monitors and would be tied in series so either one wore you get the signal? I only bypassed the driver side.

 

Brake sensors are only on the drivers side front and passenger side rear

 

Thank you for confirming and clarifying that.