So I went to the dealer today and got new tires. Mainly because the guy accidentally told me a really low price for all 4, and once there, I went ahead with it. While there, they gave me a quote for rear brake pads, which they say I will need soon. $281 for just the rear pads......what??? Of course I first think no way I'm going to pay someone $281 for something where the hardest part is taking the wheel off. But, the quote includes a "brake pad wear sensor", what is that? So I find this in an online manual about doing the brake pads:

Necessary preliminary tasks:

• Remove wheels.
• Remove brake pad wear sensor.

And in the section about removing the sensor, it says:
Attention!The brake pad wear sensor must be replaced once it has been removed (brake pad wear sensor loses its retention capability in the brake pad).

If a brake pad wear sensor that has already been ground has to be replaced even though the minimum brake pad thickness has not yet been reached, you must observe the following: The new sliding contact must be filed down with a file to the same length as the sanded sliding contact.

When renewing the brake pad wear sensor, a CBS reset needs to be carried out.

If a brake pad wear sensor was renewed without renewing the brake pads, the following needs to be paid attention to:

• Carry out service function "CBS correction reset" via BMW diagnosis and information system.

Seriously?? I can't just change the freakin pads? I searched the forum and don't see anyone else talking about the sensor, not even a recent post where a guy changed his rear pads. Can anyone shed light on the subject??

 

I haven't had to change pads yet on mine,but what you just described would frustrate the crap out of me as well. I hope the answer isn't so complex. I'll be following this thread. Good luck.

 

Hey Warren, I found this on the Autozone website, which is encouraging:
https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-..._665861_0_3087

$14 for the sensor, and it says "Wear sensor must be changed in order to clear brake pad wear warning light/lamp/indicator."

Instructions for replacing the pads and sensor can be found here, for my 2016 F55: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...kes/1VnXtihcMI

 

The heat generated by the brake pad causes the plastic brake wear sensor to become brittle. While it is possible to remove the sensor without destroying it, it would probably break when it was reinstalled on the new pad. The time consuming part of replacing the sensor is removing the wheel well shield to get to the plug and then reinstalling it.

 

Thanks Toolman, I've saved the newtis instructions!

 

If you happen to replace the brake pads before the sensor terminals began grounding on the rotors, then you CAN absolutely reuse the same sensor; I've done this several times over and over on all my BMW's and Mini's. Once the pads are replaced, just go to the service interval reset and reset it, it'll default the next interval to the maximum allowed days left.

If the sensor terminals have started grounding on the rotors, then you'll likely have to use new sensor because after the interval reset, it'll account for this grounding and shorten the service interval period and even possibly warning you that you need new brake pads with an annoying warning (though brake pads being new, the sensor doesn't know).

I'm old school, so I've always been able to "feel" the brake pad wear and when they need replacement. Therefore, if I don't want that sensor telling me what to do, I'd sometimes just go to the sensor, cut it, then tie the two ends together and tuck it away. The car computer will never come bothering me again.

 

All very good information, thank you so much, Yupetc!

 

Old post - however an old trick, cut old senor off, expose bare wires, twist together, done. Reset and move on.

however, be aware, no more sensor so You will need to keep teack of miles..

Most all crs in the day never had these sensors, just sayin😉