The rear inboard pads on my 05 have three small wire spring 'thingies' on the backing plate. I've never seen anything like that before. Does the caliper face bear down on these? Or is one somehow supposed to hold all three of these back during the install so that they bear on the side of the piston? I think not since it seems like they'd get into the caliper boot, but you know what they say about assuming.

I'm wondering if pre 05's have these since I don't see them mentioned in threads like this one.

Help!

Edit: Found a reference to these on Randy Webb's write up. He mentions these hold the pad to the piston. So I guess I need to take it apart again tonight and try to figure out how the heck one does this... With the piston retracted I don't see how these clips can be 'mounted' to the caliper without endangering the boot. Anyone know if aftermarket pads have these clips too? I'm about to order some Hawk Ceramics...

URL http://store.webbmotorsports.com/for...wtopic.php?t=5

 

If they're like other BMW pads, the three prongs go inside the piston and prevent the pad from rattling.

 

Awesome write-up! Thanks.. will come in handy someday...

 

Nope, thanks but that's the fronts. Those I've seen on other cars and work as you describe. The backs have three small wire springs that grip the outside of the piston. I'll do some pics when I dive back in. I just ordered Ceramic pads from Tirerack and will take some pics when they arrive.

 

I went through the same thing when I installed my HPS pads. Unencumbered by the thought process (or looking at my shop manual) I didn't really consider the springs at first. Later, I removed the calipers again and managed to use a small screwdriver to push the springs into the grooves in the rear pistons. It seemed to work fine, but I'd be interested in the "correct" installation technique myself.

 

These are the 3 prongs on the front pad


Are you talking about these wires on the rear pad?




Judging by the imprint of the piston, it appears MAYBE the top spring needs to be attached to the groove of the piston. I actually didn't do anything special, but come to think of, this maybe the cause of some premature wearing I'm having on the inside rear pad.

Richard

 

Are you talking about these wires on the rear pad?




Yup, that's the buggers I mean. Perhap if one doesn't run the piston back in quite so far... I just ordered the Haynes book and I'll see if that lends any insight. I tired taking the wheel of the other side and looking with a flashlight but it was hard to see what was there from the edge.

 

Yeah for some reason I forgot to include these in the article.

You can tell from this picture where the spring clips would fit around the piston.

 

OK, I ran the piston back too far then... 'Cause the boot was flush with the piston hence I didn't see the ring. Thanks

 

You're welcome. I learned something new as well.

 

Yep, Octane Guy's photo is perfect. You can see that the springs actually slant in the proper direction to fit over the lip on the piston. The long spring seemed to go right into place. It was the smaller ones that needed a little persuasion, but they went into position fairly easily. Thanks for all the added info, guys!

 

Thanks for the writeup, but after fighting with my rear brakes for days, I'm giving up. Here are my mistakes/problems/points:

-The HF brake tool: After struggling with it for hours I finally realized that it requires leverage- it doesn't work with one hand. So I used my two feet to hold the caliper up, attached a wrench to the nut, and turned the T with two hands.

-I had opened the bleeder in an attempt to compress the piston (before I figured out the tool). Unless you plan on bleeding the entire system, this is a bad idea. I ended up with a squashy pedal. Would've been better to open up the reservoir and have someone siphon out the excess fluid.

-When bleeding the brakes, have someone other than your teenage daughter pump the pedal.

-Know what you're doing when bleeding the brakes. I still have a squashy pedal and it looks like I'm gonna have to take it in to a shop.

Erik

 

Great writeup, Richard. Thank you!

 

ELink: Try it with a Motive pressure bleeder. It makes bleeding the brakes a 1 person operation... very little stress... very easy to do.

I wrote a 'how-to' for our local club. The club owns one of these (though they can be purchased for $50-60 online) and lends it out to members.

http://www.metroplexmini.org/forum/s...essure+bleeder


Also, use the HF brake tool without any adaptors. Fit the 2 pins into the holes on the piston and then back out the threaded shaft on the tool so it holds itself snugly in the caliper. Turn the tool 1/3 of a revolution to compress the piston and then re-snug the shaft 1/3 turn to keep the pins engaged. Repeat.

 

Update:
My mechanic charged $50 to bleed the brakes. It works fine now.
Next time however, I will look into that pressure bleeder.

So after all, I ended up spending about $200. Still cheaper than $500+ the dealer wants to charge.

E

 

Just another suggestion for those that don't want to use the harbor freight tool to push in the pistons. Its a great package which I plan on ordering, but I just replaced my brake pads using one of these.

Costs only $8 from an auto parts store and works fine.

 

So, I did my rear pads this morning. And now my parking brake / e-brake light will not go off. The parking brake works - it stops the car when engaged and releases completely - but the light stays on. :( And my DSC light comes on solid after driving a couple of miles. I've cycled the e-brake a dozen times or so, and the light is still on.

One thing I noticed is that when putting the passenger's side caliper back on, the brake lines were pulling the calper a bit. I'd set the caliper in place, and the top of the caliper would pull away from where I'd set it.

Tomorrow, I'm going to pull the calipers back off again and see if possibly there's a line that's bound up a bit. I'm assuming that while the brake line is hydraulic, the e-brake is a mechanical affair which actually could bind.

I have no idea why the DSC light comes on after a few miles. It turns off when I turn the car off, stays off when I start the car up, and after driving 2 miles or so it comes back on.

Anybody have any brilliant advice? I've gotten fairly proficient at changing front pads, but this was my first time doing the rear pads - I ended up using the C-clamp method to get the piston retracted as I couldn't get enough "push" on the piston while turning it with a pair of needle nose pliers (it would spin but not retract).

 

I deserve an "RTFM" for the handbrake light issue. The manual says "if the light stays on with the handbrake released, check the brake fluid level". I had removed some brake fluid from the master cylinder before compressing the pistons (so I wouldn't push brake fluid over the top of the MC). When I was done, the fluid level was above the MIN mark, so I left it alone. But I guess the MIN mark doesn't make the light happy.

I added some brake fluid, and now the handbrake light goes off.

Time to see if it magically fixed my DSC light also.

 

DSC light is now normal too. Yay! My dash no longer resembles a Christmas tree. :D

 

Bump for this to be added to the How-to Sticky in Preformance mods so I don't have to keep searching Octane Guy's list of created threads.

 

Hi all.

I have just finished my job. It was a Bugger! But I will probably try it again.

The Rear Left Piston was stiff to push back, with a little persuasion we finaly managed it, I managed to slide the inner pad onto the piston, the side clips pushed the rubber boot out of the way as they went on, I made sure the front clip did not pinch the rubber boot as is went into place.

The Rear Right caliper did not want to come of with any amount of wiggling. In the end I had to use a block of soft wood and a hammer to knock it of. The wood was placed against the back of the old pad and not the rotor!

The Rear Right piston would only go in a few turns, It would rotate fairly freely but would not accept any amount of inward force once the 'nut' on the harbour freight tool was tightend.

In the end I had to release the bleeder valve, fortunatly I had some tubing and a pal so I gould go and get some dot 4 break fluid.
Once the tube was on the bleeder valve I opened it up and could pust the piston in, expelling break fluid as I went.

After re-assembling the breaks as above I reopend the bleeder valve and continued with flushing the break system.

I did not intend to do a break flush today but there ya go it's done now. The whole thing took propbably about 3 1/2 working hours, not including trips to get break fluid.

I could not belive it was the hydraulic system holding the piston out but it appears that it was. I think I will just make sure I am prepared to bleed any breaks as well as change the pads next time.

P.

 

Hmm I was having similar difficulty getting any real compression of the pistion until I remember on my previous car hoiw much easier life was with the resivoir cap opened. Saved my having to bleed he system and I didn't even spill any fluid. Just a tought for next time or the next person maybe save a little work. But I usually need to bleed the lines anyways cause I have a habit of coooking up the DOT 4 (3 times a season on DOT 4 is still cheaper than once with DOT 5 but yes I probably will upgrade before too long).

 

What are torque settings for bolts which hold on

front calipers

rear calipers

thanks

BTW,
I recently did my brakes. No problem at all removing Torx bold, but I had periodically sprayed PB Blaster on them when I had the wheels off so they never rusted on.
I put rear pad which has springy wires that hold it onto the piston, on the piston before bolting the caliper onto the car. It was pretty easy that way.

I ordered, and received, "speedbleeders"

http://speedbleeder.com/size.htm

Correct size is SB1010S 4@$7.00

Plus silicone hose for $3.00

They promise to greatly simplify bleeding brakes. I haven't tried them yet. Am gonna get the stainess brakelines and put them on all together.

 

According to my newly received Father's Day gift of the Bently Service Manual, page 340-20, brake pad carrier torque values are 110 Nm / 81 Ft-lb front, 65 Nm / 48 Ft-lb rear and caliper to brake pad carrier (7mm Allen) is 25-30 Nm / 18-22 Ft-lb. Hope this helps as I'm waiting for my Green Stuff pads to come in for me to tackle both front and rear.

Cheers!!

 

“Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make proud.” Read that somewhere and should've remembered it.

I’d replaced pads on disks and drums before and wasn’t ready to pay the Netherland BMW folks ~$300 for front and rear service. Surely, I could do this job with the correct tools, of course, and I already had the EBC reds replacement pads. So, after waiting for ~35 days for the Harbor Freight caliper tool for disk brakes kit to get into my APO, I buy the front and rear wear sensors from the local BMW shop. Brake wear light had been on for ~500 miles but no wear noise/squeaking until two weeks ago. I’d studied up extensively from Bentlys, Haynes, and here in order to be prepared. The photos in this thread were very helpful except that I had to replace my wear sensor indicators, which were the only real problems I had during the whole job. Unfortunately, neither Bentlys nor Haynes even describe the process for the wear sensor. Easily 60% of my time was spent dealing with the sensors alone. Otherwise, my time was eaten up dealing with an inadequate floor jack and ensuring I didn’t loose too much brake fluid. Typically, when I lift Maggie, my Mini, I lift a side and had not lifted ends before. Just figuring that out with the garbage jack and stands I had cost me time. The next hardest procedure was in ensuring that I did not damage the rubber caliper boots whilst recompressing them. Starting with the right front, removal was just as per the write up in the thread, except that I really had to prise the sensor out of the pads before I could fully remove the pads. Since I was replacing them anyways, I was none too gentle, however, I wanted to be careful to not damage the ABS sensor line which lays alongside the wear sensor line. Tracing the line up behind the splash guard, I was too lazy to remove it and was able to reach in behind it to switch ends. Getting to the rears, I had to fight getting the old sensor off because, unlike the front, there were zip ties, a weird chassis clip and a buried mount on the chassis for the connector. The cable runs from the back of the caliper, behind the strut and up to the frame rail above the splash guard. A little more laziness and fear of really screwing up, I did not take the bottom side molding off. I don’t know if the job would’ve gone faster doing so but I won’t the next time I replace the pads, now that I (kinda/sorta) know what I’m doing. Since the connector is way up under the rail and behind the ABS connector, I spent about 15 minutes doing some serious hand origami getting that connector to release. Once it was off, the new one clicked in OK and both sides were easy, per the thread notes.

All in all, not too bad. I’ve learned that I need a better floor jack but am more than ready to do this job again. Also, now that the job is done, I've found several threads by OctaneGuy that cover front and rear wear sensors. Sheesh! If I’d’a known that! Hope this helps the next guy.

Cheers!!