Hello,.

I started looking at my rear brakes tonight. There's no wear sensor there at all, I guess that's why the brake pad light never came on. I was thinking about putting one on it. Does anyone have a suggested routing for it? Where is the connector that it plugs into?

According to my Haynes manual, the rear caliper bolts go to 22 lb*ft and shouldn't be reused. I've never seen anybody mention this before. What does BMW say about that?

Also, the Haynes manual makes a big deal about clamping the lines and opening the bleeder screw when retracting the pads to prevent gunk in the caliper's brake fluid from damaging the ABS unit. Where is the ABS unit located? I assume somewhere under the hood.

-Eric

 

We reuse the bolts all the time no issues if you make em tight.

Also no need to crimp the line or open the bleeder screw. Just use the tool and slowly compress it and make sure you don't tare the boot.

 

I suspect BMW say that because they supply one new bolt with each pair of pads and it already has a band of threadlock around it - so I think it isn't the bolt that's a one-use item but the threadlock band.

And BMW supply only one bolt as their method is to only undo the bottom bolt and then rotate the caliper around the top bolt.

 

Angib is correct. One bolt per side for front pads. Two bolts per side for rear pads. The thread lock is "one time use". If it were detrimental to the vehicle ALL cars would have thread lock on they're caliper bolts

 

I'm surprised that no light came on if the sensor was missing. MINI/BMW only use one sensor per axle, so are you sure it wasn't on one side? If it is on one and hasn't tripped, you're in luck and can probably re-use it. If not, then I'd have a call in to MINI for the missing part.

 

PO does not mention what year

02 had no sensors 4 brake wear ... they came later

if the car DID come with sensors, a missing sensor would result in the wear light being on and you could not reset it - the open circuit causes the warning

possibly, if the car is 03 or later, and there are no sensors on the lf and rr, they may have been jumpered out; that is the sensor end cut off and the wire ends spliced together to fool the system. I did this, the sensors do nothing for me - I visually check my pads monthly. Look for the sensor line to be zip-tied somewhere back towards or behind the wheel well liner

 

I don't know if we're talking about a gen 1 or gen 2 car here, but aren't the brake wear sensors different between the two? Not just in appearance, but also function?

When we change pads on club members cars, I try to get them to flush the brake fluid at the same time. We use a pressure bleeder, so the ABS unit sees the fresh fluid first and the old stuff is washed out thru the caliper bleeders. For the cost of a can of fluid and a few minutes time it's a good preventative.....we also open the bleed screws as we push the pistons back in, so the old fluid doesn't back flush. I'm not worried about contamination, but it makes it easier not pushing fluid all the way back to the master cylinder.

The brake wear sensors go on the left front and right rear only.

I reuse the caliper bolts too, just be sure to tighten them properly.

 

I also had the same questions about the bolts! When you re-use the bolts - do you all use a drop of blue or just **** them nakid down to spec?

 

Just did the brakes on an '05. No need to remove the caliper bracket to get the rotor off.

 

I don't know if we're talking about a gen 1 or gen 2 car here, but aren't the brake wear sensors different between the two? Not just in appearance, but also function?

The GEN2 supposedly has the two stage functionality that gives you an early warning then the change 'em now version (altho dissecting a GEN2 sensor I don't see evidence of such magic circuitry) and the process for resetting things is different. But you can most certainly jump both systems .... I've done it on both GENs.

 

I have no idea, Capt, but it would be easy enough to have stepped resistance values.

 

Thanks Captn for the tip about cutting off the Brake Wear Sensor... Just finished my brake job and I cut/soldered the sensor ends togther and used heat shrink tubing - left them in the caliper mount bleed clip where it is easy to see just to **** off any mechanics that might want to sell me one!

 

glad to be of help

you asked about lok-tite too .... I never have used it and have not had a problem. But I don't track the car either .... just street drivin'