Replacing brake pads and discs

RustY / Mike,

Thanks for the info. I am not confirtable with doing the work myself.
I'll try my local paper for a mechanic and then buy the parts.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

"Newsposter" wrote in message

Hi,

I an in the UK and I have a 1999 316i (E46) with 42,000 miles on the
clock. I have been told that I need to replace brake pads and discs
front and rear. Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
millage?. The cheapest quote I've had is about £390 (dealer price
about £500). Is this reasonable?.

A few months ago I replaced the rear discs, pads and h/brake shoes on a 528i
E39. Total cost of parts just over £100 from :-
http://www.brakeparts.co.uk/
Front discs and pads would have been well under £100.
A quick check shows that prices would be similar for your car.
You could either fit them yourself. Not a difficult job. Or having bought
them, have them fitted by an independant garage or mechanic.
Either way should cost you considerably less than £390.
Mike.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

It seems odd that you would need both front and rear brakes after only 42000
miles (which works out to about 70 km, does it not?) In any case, the proper
ratio is typically two sets of front brake pads to a set of rear brake pads.
Rotors typicallly last me for two sets of pads. So, at 42k miles, you should
need front pads only. Then at 85k-ish miles you will need front pads and
rotors and rear pads. then at 130k-ish miles you will need front pads again,
then at 170k-ish you should be prepared for front and rear pads and rotors.

Of course, all of this has lots of room for variables, but since you have
managed to only go 45k miles in 9 years, slightly under 9k miles per year,
my guess is that the variables are not going to come into play.

Discs and rotors are the same thing, by the way. I'm, frankly, a bit shocked
that you need front brakes at this point, and I'd be very surprised to find
that you need rear brakes. The front pads being worn out is probably okay,
but I think I get more miles on mine than that. Having said that, brake wear
is a function of stopping, and I drive many miles on the freeway withoug
touching the brake pedal, so my mileage is going to be better than yours. My
guess is that you drive around town almost exclusively, so you would use
your brakes more than I use mine. Your speeds would be lower, but your brake
application would be more frequent. In any case, you should not be needing
rear pads at this point, and certainly not rear rotors. You could need front
brakes, but I'd expect the front rotors to still have another 40k+ miles of
service left in them.

Having said all of that, you can estimate the price of rotors to be $50
each, and pads at $50 per axle set. Those prices are USD, and the actual
prices will vary a bit from there, but not too much. (I bought a complete
set of pads and rotors for my car on eBay for under $200, but then had to
pay another $40 for machine work to make them true and straight.)



"Newsposter" wrote in message

Hi,

I an in the UK and I have a 1999 316i (E46) with 42,000 miles on the
clock. I have been told that I need to replace brake pads and discs
front and rear. Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
millage?. The cheapest quote I've had is about £390 (dealer price
about £500). Is this reasonable?.

Thanks for any info.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

In article ,
Newsposter wrote:
> I an in the UK and I have a 1999 316i (E46) with 42,000 miles on the
> clock. I have been told that I need to replace brake pads and discs
> front and rear. Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
> millage?. The cheapest quote I've had is about £390 (dealer price
> about £500). Is this reasonable?.

That would normally be the second set of front pads, first set of rears
and just front discs only at that mileage. But it depends very much on how
the car is driven.

A complete set of ATE discs, pads and wear sensors would cost approx 200
quid from Eurocarparts, and it's an easy morning's work to fit them. So
390 from an independant seems a bit high to me. Dealers can charge over
100 quid an hour labour.

--
*I took an IQ test and the results were negative.

Dave Plowman dave RemoveThis @davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:02:17 -0000, Newsposter wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I an in the UK and I have a 1999 316i (E46) with 42,000 miles on the
>clock. I have been told that I need to replace brake pads and discs
>front and rear. Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
>millage?. The cheapest quote I've had is about £390 (dealer price
>about £500). Is this reasonable?.
>
>Thanks for any info.
Go to Euro Car Parts and get the discs at 50% of manufactures price and the pads
at 60+% of dealers price.

Go buy an impact screwdriver and a 7mm hex or Allen wrench to fit your 3/8 drive
socket set. and ask a mate round for a beer and DIY.

--

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen
hsg.DeleteThis@h-gee.co.uk
Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

"Newsposter" wrote
> Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
millage?

Sure. It all depends on your driving habits.

Change the brake fluid while you're at it if it has been at least 2
years since your last brake fluid change.

Pete
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

Jeff,

Thanks very much for that. I got the feeling that it was too early to
change the discs (rotors). I was told by a local garage that front
discs are completely worn out and the rear discs can be left for a few
more months. Since I was getting the pads replaced, they said I should
get the rear discs changed as well. I think I'll take the car to
another garage for a second opinion.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

Dave,
Thanks for that. I got a price from Europarts and it came to about
£230. So it looks like the garage is charging about £150 to fit them,

BTW, my warning lights haven't come on yet. Should I wait for the
warning light before replacing pads/discs?. I was told at my last MoT
(about 2 weeks ago) that the brakes were running low.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

On Sep 11, 5:01 am, "Pete" wrote:
> "Newsposter" wrote> Is this usal for an 8 year old car given the low
>
> millage?
>
> Sure. It all depends on your driving habits.
>
> Change the brake fluid while you're at it if it has been at least 2
> years since your last brake fluid change.
>
> Pete

Good idea to change the brake fluid. I think it was last changed a
couple of years ago.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

On Sep 11, 10:16 am, Newsposter wrote:
> Jeff,
>
> Thanks very much for that. I got the feeling that it was too early to
> change the discs (rotors). I was told by a local garage that front
> discs are completely worn out and the rear discs can be left for a few
> more months. Since I was getting the pads replaced, they said I should
> get the rear discs changed as well. I think I'll take the car to
> another garage for a second opinion.

Garages need to make money and will often suggest brake replacement
before it's really needed, but then again it might save you taking the
car back in again in a few months - it depends how you drive and what
your attitude is to repairs.

I had a set last over 100k miles on my 325i but the ones on my M3 need
replacing after about 12k.

If the fronts were "excessively worn" then they should have failed the
MoT. Brakes aren't made by the manufacturer of the car, and as others
have said it'll be about £200 for the parts. Anyone with brake
experience (and some without) can fit them and for a pro it should
take maybe an hour to do the whole lot, maybe a bit more if the the
handbrake needs adjusting etc.

In my experience BMW take the p!ss on a) their labour charge, b) the
time they say it takes to do the job which effectively increases the
labour charge even more and c) pretty much any other way they can.
Their parts charges often actually aren't too bad and I used to buy my
discs from them because they were much better quality to anything else
I had seen.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

On Sep 11, 2:49 pm, Fred W wrote:
> Newsposter wrote:
> > Dave,
> > Thanks for that. I got a price from Europarts and it came to about
> > £230. So it looks like the garage is charging about £150 to fit them,
>
> Not really. Shops don't have to pay as much as we do for parts because
> they are volume customers of the parts sellers. Remember, they are
> making money on selling you the parts as well as on the labor to install
> them.
>
>
>
> > BTW, my warning lights haven't come on yet. Should I wait for the
> > warning light before replacing pads/discs?. I was told at my last MoT
> > (about 2 weeks ago) that the brakes were running low.
>
> I wouldn't personally wait until the sensor fails for 2 reasons.
>
> 1) I don't like to go that far with my brakes for safety reasons.
>
> 2) If you wait until the warning light goes off, you will have to
> replace the sensors. OTOH, if you don't wait that long, the old sensors
> can be refitted to the new pads saving a few bucks.
>
> Pull off your wheels and eye-ball / measure your pad thicknesses
> yourself. Why trust the MOT guy? Don't you suppose he might want to do
> your brake job?
>
> --
> -Fred W

Fred,
Thanks for that. I was told you had to replace the sensors every time
you replace the pads or discs (may be they are trying to make few more
Pounds out of me!).
I am going to take the car to another garage on Saturday. If they say
I need pads and/or discs, I'll get it done. I only do about 5 miles/
day during the weekdays so I guess waiting until Saturday won't be too
bad.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

On Sep 11, 1:14 pm, adder1969 wrote:
> On Sep 11, 10:16 am, Newsposter wrote:
>
> > Jeff,
>
> > Thanks very much for that. I got the feeling that it was too early to
> > change the discs (rotors). I was told by a local garage that front
> > discs are completely worn out and the rear discs can be left for a few
> > more months. Since I was getting the pads replaced, they said I should
> > get the rear discs changed as well. I think I'll take the car to
> > another garage for a second opinion.
>
> Garages need to make money and will often suggest brake replacement
> before it's really needed, but then again it might save you taking the
> car back in again in a few months - it depends how you drive and what
> your attitude is to repairs.
>
> I had a set last over 100k miles on my 325i but the ones on my M3 need
> replacing after about 12k.
>
> If the fronts were "excessively worn" then they should have failed the
> MoT. Brakes aren't made by the manufacturer of the car, and as others
> have said it'll be about £200 for the parts. Anyone with brake
> experience (and some without) can fit them and for a pro it should
> take maybe an hour to do the whole lot, maybe a bit more if the the
> handbrake needs adjusting etc.
>
> In my experience BMW take the p!ss on a) their labour charge, b) the
> time they say it takes to do the job which effectively increases the
> labour charge even more and c) pretty much any other way they can.
> Their parts charges often actually aren't too bad and I used to buy my
> discs from them because they were much better quality to anything else
> I had seen.

I agree with the point about BMW dealer prices. One of them quoted
over £600 to repalce the pads and the discs.
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs 

Newsposter wrote:
> Dave,
> Thanks for that. I got a price from Europarts and it came to about
> £230. So it looks like the garage is charging about £150 to fit them,

Not really. Shops don't have to pay as much as we do for parts because
they are volume customers of the parts sellers. Remember, they are
making money on selling you the parts as well as on the labor to install
them.

>
> BTW, my warning lights haven't come on yet. Should I wait for the
> warning light before replacing pads/discs?. I was told at my last MoT
> (about 2 weeks ago) that the brakes were running low.
>

I wouldn't personally wait until the sensor fails for 2 reasons.

1) I don't like to go that far with my brakes for safety reasons.

2) If you wait until the warning light goes off, you will have to
replace the sensors. OTOH, if you don't wait that long, the old sensors
can be refitted to the new pads saving a few bucks.

Pull off your wheels and eye-ball / measure your pad thicknesses
yourself. Why trust the MOT guy? Don't you suppose he might want to do
your brake job?


--
-Fred W
 >> Stay informed about: Replacing brake pads and discs