Hello!
I'm the proud owner of a Z4M Coupe. The car has been originally sold in France for his first owner, and my dad bought it in 2016 at around 50 000kms. My dad passed away in 2021 and I managed to keep his car even if he was in financial trouble at the end of his life, that's basically all that's left of him to me, and it costed me some money haha (had to sell my E34 M5 3.6).
I managed to get the car back in summer 2023 at 98 000kms where it didn't run for like 2-3 years. I did all fluids to the car, and last year I did some bodywork needed and the famous rod bearings by a shop.
Just a headsup: I'm someone we could call "oversensitive" and the equivalent of "hypochondriac" but with cars. Any noise or thingy that doesn't sound "normal" makes me sweat and wonder what's wrong with the car.
A few months ago I went to the Nürburgring for the first time and found the brakes pretty bad. They didn't last a single lap and even when letting them cool down before goind to a next one, they felt like a s**t. I KNOW for a fact that the stock brakes are bad but didn't expect THAT MUCH. It was at the point that my brake fluid boiled and air got in into the system. There was definitely some pumping needed when I got back so I decided to not touch the car until I bled the brakes properly.
One month ago, I went to my usual mechanic to have the brakes bled with swapping the brake hoses with Goodridge solid ones. To my surprise, there was already some kind of noname performance solid brake hoses but they seemed at least 10 years old so I figured out to replace them anyway. We then bled the brakes with RBF600 and using the BMW procedure for the ABS module with ISTA-D. Lots of air bubbles came out. After that the braking feel was much better (no more pumping) BUT still unsatisfactory. I mean that the pedal still felt soft, with a slight "almost no brake" travel before really bitting.
I then went on a shop that I KNOW is trustworthy, they do motorsports and are specialized on BMW and M vehicles to do a new brake bleeding procedure, again with ABS pump etc. They told there was almost no air in the system when they bled the brakes but... still the same for me. There's still this kind of "soft" feel and pedal travel that are not okay for me. I drive a 415 000kms E46 as a daily driver with regular brake fluid that hasn't been changed in 2 years and the pedal feels WAY BETTER.
I've read on this forum, and many other forums that the brake feel on the Z4M is s**t, but I don't remember it being THAT bad when I first got the car. Or maybe it's just me that never really noticed it in the past and now that I'm used to drive the car fast, it's bothering me... I don't really know.
I don't want really want to go into expensive parts replacement without a proper explanation of what can cause this... I'm okay with replacing the brakes for 4 pistons etc but I wont to make sur it will get rid of this brake feel first.
My second point is that I've noticed that sometimes (it's intermittent), when driving very slow corner or just parking, the direction is noisy, like some kind of whining. It's never the case cold, and SOMETIMES when the car is hot. It's very subtle but can't find the cause...
Sorry for my long message, hope you enjoy reading
I'm the proud owner of a Z4M Coupe. The car has been originally sold in France for his first owner, and my dad bought it in 2016 at around 50 000kms. My dad passed away in 2021 and I managed to keep his car even if he was in financial trouble at the end of his life, that's basically all that's left of him to me, and it costed me some money haha (had to sell my E34 M5 3.6).
I managed to get the car back in summer 2023 at 98 000kms where it didn't run for like 2-3 years. I did all fluids to the car, and last year I did some bodywork needed and the famous rod bearings by a shop.
Just a headsup: I'm someone we could call "oversensitive" and the equivalent of "hypochondriac" but with cars. Any noise or thingy that doesn't sound "normal" makes me sweat and wonder what's wrong with the car.
A few months ago I went to the Nürburgring for the first time and found the brakes pretty bad. They didn't last a single lap and even when letting them cool down before goind to a next one, they felt like a s**t. I KNOW for a fact that the stock brakes are bad but didn't expect THAT MUCH. It was at the point that my brake fluid boiled and air got in into the system. There was definitely some pumping needed when I got back so I decided to not touch the car until I bled the brakes properly.
One month ago, I went to my usual mechanic to have the brakes bled with swapping the brake hoses with Goodridge solid ones. To my surprise, there was already some kind of noname performance solid brake hoses but they seemed at least 10 years old so I figured out to replace them anyway. We then bled the brakes with RBF600 and using the BMW procedure for the ABS module with ISTA-D. Lots of air bubbles came out. After that the braking feel was much better (no more pumping) BUT still unsatisfactory. I mean that the pedal still felt soft, with a slight "almost no brake" travel before really bitting.
I then went on a shop that I KNOW is trustworthy, they do motorsports and are specialized on BMW and M vehicles to do a new brake bleeding procedure, again with ABS pump etc. They told there was almost no air in the system when they bled the brakes but... still the same for me. There's still this kind of "soft" feel and pedal travel that are not okay for me. I drive a 415 000kms E46 as a daily driver with regular brake fluid that hasn't been changed in 2 years and the pedal feels WAY BETTER.
I've read on this forum, and many other forums that the brake feel on the Z4M is s**t, but I don't remember it being THAT bad when I first got the car. Or maybe it's just me that never really noticed it in the past and now that I'm used to drive the car fast, it's bothering me... I don't really know.
I don't want really want to go into expensive parts replacement without a proper explanation of what can cause this... I'm okay with replacing the brakes for 4 pistons etc but I wont to make sur it will get rid of this brake feel first.
My second point is that I've noticed that sometimes (it's intermittent), when driving very slow corner or just parking, the direction is noisy, like some kind of whining. It's never the case cold, and SOMETIMES when the car is hot. It's very subtle but can't find the cause...
Sorry for my long message, hope you enjoy reading
North West Surrey
Attleborough, Norfolk
