Brake fluid and front pads

How old is the car again? As it should have a brake fluid change either at 2 or 3 years on the first one. I think they changed the year of the first one in 2011/2012? To be three years, followed by every 2. You should have an idea of what servicing it has had done and if it's over 3 years old and not had it done then your warranty if bought as a AUC from a BMW dealership will be invalid.

If your going to be tracking the car more often then yes I would suggest that you upgrade the pads and possibly the discs depending on how worn they are and yes upgrade the fluid while you are at it, however the fluid change on these requires some speciality equipment and the pads, if your thinking of doing yourself are also tricky due to the electric handbrake on the rear.
 
Whenever I have changed the pads I only ever do the fronts. The disks on the front look new.

Re specialist equiupment, are you saying this is not a DIY job and is the this because of the ABS system?

Just checked the service record and the fluid was changed in 2011 and 2014, so I may be wasting my time?

Will 1ltr of fluid be enough
 
Well at lest you know the fluid has been changed.

The front pads you will be able to change yourself although if looking to upgrade that pads, especially for track then would probably be best all round. But changing the fluid you probably won't be able to do yourself as, yes they use diagnostics usually to run the ABS pump.
 
petrolhead said:
Whenever I have changed the pads I only ever do the fronts. The disks on the front look new.

Re specialist equiupment, are you saying this is not a DIY job and is the this because of the ABS system?

Just checked the service record and the fluid was changed in 2011 and 2014, so I may be wasting my time?

Will 1ltr of fluid be enough

Take a look at this.

[youtube]8FaerB7OcyA[/youtube]
 
Angie4m said:
Well at lest you know the fluid has been changed.

The front pads you will be able to change yourself although if looking to upgrade that pads, especially for track then would probably be best all round. But changing the fluid you probably won't be able to do yourself as, yes they use diagnostics usually to run the ABS pump.
Is this right? Is not just as simple as every other car where you crack open each bleed nipple and pump some fluid through.
I can understand changing the pads on the rear could cause problems but surely changing fluid should be easy.
 
Nictrix said:
Angie4m said:
Well at lest you know the fluid has been changed.

The front pads you will be able to change yourself although if looking to upgrade that pads, especially for track then would probably be best all round. But changing the fluid you probably won't be able to do yourself as, yes they use diagnostics usually to run the ABS pump.
Is this right? Is not just as simple as every other car where you crack open each bleed nipple and pump some fluid through.
I can understand changing the pads on the rear could cause problems but surely changing fluid should be easy.

This has been the way BMW have done it for a long time now. It's to ensure that all air has been removed from the system by activating the ABS pump. You could try and manually do it but they don't recommend it without using some diagnostics equipment to do it. Oh and they also use a pressure bleeder too.

Incorrect bleeding not only leads to air in the system but the brake fluid is also linked to the DSC which could also be impacted.

You could try bleeding the brakes yourself using the two man method. I'm sure it would work, it's just not recommended
 
Angie4m said:
Nictrix said:
Angie4m said:
Well at lest you know the fluid has been changed.

The front pads you will be able to change yourself although if looking to upgrade that pads, especially for track then would probably be best all round. But changing the fluid you probably won't be able to do yourself as, yes they use diagnostics usually to run the ABS pump.
Is this right? Is not just as simple as every other car where you crack open each bleed nipple and pump some fluid through.
I can understand changing the pads on the rear could cause problems but surely changing fluid should be easy.

This has been the way BMW have done it for a long time now. It's to ensure that all air has been removed from the system by activating the ABS pump. You could try and manually do it but they don't recommend it without using some diagnostics equipment to do it. Oh and they also use a pressure bleeder too.

Incorrect bleeding not only leads to air in the system but the brake fluid is also linked to the DSC which could also be impacted.

You could try bleeding the brakes yourself using the two man method. I'm sure it would work, it's just not recommended
Learn something new every day.
Or BMW do it this way to justify the cost for a fluid change.
 
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