Brake replacement diy

D

daz05

Senior member
 Écosse
I enjoy working on my car and I'm going to attempt to replace the brakes front and rear, disks and pads, anyone got any tips or guides. My warning light hasn't come on yet so I am not going to bother changing the sensor. What tools are recommended, I will get copper grease and cleaner. I've read getting the pad sensor out can be difficult.

I've been watching videos on youtube but any help appreciated.
 
Pad sensor is a piece of piss. Just gently lever it out, there is a wee metal holder around the plastic bit, be careful that doesn't ping off.

Pads are a 30mins job inc a good clean and reassemble. Not done the disks. Always a case of how tight the hub nut is!! Have you got a breaker bar?
 
As alive6 says, pads are easy, tried to change the discs on my E46 and had to give up! The 'calliper carrier' was just too tight, would need a breaker bar and to more room under the car than my jack/axel stands would allow!

From memory you need a set of Allan keys but like sockets for a socket set, I went and bought tools from halfrauds 3 times costing £80 in total through my attempt!

Good luck and let us know how you get on! It's one of those jobs thaats so simple I begrudge paying for it to be done and defo want to succeed next time!
 
Cheers guys, yeah I have a breaker bar. Guess it all depends on the stiffness. I can see it all being seized up knowing my luck!!

Easy option is to chuck it into teh garage but I will get more satisfaction out of doing it myself. I think Beedub removed his old set hopefully he can help re the tools?
 
Where you planning on doing this? At the flat? I'd do the fronts then the back another day tbh!
 
Some excellent guides here: http://m3.madrussian.net/diy.shtml

It's what i used when changing my pads. And really do be careful with the pad sensors as they're very brittle, wrecked two myself..... And among other tools you'll need a 7mm Allen key for the pads, which i found very hard to track down! All kits went from 6mm to 8mm...
 
Aliv6 said:
Pads are a 30mins job inc a good clean and reassemble. Not done the disks. Always a case of how tight the hub nut is!! Have you got a breaker bar?
Click to expand...


Sorry - way off the mark here. Nothing to do with hub nuts and breaker bars - don't touch the hub assembly :thumbsdown:

The caliper is removed and then all you need to do is take the carrier off which has a couple of hefty hex headed bolts. Disc is held on with a small female hex headed countersunk set screw.

The rear is much more difficult as you need to slacken off the handbrake inside the top hat working through one of the disc bolt holes.

Daz05 - before attempting this make sure you have socket based hex set, decent socket set, ring spanners/big sockets, assorted screwdrivers, torch, jack, axle stands, big hammer (disc may be corroded onto hub) pointed nose pliers and you shoudl be OK
 
cj10jeeper said:
The rear is much more difficult as you need to slacken off the handbrake inside the top hat working through one of the disc bolt holes.
Click to expand...
sounds like a bit of a nightmare.. be easier to disconnect it as it barely works anyway.
 
Cheers guys, I have managed to rope a buddy into helping me and he has all the tools available too. So feeling more confident now.

No mention of the hand break thing in those M3 links though, is this a Z4 thing and does it affect the M?
 
daz05 said:
Cheers guys, I have managed to rope a buddy into helping me and he has all the tools available too. So feeling more confident now.

No mention of the hand break thing in those M3 links though, is this a Z4 thing and does it affect the M?
Click to expand...

On the DIY links i posted it says: "Make sure that your Parking Brake is not on otherwise the rotor may be very difficult to remove."
 
cj10jeeper said:
Daz05 - before attempting this make sure you have socket based hex set, decent socket set, ring spanners/big sockets, assorted screwdrivers, torch, jack, axle stands, big hammer (disc may be corroded onto hub) pointed nose pliers and you shoudl be OK
Click to expand...


Also some plasters, your bound to scuff your knuckles
 
ga41 said:
daz05 said:
Cheers guys, I have managed to rope a buddy into helping me and he has all the tools available too. So feeling more confident now.

No mention of the hand break thing in those M3 links though, is this a Z4 thing and does it affect the M?
Click to expand...

On the DIY links i posted it says: "Make sure that your Parking Brake is not on otherwise the rotor may be very difficult to remove."
Click to expand...


Lol, I hope so anyway!!
 
Agree with an above post that the carrier bolts can be a pain if they have been left a while (since new!). One thing i did was use a small breaker bar and a scissor jack to apply upward torque to it... worked well. As soon as you start to place huge amount of manual pressure on things, its very easy to slip and hurt yourself/knacker the bolt. It wouldn't hurt to heat up the carrier with a blowtorch either :)

Rears didnt take me any longer. Just make sure the handbrake is off :)
 
cj10jeeper said:
Aliv6 said:
Pads are a 30mins job inc a good clean and reassemble. Not done the disks. Always a case of how tight the hub nut is!! Have you got a breaker bar?
Click to expand...


Sorry - way off the mark here. Nothing to do with hub nuts and breaker bars - don't touch the hub assembly :thumbsdown:

The caliper is removed and then all you need to do is take the carrier off which has a couple of hefty hex headed bolts. Disc is held on with a small female hex headed countersunk set screw.

The rear is much more difficult as you need to slacken off the handbrake inside the top hat working through one of the disc bolt holes.

Daz05 - before attempting this make sure you have socket based hex set, decent socket set, ring spanners/big sockets, assorted screwdrivers, torch, jack, axle stands, big hammer (disc may be corroded onto hub) pointed nose pliers and you shoudl be OK
Click to expand...

Ah, my bad. Not really looked at the disks in great depth before...
 
Ok update, did the fronts last night in line with the M3 guide, started at 7 finished after 10. All bolts except one were relatively easy to get off.

Only problem was getting one of the small hex bolts that hold the disk onto the hub, one of mine was made of chocolate, got it off but will need replacing. My pad sensor was fried so will need to get another one of those too.

A mallet is useful and a we used a tool to spread the caliper for fitting in the new pads.

Will do the rears soon. Overall, very happy the brakes feel good again.
 
daz05 said:
Ok update, did the fronts last night in line with the M3 guide, started at 7 finished after 10. All bolts except one were relatively easy to get off.

Only problem was getting one of the small hex bolts that hold the disk onto the hub, one of mine was made of chocolate, got it off but will need replacing. My pad sensor was fried so will need to get another one of those too.

A mallet is useful and a we used a tool to spread the caliper for fitting in the new pads.

Will do the rears soon. Overall, very happy the brakes feel good again.
Click to expand...


:thumbsup:

I'm ordering new discs soon and will do them myself too.
 
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