Hi, new to the Forum, just bought a Z4 2005 2.0i. On the test drive car was beautiful, test drive was 15 mins. on the way home 45 mins after about 30 minutes steering rattle and burning smell and intermittent loss of brakes. pulled over and front near side wheel really hot with smoke coming off it. managed to get home safely! has anyone come across this before, I have seen some posts saying brake piston or stuck pads.
Burning smell, intermittent steering vibration and loss of brakes
- Thread starter clang0203
- Start date
Hello and welcome.
Classic signs of a seized piston. You can overhaul the calliper but tbh they're cheap enough to replace the whole calliper.
You will also need new pads and quite possibly new discs too. Always do these on both sides.
I'd check the opposite calliper. It may be ok, but again, if you can afford it, far better to change everything in one go.
Depending where you are and how handy you are with spanners, you may find someone on here who'd help you out.
I would if you happened to be in Norfolk?
Of course, if it was from a dealer you could take it back, but I wouldn't be driving it that far like that.
I'd contact the dealer and discuss them paying if you get it sorted.
Private sale? Then you're in a bit more nother.
Classic signs of a seized piston. You can overhaul the calliper but tbh they're cheap enough to replace the whole calliper.
You will also need new pads and quite possibly new discs too. Always do these on both sides.
I'd check the opposite calliper. It may be ok, but again, if you can afford it, far better to change everything in one go.
Depending where you are and how handy you are with spanners, you may find someone on here who'd help you out.
I would if you happened to be in Norfolk?
Of course, if it was from a dealer you could take it back, but I wouldn't be driving it that far like that.
I'd contact the dealer and discuss them paying if you get it sorted.
Private sale? Then you're in a bit more nother.
By piston, do you mean fitting a new one or a complete new calliper?clang0203 said:Thanks for the advice, I bought the car expecting to do some work myself just not as soon as this!it was a private sale, only had MOT last week! I think I will change everything pads and discs are normally pretty simple I take it piston is not too bad either?
I recently swapped the callipers on my wife's 2.5i and it was very straightforward to do, with several tutorials on line if you need them.
I would invest in new slider pins too, as they are likely to be corroded.
Put cling-film under the reservoir cap first, to minimise brake fluid loss.
You will also find that the simplest solution to avoid twisting the flexi pipe is to hold it still and unscrew the calliper off it.
I used an Eezibleed kit to get the air out.
Getting the disc off can be a pain as the set screw that locates it tends to seize and the head rounds off. Or it shears!
An impact driver is useful, plus a soak overnight with releasing fluid may help too.
The discs I ordered came with new screws.
Just one other aside. One of my discs was seized on the hub and required a fair degree of 'percussive adjustment' to get it off.
Although I was careful what I was hitting, the original 18-y-o ABS sensor didn't like the shocks and packed up.
Threads like this make you proud to be. Z4 owner and a member of this fine forum 
Oh yes, apart from the idiot who says 'give me a shout if you get stuck' but then forgets to pass on any contact info. :roll:Big Bad Boris said:Threads like this make you proud to be. Z4 owner and a member of this fine forum
[ref]clang0203[/ref], just PM'd you my mobile number. :wink:
This is a very common problem BTW - always seems to be near side presumably because there is more water and grit on that side of the road. When I had it a few years ago I took the opportunity of a holiday to remove all of the callipers and send them off to be serviced and painted at Big Red.
Evening, managed to free and remove the stuck calliper tonight. New one arrives tomorrow, stupid question but is the only way of removing brake lead by twisting the calliper or should it separate? Also any torque settings for putting back together, changing discs and pads as well.
See this as an opportunity to upgrade your brakes & learn how helpful the forum is in spending your cash 
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8399
On the upside, found it a very worthwhile mod Iād never done had I not had a sticking Caliper myself on my 3.0
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8399
On the upside, found it a very worthwhile mod Iād never done had I not had a sticking Caliper myself on my 3.0
Hi, managed to change discs, pads and callipers on both front wheels. Bled the system but ono starting both the DSC light and brake light are both remaining lit. I took the car for a test drive and it is driving like it should no more rattling, the lights remained on though, I checked the brake fluid which was low, refilled but lights still remain. do I need to reset these or should they have gone out? any ideas please?
