Excessive rear brake pad wear at 12k miles

A

Acid_Monkey

Member
Hey everyone,

Bit of a strange one - brake light indicator has come on in the car - my car has only done 12k miles, of mainly in town, sane driving.

Anyways, I had a look at the pads to visually inspect them - and the rears are looking almost completely worn - not sure how the rears can wear faster than the fronts... The car doesn't drag when driving so it doesn't appear to be an adjustment issue, and in the vehicle status, on the nav screen, it says the rears have 10k miles left in them.

Really not sure what could be the issue here. BMW will probably tell me it's normal and that I need new pads and discs :poke:

Any wise words?
 
from reading previous posts on here I believe the sensors activate way too soon, your car Nav. screen status is probably closer to the truth, although that is probably too much on the safe side also. BMW will of course recommend changing everything !
 
What engine do you have OP?

i know some BMW's are quite hard on rear pads due to the DTC/E Diff (if your car has one) my 123d used to go through rear pads quicker than fronts but i used to get alot more than 12k out of them, what pads and disc's are you using?


Ash
 
Snap, mines done 15k and its in next week to hve the backs done, I havent had a pad warning light yet but got an orange flag at my last health check, and a visual by me shows they are getting a bit thin and since I am going to Wales in it in a week thought it prudent to bite the bullet and get em done as I dont want to be driving round Wales with the light on... I suspect it might be the DSC as (apparently) it uses the rear brakes to get you round corners by braking slightly on the relevant wheel, but I am prepared to be told I am wrong
 
I'd have them explain this. My 35i is 6 years old now, its on its original pads all round, I've done 31K miles and the computer reports circa 9K remain on the pads. I don't hang about with my car and there's a lot of cornering and wheel chirping on my fun runs (which invokes the brake steer assist and traction control braking).
 
On my 3rd set or rear pads now and only done 27k :-( my local BMW dealership wanted just under £700 for front and rear pads change! £100 for textar pads and sensors from ECP and 3 hrs fitting, job done!
 
Wow - seems I'm not the only one with this kind of wear. I've got a 20i.

Whats strange to me is why the rears wear quicker than the fronts with a car with 50/50 weight distribution - physics would dictate the fronts should always wear first, as they've got to work harder, due to the inertia load moving forwards when braking any car....

Here a photo of the outer pad - IMG_5765.jpg
 
hopz121 said:
What engine do you have OP?

i know some BMW's are quite hard on rear pads due to the DTC/E Diff (if your car has one) my 123d used to go through rear pads quicker than fronts but i used to get alot more than 12k out of them, what pads and disc's are you using?
Click to expand...

The E Diff is the main reason.

My mate has a tuned 135i and is constantly going through rear pads. So much so that he's in the process of converting to an M3 diff.
 
My light has been on for 2 weeks. Rears were very worn, fronts were worn.
MOT passed this morning but these came up as advisories. Now booked in to get sorted :(
 
Online a local BMW garage is quoting around £200 to change pads front or rear.
Ours is around 34,000 and still on the original pads front and rear with loads left. Its a manual though dont know if this makes a difference.
 
Acid_Monkey said:
Whats strange to me is why the rears wear quicker than the fronts with a car with 50/50 weight distribution - physics would dictate the fronts should always wear first, as they've got to work harder, due to the inertia load moving forwards when braking any car....
Click to expand...

Our rears have been changed last year.

My suspicion was that the rear pads are smaller and that as others have said - the DSC silently applies itself more often. Counter intuitively this is perhaps because the car is a bit lighter at the rear which means that it's more likely to need a bit of DSC intervention when moving off in a hurry or when cornering.
 
Pretty sure the E89 uses the rear breaks to try and simulate a diff. ie it brakes one or tuther of the rear wheels to adjust the cars handling at certain times, when you are accelerating :wink:
 
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