FOS brake squeeling

[mason storm]

On long journey's 60 miles plus my front off side brake starts squeeling very loudly, when I press the brake pedal it stops. This does not happen on most journeys but seems to happen after 60 odd miles of high speed motorway driving. I can also feel excessive heat coming from the brake compared to the other side. i assime some kind of sticking piston in the caliper but it seems strange it only does it after a long drive??

 

[cj10jeeper]

Sounds a good diagnosis of the caliper sticking if it's getting hot and on journeys without much braking. Perhaps it's marginal, so takes some time to heat up. I'd pull the caliper off ensure the slider pins are OK, check disc and pads for wear. You could wind the piston back and press it out to ensure it travels smoothly (taking precautions on fluid level and not pushing the piston out too far)

Personally I'd put a new caliper on there and if the pads or disk are damaged replace them on both sides. they don't self cure, if left do more damage and could put you in a ditch if you need to brake hard.

 

[Gorbash12346]

if he's got it to the point of squealing noises then the disc will most likely have turned blue (overheated) in this case a new calliper + fresh discs and pads are the only recommendation i'd make (aside from getting the caliper rebuilt if you can do it yourself or know someone else who can)

 

[mason storm]

Well just had a call from my local garage and they calliper is seized meaning I need 2 new callipers plus new dics and pads as the FOS disc and pad is knackered so the other side needs chamging as well. It gets worse as my back tires need changing and alignment needs doing, total bill £950. Great just what i need at Christmas. I'm surprised the rear tyres and fronts are wearing excessively on the inside as i had a full alignment done about a year ago. However saying that I also had new wheels fitted by BMW as a good will gesture for the old rusting 108's and I bet they screwed up the alignment.

 

[Gorbash12346]

you don't need two new calipers you only need the one thats seized but yes you do need the discs and pads

 

[PawnSacrifice]

Sorry to hear that Mason... just had a thought though, if the car is not under warranty (guessing not), have you considered doing an upgrade? Used e46 330 calipers
(assuming you don't have the 3.0si)

Have a look here - http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8399

The additional cost of the disks and pads (for the larger size) shouldn't be too great a premium. Would be an opportune time to do essentially a low cost upgrade and possibly take some of the sting out of having to fork out for the work now.

Time to source the e46 calipers may be the only thing against you.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Depends on what you want to do but a used caliper on ebay is about £20 and it's a 15 minute job to swap over then about 10 to bleed it.

Since you need new discs and pads consider something like EBC and their Greenstuff pads. I can't see how you could get this lot to add up to more than £300. plus say £100 labour tops. Add a geo set up at a Hunters for around £100 and you're all done for £500

Personally I'd do it all at home in a couple of hours then pay for the geo later and save a fortune.

Certainly Pawnsacrifice's suggestion of the E330 sport caliper and disc upgrage is a sensible one, since your buying most of the bits anyway, but depends on which model and age you have. A mod I did a year or so back and took my prefacelift to the same brakes on the post facelift and as a bonus looks a million miles better through the open 108's