Sticking Brake Caliper

C

CornishRob

Senior member
Evening all,

As I got home tonight after a nice drive home in the sun, I noticed a very hot front wheel venting heat. On closer inspection, it looks like the caliper is sticking a bit. I think this also makes sense as I only got about 20mpg from the last tank and a bit of vibration in the steering on the way to work this morning on the motorway.

Searching the forum suggests a fairly common problem!

My car is still under the AUC warranty, so was wandering if this would be covered? Has anyone manage to get theirs swapped or did they cry corrosion!!

Unfortunately, I am going away tomorrow for a couple of weeks, so can't sort until then, but will only have 3 days to sort when I'm back before I need the car to go to Cornwall in for a break! I will ring the steelers tomorrow, but if anyone has any previous experience, it would be appreciated.

Cheers
 
So I got a quote today from BMW.

If its not covered under warranty, I will be looking at £414 fitted for a new front passenger side caliper.

I will get a quote from my local indie and see how the prices compare.
 
Had this happen on my old M3 which has the same or a very similar setup.

If it has damaged the disc and pads too you'll be looking at far more the 400 or so. My warranty didnt cover it but it wasnt a BMW one so you may have better luck.

Personally I used it as an excuse to upgrade to six pot calipers. Would do the same in your case if you can...
 
Yes it would. It becomes more palatable if you find the discs and pads need doing too but still a fair bit more.

Like I said, it was an excuse to do the upgrade, not a good reason :)
 
Its only twice as much but then you do get twice as much :) I have no idea how good they are? But they will look great behind your wheels. Not sure if they are M fitment either.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-Incl-M-K-Sport-Racing-Big-Brake-Kits-330-356mm-Discs-/321124677215?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4ac485b65f
 
Hi Cornish Rob,

I had the same thing on my Z4MC and they placed both front calipers, discs and pads all under warranty. I didn't even need to discuss this with the main dealer, I was expecting it to be caliper only as the brake discs and pads are consumables. Would have been expensive otherwise!

I think they were concerned that the defective caliper had warped the discs etc. I drove less than 10 miles in total after the warning came on and the car going in.

Good luck.

Mark
 
Markb1000 said:
Hi Cornish Rob,

I had the same thing on my Z4MC and they placed both front calipers, discs and pads all under warranty. I didn't even need to discuss this with the main dealer, I was expecting it to be caliper only as the brake discs and pads are consumables. Would have been expensive otherwise!

I think they were concerned that the defective caliper had warped the discs etc. I drove less than 10 miles in total after the warning came on and the car going in.

Good luck.

Mark
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Thanks for the update mark. Was this recently or a while ago?

Which dealer did you use?

You mentioned you had a warning? Was this a light or something? I haven't had any warning apart from lots of heat coming from the suspect wheel.

I think I will get it into the dealer for an inspection. Car has 35k on, so find it a bit unacceptable that its shot with suck low mileage!
 
Actually its the low mileage that probably did it!

Tend to seize through lack of use more than anything else in my experience.
 
Yep, mine was low mileage 32k on an 07 plate, had the car for approx seven months and only gets used at week ends (if I'm not using the run around for shopping etc)

It was within the last six months, got the car direct from main dealer. The puncture warning light came on and beeped, i got out, no puncture, but lots of brake smell! (I did post a question under problems a while ago asking for help). Reset the warning button, but lots of vibration etc as you described and with help from the forum the fault was diagnosed before going to the dealer.

I went to Cooper Croydon (South London), I didn't get the car from them. I have heard / read varying reviews of them on this website. They've always been ok to me, but everyone has a different experience.

I also renewed the FULL AUC / BMW warranty when it came up this year. Just peace of mind, I don't fancy a bill of over £1k for someting which could be warranty - again a personal decision.
 
I guess the TPM would of come on as the wheel would have got hot and the overall tyre size would have increase enough to set it off!

I haven't had this.

Just out of interest, way was the exact cause of yours? Pitted piston, broken seals etc? Would be interested to know for when they tell me the problem with mine!
 
No I doubt the heat changed the size of the wheel much, by the TPM works just be detecting a difference in the wheel speeds and a brake acting on a single wheel if it's dragging hard enough would be enough to do that I think.

Mine wasn't set off when it failed on my M3 either though and that was bad enough for the disc to be glowing red!
 
So my car is in at the garage and I am awaiting the dreaded call from the dealer.

Will it / Won't it be covered under the AUC warranty etc...

I saw a nice MR coming out of the dealership as I was going in too!
 
Right, so got the call back from the dealer. To fix the problem and other issue cause by the problem, new parts required are:

New Front Caliper (Main Problem)
Pair of new Disks (Due to Caliper ruining one of them)
New Set of pads (Due to Caliper ruining one of them)
Brake fluid change (Due to heat build up)

All in all, looking at around £1100 ish for the above.

I was pleasantly surprised when the dealer rang me and said they would cover everything under the AUC warranty. Fingers crossed it should be all sorted tomorrow.
 
Cornish rob, pm me if you fancy a cornish coastal hoon when you are down. Seen two more m c's around here lately, its cookin down here at the mo, are you a surfer btw ? Mad4
 
mad4slalom said:
Cornish rob, pm me if you fancy a cornish coastal hoon when you are down. Seen two more m c's around here lately, its cookin down here at the mo, are you a surfer btw ? Mad4
Click to expand...

Hey mate,

Yeah I will defo let you know if I can. I have alot planned though, so not sure what time I will have.

I found out the other day that Rossm09 actually lives a few minutes away from some family, so was going to try and pop to see his new M and meet him. Maybe we could combine all!
 
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