My saga...(with convenient conversions for European reading pleasure) 
So… :roll:
After much diligent research here at Z4, on various other BMW forums and a few inputs from friends, I got my ~ $550.00 (~£360) of Centric StopTech Sport Drilled rotors and Akebono Ultra-Premium Ceramic pads with new sets of rubber guide post inserts and caps, spring clips, rotor screws and brakefree/anti-seize/liquid penetrant and 5mm rubber gloves all ready to go for last Saturday morning at about 8:30am. I watched not one, but several online videos illustrating just how easy and straightforward this work should be. I planned to be done by noonish. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 5pm, exhausted, I hobbled into the air conditioning of the house covered with sweat, completely polluted with brake dust, and riddled with pain from a battle fought long and hard—yet nowhere near finished with only 1 wheel completed!
I returned to the battlefield the next morning at 8am to finish with a victory just shy of 2pm (another 6 hours) for the remaining 3 wheels. That comes to a whopping total of 14 HOURS (~ XIV HOURS) to save $1000.00 (£650)from the over $1500.00 (£975) estimate given to me by the local Tires Plus store the week before. I guess it’s not TOO bad considering that it is still over $70.00 (£45) per hour for the work accomplished. I say that I would NEVER do it again (having done it before on other vehicles with not much to remember looking back on it), but with the small yet very important things I learned during this mechanical melee I realize that I am actually quite experienced at BMW brake pad and rotor change-out…NOW.
Just lifting the car with my hydraulic jack on each lift point was a bit of a challenge, and I actually never resolved a way to back-up the hydraulic jack with a jack stand; there was nowhere I could find to position a jack stand. I reasoned that I wouldn’t be under the car at any time, and the exposed rotor could not actually come fully down to the floor due to the roughly 3” height of the hydraulic jack with no pressure should it fail. So with that reasoning I went at it. My first amazing revelation was that after removing the 5 (V) wheel lugs, I could not remove the wheel. WHAT? Pull it, kick it, wiggle it, talk nicely to it, yell at it—Nope. These very wheels were just mounted exactly 7 days previous with new Bridgestone Runflats all around, but they were adamant about staying put. Finally, after a good 15 minutes of head scratching, I simply went Beast Mode on the wheel to remove it. It came off, and I went flying backwards against the wall holding it. Okay, not what I expected THIS early in the war but, nevertheless, the wheel was off. I was savvy to this trick for the remaining 3 (III) wheels! :evil:
So cut to the chase here—the BIG thing that I picked up on was that the one 6mm screw on each rotor that mounts the rotor to the hub can be a very big pain and is something that warrants purchasing an impact wrench for to help ensure removal. I was anticipating this problem and was prepared to drill it out if necessary. I had purchased 4 more so that I had new ones to install.
Not necessary at all. I used a normal hex head Allen wrench to turn EVERY ONE of the 4 screws out without incident. I wouldn’t even say that the screws were really even ‘tight’. In retrospect, I have come to personally refer to these rotor screws as ‘the screw with no real purpose’. It is not needed. Oops… wait… I guess it keeps the rotor on the hub as you hurl the wheel and yourself away from the car during step one! Anyway, no need to purchase new screws, the old ones were just fine to reuse. Your mileage may vary. :?
After the easy removal of the rotor screw, I moved on to caliper removal still filled with an innocent optimism that has now been completely replaced by overall jaded hatred. A ratchet was recommended for removal of the caliper guide posts. Not necessary, and a simple 7mm hex Allen wrench was all I used for the job. It was a tough job though. The part that is ESSENTIAL for all brake/rotor change-out that is never mentioned, is a good rubber mallet! You need to insert the short end of the wrench into the each guidepost, remember your ‘righty tighty/lefty loosey’ mantra and smack that baby good and hard to break it free. At that point the guideposts act like they actually WANT to come out of their sleeves and you CAN use the end of the wrench to kind of pry them out to the point where you can use your fingers to fully remove them. Good enough. And it actually IS a good idea to also have a 7mm hex Allen SOCKET for the back brakes because your can’t spin a hex wrench 360 degrees due to interference. Use the 7mm Allen and mallet to break them free, then remove them with the friendly help of a socket wrench.
Next comes the removal of the two caliper mounting bolts. Um… these little 17mm bastards are from the pit of Hell and I can tell you that I am a changed man after meeting all 8 of them ONE AT A TIME! I don’t wanna tell you how to do YOUR brake job, but I will share my story of what I did. First, do not even go into this fight without the proper weapons. The YouTube videos you have watched are all lying to you about this part. Just watch them grab their trusty ½” drive (13mm drive?) breaker bar and tug kinda hard on each bolt to remove them—like they are eating a sandwich whilst removing them. Uh Uh. Nope. Turn off the video (watch MY YouTube video INSTEAD…it’s 14 hours long). Before sitting down with your tea in front of the exposed brake caliper, ENSURE that you have either, 1) a SIX-point 17mm socket that is ½ inch drive, 2) a non-flexible head long ½ inch ratchet drive and, 3) a good strong rubber mallet OR, 1) a SIX-point 17mm closed end wrench and, 2) a good strong rubber mallet. The sequence for bolt removal is roughly thus: 1) attach tool to head of 17mm demon. 2) beat on wrench excessively with rubber mallet. 3) rest to regain breath. 4) repeat until victory can be claimed. The good news: Once the head of the beast has been severed from its longtime mate, it can be removed with two fingers. If you have a small daughter around two years of age she can easily help you by doing this step for you. You want her in YOUR YouTube video anyway, right?
But now, this is the part that really takes the cake. Removing the rotors themselves. Ah… a job for REAL men and not the kind that work on cars because they love them, the kind of man that works on cars to release pent up aggressions in a somewhat socially acceptable manner (just ensure that the neighbors don’t hear too much colorful language during this part. We have already removed the ONE SCREW that we were warned about prior to starting this simple task. What could go wrong at this point? Well, the last paragraph was a great warm-up and ice-breaker for what comes with rotor removal. Bwahhhhhhhahahahahaha! :evil: :evil: :evil:
The seriously hard part to get over here is that you simply have to beat the living $#@T!!! out of these rotors for a LONG TIME to get them to break free. First, use some Breakfree. Then, forget the fact that it is YOUR beloved BMW that you spend so much money on actually look for excuses to drive due to its being the Ultimate Driving Machine. Right now, it is a cranky, evil-looking ex-wife that emotionally took you to the cleaners and is now back with a demand for more money from you for her and her new 20-something boyfriend. The plain truth is that you need to just beat the rotor backside until you don’t have anything left. Then beat it some more. Eventually, God willing, GOOD will win over evil. I can’t promise you that, but it is only the anticipated thrill of victory that will keep you from ultimately experiencing the agony of defeat here. It is somewhat of a religious experience when the rotor eventually gives up its seat and becomes officially dethroned. It is a time to celebrate. A time for a prayer of thanks. A time for probably a 5th or 6th set of frigging 5mm gloves that would have been better if they were 9mm and a bit larger in size. I need a drink. WATER! I have easily sweat out 2 quarts (2 liters) of water at this point.
Well, the path forward at this point is (honestly) pretty much like the YouTube videos that layout the process. Removing the guidepost sleeves are easiest if you just grab the whole outside surface with needle-nose pliers and rotate the pliers (as the point faces the floor) until the whole sleeve comes through. Lubricate the new ones liberally with anti-seize to help in stuffing them into the caliper holes. It’s more than a bit of monkeying around to get them installed!
I put anti-seize on the entire surface that touches the rotor. I put anti-seize on the entire surface of the ‘screws with no real purpose.’ I put anti-seize on the underside of 17mm demon bolt heads. Hopefully, the wheels will come off next time by simply removing the 5 lug nuts too. Akebono includes a lube with their brake pads that is put onto the installed brake pad noise plate just prior to putting them into the caliper. I hear no squealing. There are 2 brake sensors that will need to be changed. They are cheap and not worth arguing whether or not re-use is possible. Change them so you don’t have to go back again later. One is on the front left and one is on the rear right. I didn’t change mine as they didn’t look worn, but the lights is still on. Should have changed them.
The last unmentioned step in most videos, is in bedding the new pads with the rotors. I had the plan of cruising 70mph (110kph) and then firmly applying the brakes to reduce to 10mph (15kph), and then repeating this 7 times. After 5 sequences, I saw smoke rising off the front so I took it back up to speed for a long drive, allowing the brakes and rotors to cool without use. This process seems to have worked well. I am happy with the results. I hope that these tips and a bit of light-hearted motivational coaching will better mentally prepare the unsuspecting with performing this somewhat deceptive job. Despite having repeated ‘I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN’ a good hundred times during my 14-hour wrestling match, armed with the knowledge that only first-hand experience can provide, I just might (with thicker 9mm gloves though). :wink:
-steve 8)
So… :roll:
After much diligent research here at Z4, on various other BMW forums and a few inputs from friends, I got my ~ $550.00 (~£360) of Centric StopTech Sport Drilled rotors and Akebono Ultra-Premium Ceramic pads with new sets of rubber guide post inserts and caps, spring clips, rotor screws and brakefree/anti-seize/liquid penetrant and 5mm rubber gloves all ready to go for last Saturday morning at about 8:30am. I watched not one, but several online videos illustrating just how easy and straightforward this work should be. I planned to be done by noonish. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 5pm, exhausted, I hobbled into the air conditioning of the house covered with sweat, completely polluted with brake dust, and riddled with pain from a battle fought long and hard—yet nowhere near finished with only 1 wheel completed!
I returned to the battlefield the next morning at 8am to finish with a victory just shy of 2pm (another 6 hours) for the remaining 3 wheels. That comes to a whopping total of 14 HOURS (~ XIV HOURS) to save $1000.00 (£650)from the over $1500.00 (£975) estimate given to me by the local Tires Plus store the week before. I guess it’s not TOO bad considering that it is still over $70.00 (£45) per hour for the work accomplished. I say that I would NEVER do it again (having done it before on other vehicles with not much to remember looking back on it), but with the small yet very important things I learned during this mechanical melee I realize that I am actually quite experienced at BMW brake pad and rotor change-out…NOW.
Just lifting the car with my hydraulic jack on each lift point was a bit of a challenge, and I actually never resolved a way to back-up the hydraulic jack with a jack stand; there was nowhere I could find to position a jack stand. I reasoned that I wouldn’t be under the car at any time, and the exposed rotor could not actually come fully down to the floor due to the roughly 3” height of the hydraulic jack with no pressure should it fail. So with that reasoning I went at it. My first amazing revelation was that after removing the 5 (V) wheel lugs, I could not remove the wheel. WHAT? Pull it, kick it, wiggle it, talk nicely to it, yell at it—Nope. These very wheels were just mounted exactly 7 days previous with new Bridgestone Runflats all around, but they were adamant about staying put. Finally, after a good 15 minutes of head scratching, I simply went Beast Mode on the wheel to remove it. It came off, and I went flying backwards against the wall holding it. Okay, not what I expected THIS early in the war but, nevertheless, the wheel was off. I was savvy to this trick for the remaining 3 (III) wheels! :evil:
So cut to the chase here—the BIG thing that I picked up on was that the one 6mm screw on each rotor that mounts the rotor to the hub can be a very big pain and is something that warrants purchasing an impact wrench for to help ensure removal. I was anticipating this problem and was prepared to drill it out if necessary. I had purchased 4 more so that I had new ones to install.
Not necessary at all. I used a normal hex head Allen wrench to turn EVERY ONE of the 4 screws out without incident. I wouldn’t even say that the screws were really even ‘tight’. In retrospect, I have come to personally refer to these rotor screws as ‘the screw with no real purpose’. It is not needed. Oops… wait… I guess it keeps the rotor on the hub as you hurl the wheel and yourself away from the car during step one! Anyway, no need to purchase new screws, the old ones were just fine to reuse. Your mileage may vary. :?
After the easy removal of the rotor screw, I moved on to caliper removal still filled with an innocent optimism that has now been completely replaced by overall jaded hatred. A ratchet was recommended for removal of the caliper guide posts. Not necessary, and a simple 7mm hex Allen wrench was all I used for the job. It was a tough job though. The part that is ESSENTIAL for all brake/rotor change-out that is never mentioned, is a good rubber mallet! You need to insert the short end of the wrench into the each guidepost, remember your ‘righty tighty/lefty loosey’ mantra and smack that baby good and hard to break it free. At that point the guideposts act like they actually WANT to come out of their sleeves and you CAN use the end of the wrench to kind of pry them out to the point where you can use your fingers to fully remove them. Good enough. And it actually IS a good idea to also have a 7mm hex Allen SOCKET for the back brakes because your can’t spin a hex wrench 360 degrees due to interference. Use the 7mm Allen and mallet to break them free, then remove them with the friendly help of a socket wrench.
Next comes the removal of the two caliper mounting bolts. Um… these little 17mm bastards are from the pit of Hell and I can tell you that I am a changed man after meeting all 8 of them ONE AT A TIME! I don’t wanna tell you how to do YOUR brake job, but I will share my story of what I did. First, do not even go into this fight without the proper weapons. The YouTube videos you have watched are all lying to you about this part. Just watch them grab their trusty ½” drive (13mm drive?) breaker bar and tug kinda hard on each bolt to remove them—like they are eating a sandwich whilst removing them. Uh Uh. Nope. Turn off the video (watch MY YouTube video INSTEAD…it’s 14 hours long). Before sitting down with your tea in front of the exposed brake caliper, ENSURE that you have either, 1) a SIX-point 17mm socket that is ½ inch drive, 2) a non-flexible head long ½ inch ratchet drive and, 3) a good strong rubber mallet OR, 1) a SIX-point 17mm closed end wrench and, 2) a good strong rubber mallet. The sequence for bolt removal is roughly thus: 1) attach tool to head of 17mm demon. 2) beat on wrench excessively with rubber mallet. 3) rest to regain breath. 4) repeat until victory can be claimed. The good news: Once the head of the beast has been severed from its longtime mate, it can be removed with two fingers. If you have a small daughter around two years of age she can easily help you by doing this step for you. You want her in YOUR YouTube video anyway, right?
But now, this is the part that really takes the cake. Removing the rotors themselves. Ah… a job for REAL men and not the kind that work on cars because they love them, the kind of man that works on cars to release pent up aggressions in a somewhat socially acceptable manner (just ensure that the neighbors don’t hear too much colorful language during this part. We have already removed the ONE SCREW that we were warned about prior to starting this simple task. What could go wrong at this point? Well, the last paragraph was a great warm-up and ice-breaker for what comes with rotor removal. Bwahhhhhhhahahahahaha! :evil: :evil: :evil:
The seriously hard part to get over here is that you simply have to beat the living $#@T!!! out of these rotors for a LONG TIME to get them to break free. First, use some Breakfree. Then, forget the fact that it is YOUR beloved BMW that you spend so much money on actually look for excuses to drive due to its being the Ultimate Driving Machine. Right now, it is a cranky, evil-looking ex-wife that emotionally took you to the cleaners and is now back with a demand for more money from you for her and her new 20-something boyfriend. The plain truth is that you need to just beat the rotor backside until you don’t have anything left. Then beat it some more. Eventually, God willing, GOOD will win over evil. I can’t promise you that, but it is only the anticipated thrill of victory that will keep you from ultimately experiencing the agony of defeat here. It is somewhat of a religious experience when the rotor eventually gives up its seat and becomes officially dethroned. It is a time to celebrate. A time for a prayer of thanks. A time for probably a 5th or 6th set of frigging 5mm gloves that would have been better if they were 9mm and a bit larger in size. I need a drink. WATER! I have easily sweat out 2 quarts (2 liters) of water at this point.
Well, the path forward at this point is (honestly) pretty much like the YouTube videos that layout the process. Removing the guidepost sleeves are easiest if you just grab the whole outside surface with needle-nose pliers and rotate the pliers (as the point faces the floor) until the whole sleeve comes through. Lubricate the new ones liberally with anti-seize to help in stuffing them into the caliper holes. It’s more than a bit of monkeying around to get them installed!
I put anti-seize on the entire surface that touches the rotor. I put anti-seize on the entire surface of the ‘screws with no real purpose.’ I put anti-seize on the underside of 17mm demon bolt heads. Hopefully, the wheels will come off next time by simply removing the 5 lug nuts too. Akebono includes a lube with their brake pads that is put onto the installed brake pad noise plate just prior to putting them into the caliper. I hear no squealing. There are 2 brake sensors that will need to be changed. They are cheap and not worth arguing whether or not re-use is possible. Change them so you don’t have to go back again later. One is on the front left and one is on the rear right. I didn’t change mine as they didn’t look worn, but the lights is still on. Should have changed them.
The last unmentioned step in most videos, is in bedding the new pads with the rotors. I had the plan of cruising 70mph (110kph) and then firmly applying the brakes to reduce to 10mph (15kph), and then repeating this 7 times. After 5 sequences, I saw smoke rising off the front so I took it back up to speed for a long drive, allowing the brakes and rotors to cool without use. This process seems to have worked well. I am happy with the results. I hope that these tips and a bit of light-hearted motivational coaching will better mentally prepare the unsuspecting with performing this somewhat deceptive job. Despite having repeated ‘I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN’ a good hundred times during my 14-hour wrestling match, armed with the knowledge that only first-hand experience can provide, I just might (with thicker 9mm gloves though). :wink:
-steve 8)
). 
