Do-It-Yourself information for the modifications I've completed
Do-It-Yourself information for essential wear and tear items
Articles covering all the ways to maintain your car
All about the BMW 330ci
Various links that I've found valuable
A few pictures of my car and some others
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Changing Your Brakes
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Difficulty
Changing your brakes isn't very challenging at all. It may seem a bit difficult if you have never done it before, but I promise that it's really quite easy. The hardest part is lifting up the car and taking off each wheel. The anti-rattle clips can be confusing at first, but with a big screwdriver, everything will work out. After you've done it once, you'll never take another car in.
Choosing the Right Pads and Rotors
If you've done your research, you'll find a ton of people out there that will tell you different pads or rotors are best (OEM vs. Aftermarket). For my rotors, I picked up a set of BMW's performance rotors which are currently discontinued (I had them in the garage for a couple years). These are two piece floating rotors on the front and are amazing! As far as making a difference, they will help with unsprung weight, but the average driver won't notice any difference. Therefore, I'd recommend a quality blank rotor. As far as pads go, I was looking for the following items: 1. Better than OEM stopping power 2. Lower dusting (not that big of a deal to me) 3.The ability to take the car to the track and use the same pads. Therefore, after reading a lot of reviews I settled on Performance Friction Z-Rated Pads. Once I've driven on them for a while and have made sure they're properly bedded, I'll write up a review on the pads themselves.
Tools Needed
Torque Wrench (20-100 Ft-Lbs)
6mm and 7mm Allen Socket
Various Sockets and Wrenches (17mm)
Flat Head Screwdriver (Bigger the better)
Rubber Mallet (A more powerful hammer may be needed if the rotor gets stuck)
Parts Needed
BMW Performance Cross Drilled Front Rotor x2 (BMW P# 34-11-0-431-905, BMW P# 34-11-0-431-906) $150
BMW Performance Cross Drilled Rear Rotor x2 (BMW P# 34-21-0-431-907) $150
Performance Friction Z-Rated Front Pads (P# 394) $100
Performance Friction Z-Rated Rear Pads (P# 548) $105
Brake Cleaner & Anti-Squeal Compound (Can be picked up at any auto parts store)
PB Blast or equivalent to help remove siezed rotors
Anti-Sieze Compound (To make the job easier next time)
Instructions
Safely lift the car
1. Using a lift or a floor jack with ramps lift at least the front of the vehicle. Instructions for jacking up your car can be found here. This can be a very dangerous step, so make sure that the car is properly secured before ever getting under it. Never get under a car that is just supported by a jack!
Rear Axle Instructions
Remove the rear wheel
Remove the rear wheel |
Remove the rear wheel
2. Using a 17mm deep socket with an impact wrench or hand ratchet, remove the lugnuts and set your wheels aside. If your alloys are siezed onto your brake rotors, sit down on your butt and give the sidewalls of the tires a good kick until it becomes loose. If they have siezed on, make yourself a note to add some antisieze lubricant to the brake rotor mating surface before reinstalling the wheels. |
Remove the anti-rattle clip |
Remove the Anti-Rattle Clip
2. Using a flat head screwdriver, pry under the arms of the anti-rattle clips until they pop off. Be careful as they can pop of quite rapidly and suprise you! This will take a little bit of time to understand, but once you have got one the rest will come easily. Just take a look at the picture on the placement and my advice is to put a glove covered hand over the clip for when it pops off (otherwise you could hurt something or someone) |
Brake pad wear sensor
Everything disconnected
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Disconnect the brake pad wear sensor (only on the rear passenger side)
5. If you're replacing your pads before the brake pad sensor went off, you will need to preserve the existing one. Either way, disconnect the brake pad sensor from the bleeding nipple and plastic clip above the rotor. Otherwise, it will surely brake once you've popped the caliper off. |
Front Axle Instructions
Remove the front wheel
Remove the front wheel
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Remove the front wheel
2. Using a 17mm deep socket with an impact wrench or hand ratchet, remove the lugnuts and set your wheels aside. If your alloys are siezed onto your brake rotors, sit down on your butt and give the sidewalls of the tires a good kick until it becomes loose. If they have siezed on, make yourself a note to add some antisieze lubricant to the brake rotor mating surface before reinstalling the wheels. |
Remove the anti-rattle clip
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Remove the Anti-Rattle Clip
2. Using a flat head screwdriver, pry under the arms of the anti-rattle clips until they pop off. Be careful as they can pop of quite rapidly and suprise you! This will take a little bit of time to understand, but once you have got one the rest will come easily. Just take a look at the picture on the placement and my advice is to put a glove covered hand over the clip for when it pops off (otherwise you could hurt something or someone) |
Upper dust cap
Remove guide bolt
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Remove the caliper guide bolts
3. Remove the 2 plastic covers from behind the caliper to expose the guide bolts. I just use a small screwdriver to pry them off. (You could use your fingernail, but as I'm sure you've noticed at this point everything is quite covered in brake dust).
4. Using the 7mm allen socket, remove the two guide bolts holding the caliper on. You can pull them all the way out to clean them and inspect them for proper operation. |
Sensor line
Everything disconnected
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Disconnect the brake pad wear sensor (only on the front drivers side)
5. If you're replacing your pads before the brake pad sensor went off, you will need to preserve the existing one. Either way, disconnect the brake pad sensor from the bleeding nipple and plastic clip above the rotor. Otherwise, it will surely brake once you've popped the caliper off. |
Remove pads from caliper
Make sure the caliper is supported
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Remove the caliper and brake pads
6. Remove the caliper from the carrier. While holding the caliper, use a small screwdriver to remove the the brake pad sensor. It is just held in place with a small metal clip, so it will eventually come out. I also recommend spraying some brake cleaner in there to help loosen things up.
7. Remove the brake pads from the caliper piston and set aside.
8. Depress the piston back into the caliper. This can be done using a C-clamp, special tool you can rent at the local auto parts store, or just by hand (if you're strong enough). This is due to the fact that the caliper is further out since the pads have worn away. In order to make the new pads fit over the rotor, this step is manditory.
9. Make sure that the caliper is properly supported. DO NOT LET IT HANG BY THE BRAKE LINES. I just used a spare floor jack since they're quite heavy, but feel free to innovate. |
Brake Bedding Procedure
I can't stress how important it is to properly bed your brakes. This will put a small film of the pad onto the rotor to improve performance all around. I've added a link by Dave Zeckhausen who explains it better than I can, so please take a look and follow the directions: http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm
Conclusions
WARNING: When you first use your brakes, you may have to push the pedal a few times to get them to firm up, this is normal since we pushed the piston all the way back into the caliper. Remember that at first your car will not stop like it has been due to the coating on the rotors and the fresh pads. Make sure that you are cautious as you take her out for the first spin. Take it easy and after you've driven a bit to let all of the protective coating to be worn off the rotors, bed the brakes properly in order to have them operate as they were designed.
This is a simple do-it-yourself job and you should be proud of yourself for saving a couple hundred bucks. I hope you took some of that money and invested it well into some quality pads and rotors. Remember that brakes and tires will most likely safe your life, so don't go cheap. Happy motoring!
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