E60 - Rattle coming from my breaks

BraveDonut

I bought a used 520 a couple of months back and am really enjoying it.
However, there is a rattle from the undercarraige somewhere.
You usually only hear it when going over a speed-bump or if you hit a reasonably bad bump.
The rattle has more of an 'aluminium' sound that a 'steel' sound.
I took it to 2 different garages and they couldn't find anything when the car was put up on a hoist.

Now I think that the rattle is in the breaks because it can't be heard if I apply the breaks when going over a speed bump.

I took the back wheels off but I can't see anything that may cause a rattle other than an armoured cable going into the breaks. I don't know if this is an electrical cable for a sensor or not.

Anybody experienced this or have any ideas - the rattle is driving me crazy and is ruining my 'ultimate driving' experience.
Thanks

craichoe

BraveDonut wrote: »

I bought a used 520 a couple of months back and am really enjoying it.
However, there is a rattle from the undercarraige somewhere.
You usually only hear it when going over a speed-bump or if you hit a reasonably bad bump.
The rattle has more of an 'aluminium' sound that a 'steel' sound.
I took it to 2 different garages and they couldn't find anything when the car was put up on a hoist.

Now I think that the rattle is in the breaks because it can't be heard if I apply the breaks when going over a speed bump.

I took the back wheels off but I can't see anything that may cause a rattle other than an armoured cable going into the breaks. I don't know if this is an electrical cable for a sensor or not.

Anybody experienced this or have any ideas - the rattle is driving me crazy and is ruining my 'ultimate driving' experience.
Thanks

I don't know why but this post really irritited me while reading it !

JoeySully

the e39 had a problem where pebbles were getting in between disk and the guard behind the disk and would cause a sound like this. Fix is t remove the disk and clear the pebbles.

BraveDonut

My apologies -
Just looking for a little help from a usually very helpful source....

BraveDonut

JoeySully wrote: »

the e39 had a problem where pebbles were getting in between disk and the guard behind the disk and would cause a sound like this. Fix is t remove the disk and clear the pebbles.

Thanks - I will try this the next time I can get some daylight without snow or rain!

JoeySully

BraveDonut wrote: »

Thanks - I will try this the next time I can get some daylight without snow or rain!

YOu have a great sence of humor

Stevie Dakota

There should be an anti rattle clip on each brake caliper to stop the pads rattling. If one is missing you can get the sound you describe. My experience is of the E34, not sure if the E60 uses a similar setup.

The pic is not of a BMW but the clip (the thing the screwdriver is prying) is much the same...

BraveDonut

I am pretty sure that these clips were in place when I checked, but I will go back and have antother look.
thanks for this...

Moanin

I had the same problem on my A4 and was as one poster outlined a loose clip on the brake shoe.One this was clipped back on problem solved

BraveDonut

The clips are in place and tight - It turns out that this is actually a loose brake pad (on both sides). The inside pad is free to move slightly when the brake is not applied and therefore rattling. The bolts holding everything in place are tight but the pad can move.
I took the caliper off and re-assembled everything but no difference.

The pads are not worn at all and I am not sure if getting a new set will help. Is it possible to 'shim' this to get it to stay more tightly in place?

Thanks,

Moanin

BraveDonut wrote: »

The clips are in place and tight - It turns out that this is actually a loose brake pad (on both sides). The inside pad is free to move slightly when the brake is not applied and therefore rattling. The bolts holding everything in place are tight but the pad can move.
I took the caliper off and re-assembled everything but no difference.

The pads are not worn at all and I am not sure if getting a new set will help. Is it possible to 'shim' this to get it to stay more tightly in place?

Thanks,

Are the genuine ones or spurious? That could make a difference

Henry Ford III

BraveDonut wrote: »

The clips are in place and tight - It turns out that this is actually a loose brake pad (on both sides). The inside pad is free to move slightly when the brake is not applied and therefore rattling. The bolts holding everything in place are tight but the pad can move.
I took the caliper off and re-assembled everything but no difference.

The pads are not worn at all and I am not sure if getting a new set will help. Is it possible to 'shim' this to get it to stay more tightly in place?

Thanks,

Is one of the brake pistons seized?

BraveDonut

They look like they are spurious and no, the pistons are not seized - tested this

mickdw

A set of genuine pads might be the solution so. And before I get a certain mechanic poster jumping down my throat, When I say genuine, I dont mean going into the bmw dealer to buy them and paying them double etc.

DublinDilbert

The brake pad shouldn't be loose as such.... when the hydraulic pressure is removed from the cylinder, the pads should stay in place with the pad up against the disk.

You need an assistant to apply the brakes and observe what happens the pads when they take their foot off... also rotate the disk.... If the disk was out of shape it might open up the pads as it rotates, but then generally you'd have other symptoms too when braking...

BraveDonut

If you "dont mean going into the bmw dealer to buy them and paying them double"....
do you recommend somewhere to buy genuine parts without going to a dealer?

Munsterforever

What happened on my E46, was that there were really small stone chips caught between the disk and the pad. The way I resolved this was by reversing up to a good high speed on a deserted road, and the just hitting the footbreak as hard as possible. This dislodged the stones and the rattle is gone now.

BraveDonut

Any suggestions on buying genuine BMW parts without going to a main dealer?
thanks

Stevie Dakota

BraveDonut wrote: »

Any suggestions on buying genuine BMW parts without going to a main dealer?
thanks

Otto or GSF, I am sure there are others. The pads you are looking for are probably ATE and are Original Equipment (OE).

BraveDonut

I got this sorted today!

I got a set of ATE pads from Otto as recommended here.
When I opened the box I saw immediately what the problem was. There are clips to hold the pads in place on the front and the back. The one on the front was already there - similar to the picture posted by StevieDakota. But someone had either put an incorrect set of pads on the car or had removed the clips that were attached to the inside set of pads :eek:.
So - I put the new pads on and - happy days! - no rattle.

Thanks to all for their help here - I am a happy bunny today!

Stevie Dakota

Good news and well done on sorting it out yourself. Scary that the car had wrong/faulty pads though.