BMW 520d 152 reg - brake discs

mickey15ie

Morning All,

Have my car in for a service this morning to get front brake pads done.

Been advised the discs need doing to.

Reg is 152

Automatic

and has 55,000 on the clock.

How likely is it the discs would be gone so soon?

TheW1zard

mickey15ie wrote: »

Morning All,

Have my car in for a service this morning to get front brake pads done.

Been advised the discs need doing to.

Reg is 152

Automatic

and has 55,000 on the clock.

How likely is it the discs would be gone so soon?

If the pads were really worn they could have damaged the discs?

maestroamado

Hi,

That's a lot more than i would expect, it really depends on how heavy your right foot.
There no need to panic as there will come on a light on dash when need replacing.
It's unlikely disks damaged if the light did not come on....

biko

It comes down to driving style, brand of discs and all kinds of factors.
Replacing them after 50K doesn't seem odd to me.

You can check them yourself by looking for a lip.

mickey15ie

See attached photos

Rodin

mickey15ie wrote: »

See attached photos

They look in reasonable nick but I had something like that before.
The offside that I couldn't see was in awful condition. Mechanic showed me after they'd been removed

Wailin

Yeah they have a nice lip alright. Brake discs on the f10 usually need changing every second pad change or 50-60k miles. So it seems normal in your case.

bazz26

Generally there is no rule of thumb around brake disc wear and mileage, it's generally down to the driver, some drivers are very heavy on brakes while others are not. The F10 5 Series model is known to be heavy on brake discs, if they are the original discs then you did well getting 5 years out of them. My 5 Series is the same age but with 76k miles and the front discs will need changing soon also.

ongarite

As above, I have 530d which probably has more weight over the front of the car.
I've 110K on my front discs and much smaller lip on them.
Had front pads changed by BMW 3 weeks ago and I'm sure they would have mentioned changing the discs if needed.

mickey15ie

cheers for the quick answers guys.

Bit the bullet and getting them changed. not worth the risk with brakes

iomusicdublin

Can you take pics of the caliper with pads showing and the other side of the discs. I got over 100k on mine (original pads and discs)

kirving

Depends entirely on driving type, per mile, you could be on the brakes 10X as much on an R road as on a Motorway.

Reminds me of when I was looking at cars at an auction, I saw a 520d in the line up. The mechanic I was with took a look at it from 6 yards away, and says "you don't get stonechips like that on the motorway, he's been up the arse of cars down backroads. It's going to need new front tyres, pads and discs". Sure enough, they were all in bad need of replacement.

mikeecho

As mentioned earlier, all depends on driving style, I had a Toyota that went 11yrs on the original pads, they were only changed as they had ... (The only way to explain it is ) gone off.
Plenty of pad left, but they just didn't grip.
Discs were still fine. (10k km pa)

On my F10, which I've had for 4yrs, I'm still on the original pads and discs. Mainly motorway driving.. lots of mileage but little use of the brakes (35+k km pa)

If you read the road you don't need to use brakes a lot, now an auto in city stop/start driving.. different story.

mickdw

I heard before bmw insist on changing discs with pads each time for all models above 5 series.
Dont know if that is still the case.
There is abit of wear on those but hard to see really how bad.
Manufacturers seem to specify 1mm wear limit alot of the time which is super conservative.

mickey15ie

they quoted the norm is 22.4mm and that they were 21mm

Someone mentioned as it is front wheel drive and auto they need changing more frequent

spyderski

mickey15ie wrote: »

they quoted the norm is 22.4mm and that they were 21mm

Someone mentioned as it is front wheel drive and auto they need changing more frequent

Ignore that “someone” - It’s rear wheel drive. I have a 131 520d, 150km, got first new discs at around 120km. As previous posters said, it’s very much dependent on driving style - friend of mine has a 630i from new in 2007 and only changed the pads a year ago at 100km - discs were nearly perfect - almost 100% motorway driving though.

bazz26

The 5 Series is not front wheel drive.

As I said earlier this model is know for going through discs quickly too so that is a factor. Be careful what brand the replacement discs are too, false economy and you will end up replacing cheap ones twice as fast. Stay away from main dealers too as they will absolutely rob you, just get OEM discs fitted by a good indy.

Seanmk1

mickey15ie wrote: »

Morning All,

Have my car in for a service this morning to get front brake pads done.

Been advised the discs need doing to.

Reg is 152

Automatic

and has 55,000 on the clock.

How likely is it the discs would be gone so soon?

Seems normal to me. I got 65000 out of a set of discs once, admittedly I have changed my driving style since.

You can use a vernier calipers to measure the disc thickness if you want to double check it.

mickey15ie

Sorry ye are right on it being rear wheel drive. its been a long day

mk7r

Seanmk1 wrote: »

Seems normal to me. I got 65000 out of a set of discs once, admittedly I have changed my driving style since.

You can use a vernier calipers to measure the disc thickness if you want to double check it.

You can't really use a Vernier caliper a because the disc always has a lip and you need to measure the true lowest point of the disc. A micrometer works perfectly or there are other styles or calipers you can get made for the job

Wailin

mk7r wrote: »

You can't really use a Vernier caliper a because the disc always has a lip and you need to measure the true lowest point of the disc. A micrometer works perfectly or there are other styles or calipers you can get made for the job

Just use washers on either side of the disc and zero the calipers with the washers first.

mk7r

That works for sure but it costs accuracy and verniers are not that accurate to begin with, when you are talking about most specs only allowing 1mm max wear per face then every little helps It also would affect the reading if the disc was "grooved" a bit which is a common wear pattern, the washers would make the disc seem thicker than it is due to sitting on top of the peaks

kirving

The car isn't exactly going into space either. For the DIY mechanic, a Lidl vernier and a few washers is absolutely fine tolerance wise.

mk7r

Kevin Irving wrote: »

The car isn't exactly going into space either. For the DIY mechanic, a Lidl vernier and a few washers is absolutely fine tolerance wise.

For sure its a good way to get a ballpark but I have seen discs with > 1mm deep grooves in them so best taken as just that.

mickdw

mk7r wrote: »

That works for sure but it costs accuracy and verniers are not that accurate to begin with, when you are talking about most specs only allowing 1mm max wear per face then every little helps It also would affect the reading if the disc was "grooved" a bit which is a common wear pattern, the washers would make the disc seem thicker than it is due to sitting on top of the peaks

If main dealers were working to the accuracy of that washer method id be more than happy.
Too often, its new discs needed regardless.
As for pad checking, some just measure overall tbickness outside of pad to outside of pad.

mk7r

mickdw wrote: »

If main dealers were working to the accuracy of that washer method id be more than happy.
Too often, its new discs needed regardless.
As for pad checking, some just measure overall tbickness outside of pad to outside of pad.

I agree sometimes main dealers are a bit overly pessimistic about the life left in the brakes

Casati

Op is it 55,000 km or miles on the clock? If KM I’d be seeking a second opinion. Main Audi dealers and to a lessor extent BMW dealers have a habit of saying pads are needed when they are fine and disc‘S needed if you ask for pads etc

Did the car tell you that that the pads were worn and you ignored it for a long time? If so the then good chance the discs are worn.

iomusicdublin

Defo 2nd opinion

I would ask who took the wheel off and measured the discs and pads

It is a handy extra labour charge that most customers would not contest.
Most garages never bother to check discs with calipers (measuring) and just do visual inspection on the outside of discs.

What labour hour rate does the job have.

I ask because BMW's labour rates are over 120 per hour ex vat.
Then they have a mark up on the pads as well.