The car is a pebble magnet.

[solstice]

So we had several noise threads. One is about scraping noise from pebbles stuck between the brake rotor and shield. Well, I'm now fully onboard with calling this a design flaw. We have some roadworks in my hood and there are a fair amount of pebbles, I pick one up EVERY time 😡

Most of the time I need to reverse to get it out. PITA.

[rngrjag]

Originally Posted by solstice

So we had several noise threads. One is about scraping noise from pebbles stuck between the brake rotor and shield. Well, I'm now fully onboard with calling this a design flaw. We have some roadworks in my hood and there are a fair amount of pebbles, I pick one up EVERY time 😡

Most of the time I need to reverse to get it out. PITA.

If it makes you feel any better, this happens to E92s all the time too. Look up the dreaded "cow bell" sound from rear.

[solstice]

Originally Posted by rngrjag

If it makes you feel any better, this happens to E92s all the time too. Look up the dreaded "cow bell" sound from rear.

Doesn't make me feel better at all. I had an E90 M3 which I drove over 40k miles and NEVER had a pebble stuck between a rotor and shield. Not once. It was a 2011 so maybe they fixed it in the later models. If so, nice job re-introducing a known issue BMW

[rngrjag]

Originally Posted by solstice

Doesn't make me feel better at all. I had an E90 M3 which I drove over 40k miles and NEVER had a pebble stuck between a rotor and shield. Not once. It was a 2011 so maybe they fixed it in the later models. If so, nice job re-introducing a known issue BMW

Nope, always been there. Mine's a 2013 and I found out about the "cowbell" noise through previous threads on the E92 forum.

So I'll offer you the advice that I followed that fixed the problem. In some cases the brake heat shield may have a slightly tighter tolerance in a particular car. Take a long bladed screwdriver and push the heat shield, attempting to force it away from the rotor slightly. The increased clearance may be enough to prevent reoccurrence.

Oddly, this never happened in my E46///M in over 50K miles. Within the first two weeks of owning the E92, it did.

[solstice]

Originally Posted by rngrjag

Nope, always been there. Mine's a 2013 and I found out about the "cowbell" noise through previous threads on the E92 forum.

So I'll offer you the advice that I followed that fixed the problem. In some cases the brake heat shield may have a slightly tighter tolerance in a particular car. Take a long bladed screwdriver and push the heat shield, attempting to force it away from the rotor slightly. The increased clearance may be enough to prevent reoccurrence.

Oddly, this never happened in my E46///M in over 50K miles. Within the first two weeks of owning the E92, it did.

Hmm...taken how flimsy the shield is and how easy it is to get to it with a hand, wouldn't it be preferable to use a hand to bend it slightly? Or do you mean try to push it out from the base? I might check if the dealer want to have a crack at it. It's been the same rotor every time so I think you are right in that it could be due to large variances causing some to be more prone to this. I'm just not sure if the distance is larger or smaller on the problematic one. The dealer can check that better than the effort I want to invest in it...

[dkhm3]

haven't had this, almost 1000 miles. hmmm.

[CanAutM3]

I must have had this stupid noise close to a dozen times since I picked up my car. It really sucks, it is so loud that I actually get people looking at me in a funny way. I am not too bothered by what other people think, but this is slightly embarrassing .

[dmk08]

I e never had this and ive been driving only e9x for years. Lets hope it doesnt start in my f8x lol.

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by rngrjag

If it makes you feel any better, this happens to E92s all the time too. Look up the dreaded "cow bell" sound from rear.

I've never had the issue on my E90, but from a friend who did, the dealer knew exactly what the problem was, and it had something to do with the rear parking brake springs/attachment which they fixed rather quickly. He never had the issue come back.

[Gstone]

Happening a lot less now.

I did get a nail in the front tire after only 1200 miles. Drove my last car 50,000 mi and never had a nail.
Is the car a nail magnet?

[ES_TRADER]

Whenever I get the cowbell from the e92, I just drive on an empty road up to 60mph or so and then slam on the brakes. This would clear any stuck pebbles and worked every time.

Has anyone ever tried this method on the f8x?

[Vigilant]

Originally Posted by Gstone

Happening a lot less now.

I did get a nail in the front tire after only 1200 miles. Drove my last car 50,000 mi and never had a nail.
Is the car a nail magnet?

How about this...try navigating your neighborhood street after two of your "friendly" neighbors have their roofs replaced in the same week leaving hundreds of nails laying around...where is the HOA when you need them to do their job? They seem more concerned with my kids' toys in the front yard.

[CanAutM3]

I sometimes wonder if it not coming from inside the parking brake drum. On a few occasions, I pulled the hand brake while driving and it got rid of the noise.

[Andrew115]

Better in the break shields than the windshield. I have already had two chips in my windshield. Luckily they were both repairable. I'm haven't had a windshield chip for over 5 years then I get two in the first two months of ownership.

[solstice]

Originally Posted by Gstone

Happening a lot less now.

I did get a nail in the front tire after only 1200 miles. Drove my last car 50,000 mi and never had a nail.
Is the car a nail magnet?

Don't be silly. Have you heard of gravel roads? Not many nail roads around.

What I get from pebbles now is not a sudden grind that go away. It's a constant loud scraping. It mostly doesn't go away until I stop and reverse. I tried the handbrake trick with no luck. If a pass over enough pebbles to hear them hitting the wheel house it's going to happen, guaranteed, every time. Pebble magnet.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by solstice

Don't be silly. Have you heard of gravel roads? Not many nail roads around......

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

I sometimes wonder if it not coming from inside the parking brake drum. On a few occasions, I pulled the hand brake while driving and it got rid of the noise.

I had this noise quite a bit. What I did was went to a coin car wash, took the power washer in 5 points around the brake shield/ Rotor and left a little bit of room from the washer tip to the shield maybe an inch and gave it a few quick pluses( as in a second of spray time) and the pebbles fell out.

No noise since

[minn19]

This could be a problem for me due to the amount of sand with little pebbles put on the roads here in MN during the winter. Hopefully they are small enough to just fall through and not get stuck.

Any body else have constant issues with this in snowy climates?

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by minn19

This could be a problem for me due to the amount of sand with little pebbles put on the roads here in MN during the winter. Hopefully they are small enough to just fall through and not get stuck.

Any body else have constant issues with this in snowy climates?

It hasn't snowed up here yet, so can't confirm. But do have lots of pebbles/sand on the roads here

[minn19]

Originally Posted by DocWeatherington

It hasn't snowed up here yet, so can't confirm. But do have lots of pebbles/sand on the roads here

Thanks, we've already had over a foot this year with more to come this week. could be worse, at least I don't live in Buffalo .

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by minn19

Thanks, we've already had over a foot this year with more to come this week. could be worse, at least I don't live in Buffalo .

Yeah I agree, in Vermont here. and we haven't seen any...

[4PIPE]

happened to me too after a week of driving!! they had to take out the wheel and the caliber to remove the stone

[smedin]

Originally Posted by minn19

This could be a problem for me due to the amount of sand with little pebbles put on the roads here in MN during the winter. Hopefully they are small enough to just fall through and not get stuck.

Any body else have constant issues with this in snowy climates?

Yep, Twin Cities. Have this problem almost every day, often several times a day with my F80. I'm very suspicious of the parking brake assembly, since I can often make the sound disappear by lifting the parking brake handle slightly.

On the other hand, the way it comes and goes on its own sounds a lot like stones. Either way, it SUCKS. Sounds horrible.

I also had the dreaded cowbell sound on my E90. That seemed like it was parking-brake related as well, although the dealer never figured it out.

So, I'm 2 for 2. LUCKY ME!!!