OEM Brake life????

[garrettdeb]

My wife drives an E93 M3, 2011 which currently has about 68,000 miles. Since new the front brakes were replaced with OEM parts at ~30k, ~36k, ~49k, ~62k and ~68k miles.

At the ~62k mark I replaced the rotors and pads myself with OEM parts as covered maintenance was over. At ~68k miles, as will all replacement intervals, significant wheel vibration during braking - never the wear sensor indicator.

I thought that there must be something else wrong with the front end and had it fully inspected by my indy and he said everything is solid - he did a "run out" on the rotors and said they were bad and that the dealer would replace everything under warranty.

I brought the car to the dealer and they did cover everything under the genuine BMW parts warranty.

Is this frequent failure of the rotors normal? If not what could be the cause? My wife drives the car quite aggressively, but it's never tracked. It is a DCT transmission and she downshifts rather than brake to slow when possible/practicable.

[drrust]

Were all the replacements due to bad vibrations? If so you may have a sticky caliper. This was a known issue in the E36 and there was at least one mention of one on an E9X. I had it occur on my E36 and it resulted in severe vibrations. Either have calipers rebuilt or there are some currently avail in the classifieds.

[roastbeef]

street brake life on these cars is actually pretty damn good. check for uneven pad wear and maybe invest in a laser thermometer to see if any one side of each of the rotors is getting significantly hotter after a spirited drive.

[msan]

This is not normal. She should not downshift to brake. Much cheaper to replace brake pads than fix the dct . Rotors with normal driving can last 60k miles in the front. Things I would check is a sticking caliper if one side is always bad. Another thought is she is super aggressive and the pads and rotors are hot and then she parks and didn't cool the brakes enough may cause pad deposits or warping. Just a thought.

[garrettdeb]

Appreciate the feedback, I didn't think this was normal either. I have 45k on my M3 (F80) and have not had a brake issue. My thought is that it's deposits as well so I tend to agree with this statement:

Originally Posted by msan

Another thought is she is super aggressive and the pads and rotors are hot and then she parks and didn't cool the brakes enough may cause pad deposits or warping. Just a thought.

I have driven probably close to a million miles thus fare in my life and have never formally followed a "bedding in" process for brakes, but I am going to have her try the procedure outlined here:

http://www.mossmotors.com/SiteGraphi...ake_discs.html

Hopefully this will solve the problem.

[Theodore]

Serious question: Do you think she is either driving with one foot on the brake while the other foot is on the gas or lightly resting her foot on the brake pedal (like some drivers do with a clutch pedal) while cruising along?

[trustbran]

This is what I also thought might be happening, I'll bet something is constantly keeping pressure on the brake pedal.... possibly.

Originally Posted by Theodore

Serious question: Do you think she is either driving with one foot on the brake while the other foot is on the gas or lightly resting her foot on the brake pedal (like some drivers do with a clutch pedal) while cruising along?

[dparm]

Originally Posted by garrettdeb

My wife drives an E93 M3, 2011 which currently has about 68,000 miles. Since new the front brakes were replaced with OEM parts at ~30k, ~36k, ~49k, ~62k and ~68k miles.

At the ~62k mark I replaced the rotors and pads myself with OEM parts as covered maintenance was over. At ~68k miles, as will all replacement intervals, significant wheel vibration during braking - never the wear sensor indicator.

I thought that there must be something else wrong with the front end and had it fully inspected by my indy and he said everything is solid - he did a "run out" on the rotors and said they were bad and that the dealer would replace everything under warranty.

I brought the car to the dealer and they did cover everything under the genuine BMW parts warranty.

Is this frequent failure of the rotors normal? If not what could be the cause? My wife drives the car quite aggressively, but it's never tracked. It is a DCT transmission and she downshifts rather than brake to slow when possible/practicable.

No, the rotors on this car are very beefy and last a long time, even if you enjoy some spirited weekend driving. Most people are getting 50k or more on a pair of rotors. Hell, I pulled mine at 63k and they were still within spec (I destroyed them at the track with pad deposits, sadly).

I would say that there might be a caliper that sticks and is dragging the pad. Easy to detect by jacking up the car and spinning the wheels. The pyrometer suggestion would work well too.