[jonatious]

I just got my car delivered yesterday and as expected I was sold into a bunch of stuff, but I have 30 days to cancel the BMW maintenance plan which covers brakes and wipers in the 3 year maintenance plan. I was told that the brakes cost $1500 for X7 and they require a swap around 15K miles. I am thinking I will put about 10K a year. The brake maintenance was an extra $700.

I also have the standard brakes and not M brakes. So is it true that they wear out about 15K miles? If so, I believe $700 is a worthy investment?

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by jonatious

I just got my car delivered yesterday and as expected I was sold into a bunch of stuff, but I have 30 days to cancel the BMW maintenance plan which covers brakes and wipers in the 3 year maintenance plan. I was told that the brakes cost $1500 for X7 and they require a swap around 15K miles. I am thinking I will put about 10K a year. The brake maintenance was an extra $700.

I also have the standard brakes and not M brakes. So is it true that they wear out about 15K miles? If so, I believe $700 is a worthy investment?

There isn't a replacement schedule and completed as needed, but dependent on driver, driving style (braking) and driving conditions (traffic, congestion), braking from speed, vehicle weight, etc.

The standard brakes on X SAVs are pretty durable and last surprising long, particularly the rears, for the duration of a 3-year 15K/yr lease. I had Maintenance Plus ($600 on my F15 X5) and the front brakes needed replacing at 18K-20K miles and rears was close to replacing around 33-34K miles. The maintenance plan paid for itself on that lease.

For my G05 X5 with 2NH M Sport brakes and owning BMWs with 2NH, I also opted for the Plus plan ($700) knowing the fronts would need to be replaced during my lease.

Maintenance includes other miscellaneous wear-n-tear items which don't add up on their own for $700 Maintenance Plus.

[jonatious]

Originally Posted by Auricom

There isn't a replacement schedule and completed as needed, but dependent on driver, driving style (braking) and driving conditions (traffic, congestion), braking from speed, vehicle weight, etc.

The standard brakes on X SAVs are pretty durable and last surprising long, particularly the rears, for the duration of a 3-year 15K/yr lease. I had Maintenance Plus ($600 on my F15 X5) and the front brakes needed replacing at 18K-20K miles and rears was close to replacing around 33-34K miles. The maintenance plan paid for itself on that lease.

For my G05 X5 with 2NH M Sport brakes and owning BMWs with 2NH, I also opted for the Plus plan ($700) knowing the fronts would need to be replaced during my lease.

Maintenance includes other miscellaneous wear-n-tear items which don't add up on their own for $700 Maintenance Plus.

I generally go smooth on the brakes. I think just the front brakes are 1.5k. If I’m required to change brakes around 20k, It’ll still be with it for me. How hard were you on your X5? What would you recommend for me? Should I risk it or stay safe with the extra $700, X7 is also a heavier vehicle.
Also I have the towing package which I believe gives better brakes? Not sure if that makes a difference, will only be doing very minimal towing

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by jonatious

I generally go smooth on the brakes. I think just the front brakes are 1.5k. If I'm required to change brakes around 20k, It'll still be with it for me. How hard were you on your X5? What would you recommend for me? Should I risk it or stay safe with the extra $700, X7 is also a heavier vehicle.

Also I have the towing package which I believe gives better brakes? Not sure if that makes a difference, will only be doing very minimal towing

Before I was commuting 50-60 miles per day in crawling 5-10mph back-to-back on brakes traffic and barreling 65-80mph up/down the express lanes. These pandemic days, I'm not driving as much or hard on my brakes as my commute is rolling out of bed and walking into my home office.

As I mentioned earlier, there's no timed or required replacement schedule for brakes and replaced as needed. If you're not hard on your brakes, I wouldn't see the need for Plus maintenance but you can play it safe and stick with it - feel relieved and know you're covered to go hard on them, LOL.

[Al Pinã]

Originally Posted by jonatious

I generally go smooth on the brakes. I think just the front brakes are 1.5k. If I’m required to change brakes around 20k, It’ll still be with it for me. How hard were you on your X5? What would you recommend for me? Should I risk it or stay safe with the extra $700, X7 is also a heavier vehicle.
Also I have the towing package which I believe gives better brakes? Not sure if that makes a difference, will only be doing very minimal towing

Previous vehicle was a 2015 X5 and I breezed though my lease with almost 50K miles on the clock. Never needed brakes and I drive like a bit of a maniac.

Your results may vary as the X7 is quite a bit heavier.

However; the thing about these add-on warranties is that if they didn't make the dealership money, they wouldn't offer them.

[jonatious]

Originally Posted by Auricom

Before I was commuting 50-60 miles per day in crawling 5-10mph back-to-back on brakes traffic and barreling 65-80mph up/down the express lanes. These pandemic days, I'm not driving as much or hard on my brakes as my commute is rolling out of bed and walking into my home office.

As I mentioned earlier, there's no timed or required replacement schedule for brakes and replaced as needed. If you're not hard on your brakes, I wouldn't see the need for Plus maintenance but you can play it safe and stick with it - feel relieved and know you're covered to go hard on them, LOL.

Yeah thats true. It’s not too expensive as well. Two last questions
1. Does the car tell when a brake change is needed?
2. Does the tow package brakes last longer if never used for towing? Or is it just more powerful?

[Norcalx7]

Originally Posted by jonatious

I just got my car delivered yesterday and as expected I was sold into a bunch of stuff, but I have 30 days to cancel the BMW maintenance plan which covers brakes and wipers in the 3 year maintenance plan. I was told that the brakes cost $1500 for X7 and they require a swap around 15K miles. I am thinking I will put about 10K a year. The brake maintenance was an extra $700.

I also have the standard brakes and not M brakes. So is it true that they wear out about 15K miles? If so, I believe $700 is a worthy investment?

How much does the maintenance plan cost and is it for next 3 years? General maintenance is complimentary for first 3 years correct ?

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by jonatious

Yeah thats true. It's not too expensive as well. Two last questions

1. Does the car tell when a brake change is needed?
2. Does the tow package brakes last longer if never used for towing? Or is it just more powerful?

1. Yes - it's actually a simple "wire" that has a connection inside the wheelwell, as well as the brake pad itself. The sensor is a Male U-shaped "plug" that snaps into a female U-shaped portion on the base of the brake pad. It is designed to be "destroyed" when your pads get too thin, and warn you beforehand. Unless you wear down your brake pads to the bare minimum, you do not need to replace them unless they are damaged.

2. The brake calipers and pads on the standard and towing packages are the same - you get larger discs with towing option.

[jonatious]

Originally Posted by Auricom

1. Yes - it's actually a simple "wire" that has a connection inside the wheelwell, as well as the brake pad itself. The sensor is a Male U-shaped "plug" that snaps into a female U-shaped portion on the base of the brake pad. It is designed to be "destroyed" when your pads get too thin, and warn you beforehand. Unless you wear down your brake pads to the bare minimum, you do not need to replace them unless they are damaged.

2. The brake calipers and pads on the standard and towing packages are the same - you get larger discs with towing option.

Cool, sorry I’m not a car person, does larger disc mean faster stopping or more powerful or faster wear out?

Originally Posted by Norcalx7

How much does the maintenance plan cost and is it for next 3 years? General maintenance is complimentary for first 3 years correct ?

yeah the $700 add on is to cover brakes and wipers, may be a bit more

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by jonatious

Cool, sorry I'm not a car person, does larger disc mean faster stopping or more powerful or faster wear out?

For the same force between the disc and pads, larger discs generate more torque on the wheel - equating to more stopping force. While this is great, it's also generating more friction for the same pressure and increase pad wear.

In addition, larger discs have a larger surface area, dissipating more of the generated heat, allowing discs and brakes to stay cooler and reduce braking fade.

[jonatious]

Originally Posted by Auricom

For the same force between the disc and pads, larger discs generate more torque on the wheel - equating to more stopping force. While this is great, it's also generating more friction for the same pressure and increase pad wear.

In addition, larger discs have a larger surface area, dissipating more of the generated heat, allowing discs and brakes to stay cooler and reduce braking fade.

I see, I am still on the edge of whether I want to take the add on or not. Do you have any recommendation?

[mitch57]

Originally Posted by jonatious

I see, I am still on the edge of whether I want to take the add on or not. Do you have any recommendation?

I live north of you up here in Bow, WA. My 2020 X7 has 23K miles on it and I don't think I will need brakes before the 3 year/36k mile free maintenance ends. After that time the extended maintenance I paid for to take of brakes will end as well.

Of course, we don't have much traffic up here compared to Seattle. But I drive to Seattle and Tacoma all the time so I do deal with some stop/go traffic. I'm easy on brakes though.

[weingarm]

So here's the thing. What you're talking about is BMW's "Ultimate Care +" program for $700. It covers brake pads and wiper blades.

I may be wrong, but I think it can be residualized into the lease. Can anyone correct me if I'm wrong? Or do you have to pay the full $700 up-front?

[Auricom]

Originally Posted by weingarm

So here's the thing. What you're talking about is BMW's "Ultimate Care +" program for $700. It covers brake pads and wiper blades.

I may be wrong, but I think it can be residualized into the lease. Can anyone correct me if I'm wrong? Or do you have to pay the full $700 up-front?

You can do either. I have residualized UC+ on 3 separate vehicles.

[nigt3]

Is the $1500 dollars your dealer says for brakes, is this just a pad change?

[weingarm]

Originally Posted by Auricom

You can do either. I have residualized UC+ on 3 separate vehicles.

It seems silly not to just residualize UC+ into the lease. Should only cost about $10/month on a 36 month lease. At $360 extra over the life of the lease - seems like a good deal.

[M3ditate]

Originally Posted by weingarm

It seems silly not to just residualize UC+ into the lease. Should only cost about $10/month on a 36 month lease. At $360 extra over the life of the lease - seems like a good deal.

Interesting math.

[mitch57]

Originally Posted by M3ditate

Interesting math.

Interesting? How about Incorrect math? 700/36 = 19.44444.

What did I miss?

[weingarm]

Originally Posted by mitch57

Interesting? How about Incorrect math? 700/36 = 19.44444.

What did I miss?

When you add $700 to the cap cost on a lease (again, assuming you can "residualize" the full $700) that means you only finance about 46% of that amount ($322) in the lease payments - this would be on a 54% residual value lease.

This would equate to ~$10/month on a 36 month lease. If I'm wrong and you can't residualize UC+, then you'd be right, $700/36 = ~$20/month. If that were the case, might as well just pay the full $700 up-front and save the interest charge.

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by weingarm

When you add $700 to the cap cost on a lease (again, assuming you can "residualize" the full $700) that means you only finance about 46% of that amount ($322) in the lease payments - this would be on a 54% residual value lease.

This would equate to ~$10/month on a 36 month lease. If I'm wrong and you can't residualize UC+, then you'd be right, $700/36 = ~$20/month. If that were the case, might as well just pay the full $700 up-front and save the interest charge.

Yeah, you can't residualize that cost, so it's going to be the ~$20 a month to pay the full amount over the lease unless you pay up front. You can however negotiate it being $700. I've paid $500 on my last 2 cars and I think $600 on the car before that, the finance manager didn't skip a beat on the last one when I said I paid $500 before, so I'm thinking you could get it for less.

Also, note that even if you have a 15k/year lease, your maintenance program is only for 36k miles unless you extended it. For those with demos, it's 36k on the odometer, not the first 36k of your ownership (almost found that out the hard way on my X5, but they pushed it through on good will at 38k).

I did have brakes replaced within 36k miles on my X6, X5 (well - 38k), and M3. Two of those three just made it through before the lease came to term, and they weren't bad enough to be required, just me and my SA making sure we could squeeze in every last ounce of service.

I also make sure I get my wipers swapped out every year.

[JVZanetti]

I got dealership equivalent version of Ultimate Care+ for my 3 yrs lease. On top of pads, it covers one time alignment and windshield protection up to $5000 (actually only good for one windshield replacement based on $230 local hourly rate). I got quote of $2k+ for ultimate care+ from the finance office. Probably they just want to sell the dealership brand.
Heard that you can actually buy UC+ later when need pad replacement as long as within 3 yrs. Can someone confirm?

[BzsBimmer]

I just got my X7 to trigger the rear pad replacement message. Just dropped off at dealer. $1200 parts and labor to replace both pads and rotors and I’m at 30k miles.

I declined the rotor replacements and just went for pad replacements unless they mic the rotors and need to be replaced.

Really surprising the rears went before fronts since the bias is usually 70% up front but this is Big Bertha so dunno.

I did not opt for the Maintenance + package so brakes are not covered under factory maintenance. Boooo

*edit
I have the M Sport brakes