NOR-CAL General Chat.

[Pantless Spency]

hell even most local members could do it for a fraction of the cost of shop prices.
granted its just your pads that need replacing.

[cmybimmer]

anyone here can recommend someone to do brakes on an e46 in the bay area? My brother's car's brakes are fairly toasted so we can't really go anywhere outside of the bay area

Damn, if only i had the time I'd be happy to help.. Crammed for the next two weeks with school work and festivities this weekend lol..

I'm sure there are members in the area that'd be able to help..

My brakes need attention too O_o

[bmwstephen]

Damn, if only i had the time I'd be happy to help.. Crammed for the next two weeks with school work and festivities this weekend lol..

I'm sure there are members in the area that'd be able to help..

My brakes need attention too O_o

bless your heart.

well my brother and I are willing to dish out some $$$ for your time. all the parts are here. we're reluctant to trust the safety of our lives to some inexperience newbies like my brother and I

[Vivek]

Once you get into brakes, you'll realize that it's really not that easy to screw it up to the point that it is dangerous. There's two bolts holding each caliper to the bracket, you undo those. You pull the caliper off and throw out the pads. Put the new pads in, and compress the caliper cylinder with a c-clamp. Put the caliper back on, and reattach the two slide bolts. That's how it is on an e30 at least. The caliper bracket stops the caliper from really going anywhere, and from what I've seen the bolts aren't especially tight, although some people do put locktite on them. Replacing the rotor is just a couple more fairly simple steps, and that's not going anywhere unless your wheel falls off.

[bmwstephen]

Once you get into brakes, you'll realize that it's really not that easy to screw it up to the point that it is dangerous. There's two bolts holding each caliper to the bracket, you undo those. You pull the caliper off and throw out the pads. Put the new pads in, and compress the caliper cylinder with a c-clamp. Put the caliper back on, and reattach the two slide bolts. That's how it is on an e30 at least. The caliper bracket stops the caliper from really going anywhere, and from what I've seen the bolts aren't especially tight, although some people do put locktite on them. Replacing the rotor is just a couple more fairly simple steps, and that's not going anywhere unless your wheel falls off.

you sound like a pro enough to me! how about I throw some money at you and you can do it for us :)

[Vivek]

I would, but I've never worked on an e46. Chances are it's pretty much the same, but I'd rather not get myself into something that I'm not 100% confident about.

[bmwstephen]

I would, but I've never worked on an e46. Chances are it's pretty much the same, but I'd rather not get myself into something that I'm not 100% confident about.

hence my reason I wouldn't trust myself doing it ;)

[Vivek]

I'll put it this way: if it was my car I'd have zero issues with it. Where are you? I'd guide you through the process this weekend if you're close enough.

[bmwstephen]

every nut and bolt. fuel, brake lines. all kinds oh things need to be replaced. pb blaster and some new parts and she'll be as good as new.

was it originally a california car?

[golde30]

I can do e46 brakes, I can even get OE quality parts at a competitive price. Only issue is whether or not you want to bring the car all the way to the city. I just did full rotors/pads on an e46 330i bout a month ago, and a couple weeks before that 323i, and so on and so forth...

[bmwstephen]

I'll put it this way: if it was my car I'd have zero issues with it. Where are you? I'd guide you through the process this weekend if you're close enough.

I'm in Newark. It's my brother's car and he parked it at my house while he's away for the next 2 weeks on business. Not sure if I feel too confident driving it around unless I know for sure the brake job will be done on the same day within a reasonable time frame. It's that bad... considering he doesn't even know how to pop the hood on his car and I definitely don't have the time to dick around with it since I'm studying for a test

Again, it's something I rather not mess with myself cause it's not my car nor do I care to work on it myself. He wanted me to drive it to BMW of Fremont to do it but I can't imagine the raping that he will be invoiced so I'm trying to see what the other options are.

[Vivek]

Get golde30 to do it. Are the pads so gone that it doesn't like to stop?

[bmwstephen]

Get golde30 to do it. Are the pads so gone that it doesn't like to stop?

hard to tell since this was the first time I drove it to the BART station since he dropped it off. Not sure if it's because of the rain but it sure did feel spongy and took longer than my e30 to stop (my e30 are on OEM brakes)

Carrey, you just got a PM!

[Vivek]

Sponginess isn't necessarily your pads/rotors. If the rotors don't look too worn and the pads aren't super thin, then it's likely you have other braking issues. I believe fully bleeding the brakes tends to help with the spongy feeling.

[kronus]

sponginess is not related to pads/rotors at all. Both are hard surfaces. Sponginess is compressible substances in the hydraulic system, usually air in the form of foamy brake fluid, but sometimes air bubbles due to leaks or improper bleeding. Bleeding the calipers makes this go away. In rare cases where it doesn't, more extensive bleeding with a proper pressure bleeder, or even bench-bleeding the brake master cylinder will take care of it.