went to dealer for brake squeal
 

Hi,

I have a 08 535i. Love the car except for this brake squeal that happens when the car gets warm. It generally happens when you step on the brakes and as the car slows down between 0-25mph, you will hear a squeal. Doesn't seem to happen when the car is cool.

I went to the dealership and they told me that it's the brake sensor. That it's a known problem but that they can't do anything unless your brakes are worn down to the point that they can replace them under warranty. He also said if the pads were replaced, the noise would come back again in a short period of time.


Is there any truth to this? Are all of you just dealing with this brake squeal as part of the car's character? I find it extremely annoying, particularly when I'm pulling into a parking lot and everyones looking at the squealing car.

BS from the dealer! 09 535i 28K miles and doesn't squeal.

Mine have squealed for the last year and just
now are starting to look worn. I guess I need to clarify.
In the morning, at the first couple touches of the
brake pedal the front brakes have a squeal, but
it goes away after that. 53k on them and they
are getting replaced soon, but not because of
the squeak.

Your brake squeal locomotive is different than mine. Mine is when it's hot outside and the squealing occurs after car gets warmed up. I'd much rather have your problem of squealing for a few minutes at start up.

I do love my BMW. However, I have learned that in many cases you have to fight to enforce your warranty. I realize that the dealer has to get approval from the alimighty Roundel to approve repairs, but my experience is that if your car meets the spec, you really have to state your case. Good Luck....

I have the same squeal coming from the rear. My 4 year warranty is up in about 6 weeks. After that CPO. Not sure if cpo would cover this as I pads are in good shape. Only 37k on the odometer. 08 550i.

When I had 45K on my car and brought it in for an oil change under my expiring 4 year warrantee, my SA said, what was that? The brakes squeal? I said, yeah, the brakes squeal. He wrote doen, custome complains of brake squeal. Result? New front brakes.

Yeah.... I'm going to meet up w/ my SA when I get get the brakes to squeal and show him. He was out to lunch when I went to BMW today during my lunch break. Hopefully I'll get some new brakes also. I'm at 38k miles.

It really sucks that BMW doesn't have an answer to this problem. I recommended removing the brake sensors and the guy said please dont since BMW brakes do not make that screeching noise that conventional brakes do by design. Thus without the sensor, you have a chance of damaging your rotors.

Mine is ending in 4 weeks. Would love to get this taken care of if possible. It's this and the sunroof seal that I'm trying to get covered. My sunroof isn't that noisy when I have the fabric flap covering it but it is bad when the flap is slid back and I can see the glass.

Mine does same thing when car gets hot, I asked SA about this he said it's not covered by either Service maintenance plan or Extended warranty. I was think to spray with brake cleaner, it might help.

How about bedding brakes? I read about that today on this forum.

I have the same issue and my SA advised me yesterday to do couple of hard braking (enough to engage the ABS) to get rid of the film that develops on the pads due to light use. I have yet to try it!

Bogus. I had to hard brake last week and ABS engaged and I still have the squeal. Just another dealer trying to push you out the door without investigating what the problem is.

That's why I wanted to clarify, Boosted :D
It appears the. brake systems on these fine
cars can be finicky. Hope you get them to
do it under warranty. I wouldn't want your symptom,
either.

Ask around. Some dealers and SAs take the approach to bill BMWNA for as much as they can in order to keep the work in shop and to please the customers.

Maybe you need a sit down with the SA. Tell him up front that these brakes are on the way out, and he can either get the work here and bill it to BMWNA, or an Indy gets the work and he gets nothing.

I've been having the same issue with my rear brakes lately, but the dealership is of no help because I have aftermarket pads/discs. They will, of course, just recommend swapping all the parts out with OEM ones at an insane cost. Here's what I'd recommend

1. Try re-bedding the brakes. This requires 5-6 consecutive hard stops from 60 to 10 or so mph. When the brakes start to fade and you can smell them, you're doing a good job. Make sure to keep the car moving while the brakes cool down.

2. Its possible the squeal is being caused by the brake sensors. Disconnect them and secure them in place using duct tape or something convenient. Go for a short drive and test brakes.

3. If that doesn't work, thoroughly reapply brake anti-squeal grease to all the contact points between the pads and the caliper. You'll likely have to do this yourself or take it to an indy.

4. If you still haven't had any luck order some new pads. Make sure to apply lots of anti-squeal grease, bed them in, and see if the squeal goes away.

5. Lastly, if the issue still hasn't gone away then I'd consider replacing the brake discs as well.

If this happens (brake fade) after 5 or 6 stops, something else is seriously wrong with your car. I'd expect that kind of behavior from a car with drum brakes (like my 65 Buick), but not from a car like our BMW.

Anybody get this fixed yet? Just bought a 535 and I have this squealing break problem. Only when going 20 mph or under and breaking.

No, I'm not be able, jsut live with this.

I read somewhere that the brake system has a feature that ABS applies brakes lightly when it is raining outside. This keeps the pads/rotors dry and always ready for a quick stop. The brake lights don't come on during this process. I have been driving in a torential downpour on interstate and could hear the squeal for a brief period and then it goes away. Then it comes back again after so many minutes. I especially notice squeal with these rotors after a detail on my wheels or a major car wash where I hose off the brakes and wheel wells. I had similar on my old e39 528 after a wash, but not nearly as bad as these. I think has to do with the factory rotors mostly. Will be moving to Brembo dual disk rotors on next brake change. Will see if that quiets them down. If someone could confirm the brake drying feature, perhaps that is what is causing your issue, but maybe a sensor is broken and shows it is raining/wet outside when in fact it isn't.

Yeah. The brakes dry themselves periodically when it rains.

As in one of the initial posts, it is the the brake sensor. You won't have the problem with low miles as the sensor is not touching the rotor until the pads start to wear. Then the coating wears until the element starts to touch (this is not when the light goes off) I have been through to sets of pads and rotors and it happens to me around the 35K miles after the new brakes were on.

I read that its a known issue and that there is a different sensor to address this, its a different color sensor like green.

Warranties cover mechanical failure. That is what manufacts live by. They do not cover noise--unless the dealer really loves you. Cure for squeaky brakes = extremely light coating of peanut butter on back plate of shoes--not on pads. Not sure I would use it on high perf cars, as heat will allow the oil to run down the pad.

Or use brake silicon. $1 for 1/16 of ounce. $16 per ounce X 128 ounces = $2048 per gallon. That is why I use peanut butter. lol ($1 package will do 4 wheels.)

Ask you wife how much a gallon of finger nail polish costs? $10 for 1/16 of ounce. $160 per ounce X 128 ounces = $20,480 per gallon.

Buy her some Sears paint--now on sale for $20 per gallon.

It's god one.
Like people who knows absolutely useless statistics, like that one and sport as well. Thanks man.

Same thing happened to me as well. End out dealer replace front and rear pads, rotors and sensors and problems solve.

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