Bluebee has browbeaten me into believing that this boy can butt his way through the fear and trepidation of replacing all four disk rotors and associated pads - as his first DIY major repair on a 2002 e39 540i.
Yup. If I can do it as 'my' first DIY, you certainly can!
- A user's very first complete 4-wheel brake DIY experience on the BMW E39 (
1)
And, a word of advice: Always buy the tools you think you need for the job. The tools are free!
(Since the tools are free, I bought all I need, e.g., micrometer, calipers, dial gauge, torque wrench, etc.).
Just know that I had a bad experience with my harbor freight torque wrench, bought for the brake job but used on an oil change:
-
Cn90 How to change your oil; and Bluebee
how NOT to change your oil!
After searching this forum, is it really that only four tools are needed?
You forgot a few but I'll bet many people do without them (personally, I buy all the tools that are needed for the 'perfect' job).
I still always seem to manage to screw it up; but I can never blame the lack of tools!
The fluids you'll need are listed in post #65 here:
- E39 4-wheel brake DIY
fluids:
On fluids, bear in mind that 'most people' (you know who you are) do this job all wrong (according to the Bentleys).
As for that "7mm wrench", it is a "hex" wrench (I assume you knew that, but you didn't say it so I'm just being careful here to give you the right advice.
And, you will probably already have these, but you'll need a prybar to get the anti-rattle spring off ... and probably an additional needlenose pliars to get it back on.
You'll want a thin (maybe 1/8") flathead screwdriver to pry off the dust caps:
And, a needle nose pliers to remove the brake wear sensor (but don't remove it too early like I did):
The prybar comes in handy to leverage a stuck top half of the caliper:
And, as you noted, the caliper spreaders come in handy when the pucks are out:
A micrometer isn't required if you're replacing rotors; but it is required if you want to save the old ones:
But, I don't know how other people can possibly check the disk shoes without a micrometer:
And a dial gauge is required to check the rotor runout when you're all done:
A large flathead screwdriver is needed if you wish to adjust the parking brake:
The 1/8" flathead screwdriver comes in handy when opening up the brake wear sensor harness connector:
It helps to have a coat hanger or similar "tool" to hang the caliper so that the line isn't stressed:
And a torque wrench is required for most of the bolts:
And, do us a favor to confirm that new BMW rotors starting thickness is always 1.6mm thicker than the wear limit.
