Rear Brakes -- pads replacement: e32, e34

3-23-2003

Note: this is a much condensed version, refer to the "Front Brakes" section for any missing details.

Unlike the front brakes for which the rotor simply swings out of the way once the caliper pins & caliper is removed, the caliper support bracket must be removed on the rear brakes since the rotor must slide straight out due to the internal conventional drum brake arrangement for the parking brake.

This time the small socket screw that holds the rotor to the hub didn't want to come off so I ground a slit in it with a cut-off wheel with my die grinder. Once again, my trusty old manual hammer type impact wrench saved my bacon.

I must be a glutton for punishment, re-using the same screw only this time with some anti-seize on the threads. Where are you going to find a new one on a Sunday afternoon?

I did this job on the cheap so machined the wear ridges off of the existing rotors vs. buying new rotors. I mic'd them & they had plenty of thickness, something like 11.1 mm and the minimum thickness is 10.4 mm. They both indexed within +/- .0002" on the lathe but I've not had good success re-machining entire rotor surfaces without getting a pulsating brake pedal, so just removed the inner & outer wear ridges & left the main wear surface as-is. I jitterbugged the faces after machining off the wear ridges.

There are many choices for pads, I kept with the same composition as I used on the fronts a while back, Raybestos PG Plus, semi-metalic, part number PGD396M. They provide excellent street performance and absolutely zero noise, and dust way less than the stock Jurid or Pagid pads.

Price: about $39.95 at Checker Auto Parts, with a "limited lifetime warrantee" whatever that is.

Another alternative that Bill R. recommends to his customers is the Raybestos "Quiet Stop" ceramic pads at $55.95 per axle. I meant to get those when I did the fronts but they weren't in stock at the time and I've been very happy with the semi-metalic PG Plus.

Here's a shot of the conventional style handbrake drum style setup:

They probably will outlast the car before they wear down enough to need replacing so I left them alone.

Here's the thinnest of all the pads which was on the left inner, the side without a wear sensor. It was just starting to make metal to metal contact with the worn ridge on the outer brim. There was maybe 1/32" of pad material left on it, sometimes you get lucky.

In case you want to "extinguish" the annoying "Brake Linings -- See Owners Manual" check control message, if you snip the wires off the wear sensor and strip the ends and solder or twist them together with a wire nut, the message will go out until you have time to replace the pads. That way you can still access all your favorite OBC display settings with the turn signal stalk and not be chimed every 10 or 15 minutes or so telling you what you already know and locking out the displays.

Adusting Handbrakes:

Click this link to my write-up on BimmerNut

Click here to go to the "Front Brakes" section.

gale, 92 735i

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