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      09-25-2012, 01:22 PM   #1
TXmtrhed
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Service light question for those who track

I have been to the track 8 times since I received my car and always swap in race pads and tie back the brake sensors when I do. Last event was a couple of weeks ago. Car has less than 13,000mi and on the street I drive like the old man I’m becoming so all the hard braking is done on the track.

The dash display for miles remaining for front brake service kept decreasing at a fast pace even though my street pads were lightly used (rotors well within spec too).

Last week after the miles to go interval reached 950 the service light came on. So I took it to the dealer to have the service light reset which they were unable to do. They then replaced the brake sensor and the light still wouldn’t stay off. So they replaced the pads and rotors which finally succeeded in turning off the light (their objective)! Fortunately the work was covered by the warranty so it’s no cost to me but what a waste of money by BMW. Too bad they wouldn’t let me keep the old rotors.

Now the service life remaining for the new front brakes is 4200 miles?! How is the brake service interval calculated? Surely it’s not based strictly on wear as the original front brake sensor never touched the rotor. Does it use accelerometer data?

Anyone have similar experiences or an explanation?
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      09-26-2012, 09:18 AM   #2
theshiningnova
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TXmtrhed View Post
I have been to the track 8 times since I received my car and always swap in race pads and tie back the brake sensors when I do. Last event was a couple of weeks ago. Car has less than 13,000mi and on the street I drive like the old man I’m becoming so all the hard braking is done on the track.

The dash display for miles remaining for front brake service kept decreasing at a fast pace even though my street pads were lightly used (rotors well within spec too).

Last week after the miles to go interval reached 950 the service light came on. So I took it to the dealer to have the service light reset which they were unable to do. They then replaced the brake sensor and the light still wouldn’t stay off. So they replaced the pads and rotors which finally succeeded in turning off the light (their objective)! Fortunately the work was covered by the warranty so it’s no cost to me but what a waste of money by BMW. Too bad they wouldn’t let me keep the old rotors.

Now the service life remaining for the new front brakes is 4200 miles?! How is the brake service interval calculated? Surely it’s not based strictly on wear as the original front brake sensor never touched the rotor. Does it use accelerometer data?

Anyone have similar experiences or an explanation?
sorry for going OT here but did your dealer not give you any trouble for needing new rotors and pads at only 13k miles and tracking your car?
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      09-26-2012, 09:48 AM   #3
firechicken99
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Originally Posted by theshiningnova View Post
sorry for going OT here but did your dealer not give you any trouble for needing new rotors and pads at only 13k miles and tracking your car?
i think the bigger issue was that the light was not resetting with a new sensor even though the pads/rotors were still well within spec. I dont think they replace the rotors every time with pads do they?

Seems odd that they wouldn't try removing/replacing them or something to see if it fixes it first. Thats a really odd problem.
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      09-26-2012, 10:54 AM   #4
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I bet they did more than just replaced your brake pads and rotors after replacing the pad sensor to reset the light. Maybe they even did a SW update to allow them to reset the light.

Something sounds fishy here. ?
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      09-26-2012, 11:20 AM   #5
firechicken99
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Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
I bet they did more than just replaced your brake pads and rotors after replacing the pad sensor to reset the light. Maybe they even did a SW update to allow them to reset the light.

Something sounds fishy here. ?
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      09-26-2012, 12:51 PM   #6
TXmtrhed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theshiningnova View Post
sorry for going OT here but did your dealer not give you any trouble for needing new rotors and pads at only 13k miles and tracking your car?
No trouble from the dealer since the pads and rotors were in fine shape. The only concern they had was keeping the service light from coming on. So they kept replacing parts. Why they replaced the rotors I have no idea but they had new ones in stock so they used them.

The thing that troubled me was their lack of effort in diagnosing the cause - they just replaced parts so they could go on to the next car.

I'm guessing the issue will be addressed again in short order when the service interval drops again.

Any idea what the remaining service life is based on?
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      09-26-2012, 12:58 PM   #7
firechicken99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TXmtrhed View Post
No trouble from the dealer since the pads and rotors were in fine shape. The only concern they had was keeping the service light from coming on. So they kept replacing parts. Why they replaced the rotors I have no idea but they had new ones in stock so they used them.

The thing that troubled me was their lack of effort in diagnosing the cause - they just replaced parts so they could go on to the next car.

I'm guessing the issue will be addressed again in short order when the service interval drops again.

Any idea what the remaining service life is based on?
I dont recall which thread, but do remember the fairly sized conversation about why they would do such.... Basically what it boiled down to is BMW is paying for everything and that price wise its cheaper for them to just replace those expendable parts than to spend additionally hours attempting to diagnose something.

It the best answer? No. But its the one that comes at no cost to us
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