Brake overheating

[NYC6]

Last week I took a 135 out for a test drive. On a local Parkway I got the car up to about 100mph twice and braked pretty hard down to 50mph or so. Got a typical brake pad odor in the cabin. But it was thicker smoking that what you would expect from a performance brake setup after only two moderate braking attempts. Anyone else have this condition with the Brembos? Maybe the pads werent fully bedded to the rotors as the car had less than 200 miles. How are the original pads holding up to aggressive street use?

[Tom K.]

Without being specific, the owners' manual does advise breaking in the brakes by "driving cautiously" for the first 300 miles.

Tom

[NYC6]

Originally Posted by Tom K.

Without being specific, the owners' manual does advise breaking in the brakes by "driving cautiously" for the first 300 miles.

Tom

Thats probably what it was then. Brembos are known for not overheating that quickly. Especially with good size rotors and some air cooling up front. Im sure the dealer didnt follow proper bedding procedure anyway. Thanks.

[john08135i]

Yea your pads arent ready for that.. and you probably glazed your rotors in the process..

[Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!]

You shoulda seen the smoke coming out of my wheels when I did a pad break in procedure. That $hit stank.

[BrokenVert]

As far the brakes holding up. I have a 22K miles on my car with several Auto-X days. My breaks are still goin strong.

[cagekicker]

you were supposed to break in the brakes as per the manual to avoid what had occured.

[m3bs]

I spent all day at the track yesteday braking from 150. The brakes work.

[Lester]

Hopefully with more than 200 miles on the car, though? :-)

[m3bs]

Originally Posted by Lester

Hopefully with more than 200 miles on the car, though? :-)

Almost 10K.

[dbtheo]

Originally Posted by NYC6

Thats probably what it was then. Brembos are known for not overheating that quickly. Especially with good size rotors and some air cooling up front. Im sure the dealer didnt follow proper bedding procedure anyway. Thanks.

You were test driving a car (hard) that has not been fully broken in & you blame the dealer?

[JimD]

The brakes in my 128i are not as good as the ones in the 135i but they worked fine for me at the Tail of the Dragon Monday. It felt a lot like an autocross with 318 turns in 11 miles. I had noticable dust front and back. The front is normal for me but the back isn't. But the brakes always felt fine, no evidence of fade. I wasn't going more than 50 mph or so and only braked to 25 mph or so on the tightest curves but it was just one curve after another to I was always on the gas or the brake. Lots of fun and the bimmer handled it very well.

The sports seats were also much appreciated for this drive. My son and I stayed nicely in position while a little cooler in the back seat slid side to side on the back seat. We were staying in our lane and not getting crazy but we were moving along (when not obstructed by somebody).

Jim