BMW 2 Series Sticky Calliper - What do you think?

Tourist · 24th June 2021, 17:52

Hello all,

Sorry for asking about a non-R75, but I think that's hopefully OK and I'm sure someone here will be able to give me a good answer!

My Other Half has a 2015 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer which we bought during lockdown. It's only got 25k miles on the clock, and the brake pad Service warning came up recently on the dash. True enough, all the pads (front and back) were pretty worn down and in need of replacement.

I've bought the correct OEM Brembo pads and fitted them to all wheels, taking my time to remove the calliper carriers and clean them up gently with a file so that the pads move freely in them and also re-assembled with a bit of copper grease.

I thought all was well, except that after a bit of a test with the car jacked up, the passenger side front wheel is really stiff because the brake pads appear to be sticking on.

If I press the brake pedal, and then get out of the car and try to turn the jacked-up passenger wheel, I can only just turn it by hand. If I gently lever the calliper a bit, I can free it off so that the pads only drag a 'normal' amount. However, pressing the brake pedal causes the brakes to stick on again.

I'm thinking it's probably just a sticky piston in the calliper - would you guys agree?

Short of replacing the calliper, or removing it and examining the conditions of the piston and bore, is there anything else that can be done?

I'm tempted to get a pair of new callipers for the front axle seeing as this is the car that my Fiancé uses every day and we also drive my 18 month daughter around in it, but don't want to risk going to the expense and then find that it's something else!

My thinking is that this could be a common problem in cars that are fairly old (6 years in this case) but have low mileages.

Many thanks for any expertise that you can share ;-)

suzublu · 24th June 2021, 18:02

May I suggest you remove the copper grease and use proper brake grease. Happened to me after cleaning etc of my calipers for the umteenth time and finding out the copper grease gets hot and becomes sticky, rather than lubing

macafee2 · 24th June 2021, 18:09

From your description it sounds as if the piston is sticking in the caliper. I did my front pistons on the drive a month or so ago. apart from the dust seal it was a fairly easy job to replace piston and inner seal.

If you only change one side you may find the car will pull to one side under braking and so you perhaps should change both sides

macafee2

xsport · 24th June 2021, 19:04

macafee2 is correct. strip them both down and give the calipers a good clean inside and fit new service kits. take off the caliper holders and give them a good clean up or renew if too badly corroded. lack of maintenance im afraid.

AndrewJames · 24th June 2021, 20:38

You could always potentially have a bad brake hose too. The other comments are probably a more likely explanation but just thought I'd throw that into the hat.

AndyN01 · 25th June 2021, 11:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsport

....... lack of maintenance im afraid.

I'm absolutely not having any sort of a pop here because I agree with you.

But I'll happily wager that there's no mention whatsoever of any routine strip down and service of a brake caliper in the BMW service schedules.

Unless it's in the catch-all of "check the operation of......."

Maybe us old un's are used to times when stuff was routinely taken to bits and "serviced" regularly, but they've made everything either impossibly difficult with specialist tools etc. or "sealed for life" regardless of whether that life is measured in days, weeks, months, years or decades.

Never mind, just buy a new one sir. That'll be £££££££'s

And it's obviously environmentally friendly to throw away all the carefully and precisely machined caliper itself for the want of a new O ring. It'll cost too much in time and labour, Sir. Sad isn't it.

xsport · 25th June 2021, 14:19

i have always serviced my own brakes. i like to know they have been done properly ( you only get one life apparently unless you grow wings) so unless you have had a car from new you dont know its brake service history whilst changing pads over the years. anyone can stamp a service book after they have been skimped. even if you go to a reputable garage or quick fit type tyre/brakes centre you would not know any different. do these service guys remove the guide pins and clean them or wire brush the carriers and use brake cleaner ? not all are guilty but in most cases where pads are fitted quickly just do enough to get the old pads out and force the calliper piston back in to get in the new ones. so its little wonder eventually they stick or do not retract properly. brake fluid never changed ...brake hoses clamped ... the list goes on. we do all live in this just " turn the key" car age but lives can be thrown away just as easy as cars.....

xsport · 25th June 2021, 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

You could always potentially have a bad brake hose too. The other comments are probably a more likely explanation but just thought I'd throw that into the hat.

sometimes the interior of the hoses bellow inwards and separate constricting the flow return to the metal pipes . age and clamping the flexis can do this and sometimes show no exterior signs of bulging. in bad cases if the pressure within the caliper is slow to release and the pads are still contacting the disc you should find that when the bleed valve is slackened quite a bit of fluid should eject under pressure. might be worth checking this out provided your bleed nipples are not siezed in !! if they are then here is another pointer to fluid changes / bleeding etc being neglected. worth checking as you may get away with a couple of flexi hoses and a fluid change, ...

AndrewJames · 25th June 2021, 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsport

sometimes the interior of the hoses bellow inwards and separate constricting the flow return to the metal pipes . age and clamping the flexis can do this and sometimes show no exterior signs of bulging. in bad cases if the pressure within the caliper is slow to release and the pads are still contacting the disc you should find that when the bleed valve is slackened quite a bit of fluid should eject under pressure. might be worth checking this out provided your bleed nipples are not siezed in !! if they are then here is another pointer to fluid changes / bleeding etc being neglected. worth checking as you may get away with a couple of flexi hoses and a fluid change, ...

Well put and you put a lot more effort into your post than I did

. I saw Eric the Car Guy on YouTube doing the nipple test a while back.

My brakes aren't sticking but I am doing a rear brake overhaul on Tuesday including new calipers. I did buy new hoses too (I figured why not, the originals are old now) but I'm not sure whether to go ahead with trying to get the old hoses off. I keep picturing myself shearing the brake line at the union and then being screwed. I've got the proper line spanners but do I have the cojones...

xsport · 25th June 2021, 22:11

yes the brake spanner is key for this job as eastpete strongly enforced in his brakes service post on here. i have just changed all four of my flexi hoses and was in my mind dreading the outcome of a union that would not unscrew or rupture. my plan was not to attempt anything until i was sure the unions would undo before i started. strict cleaning and wire brushing of the union first followed by a few light taps and finally a liberal dose of plusgas and left for a few days. following marinabrians advise of tightening first they all came undone no problems. however i did make sure a day before i tackled the job that they undid first and just nipped them back up before i tackled the job. pretty straight forward job and very satisfying once done. even though i had the correct brake spanners i still bought myself a russian brake spanner from ebay (still available) cheap looking tool it is but very effective.it gives nearly 100 % wrap around the union (all 5 sides) as it has an adjustable bolt to take up all play and its thicker faces will give no play at all once tightened. if fact i bought 4 different sizes of the spanner which covered all brake nipples sizes and they removed my seized ones at the rear with ease. i dont have a link but well worth looking for on ebay under brake spanners. the unions may well have come undone with the standard brake spanner but i used the belt and braces aproach just in case. ...

24th June 2021, 17:52	#1
Tourist Loves to post 2004 Rover 75 Tourer CDTi Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Fulbourn, Cambridge Posts: 455 Thanks: 105 Thanked 123 Times in 101 Posts	BMW 2 Series Sticky Calliper - What do you think? Hello all, Sorry for asking about a non-R75, but I think that's hopefully OK and I'm sure someone here will be able to give me a good answer! My Other Half has a 2015 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer which we bought during lockdown. It's only got 25k miles on the clock, and the brake pad Service warning came up recently on the dash. True enough, all the pads (front and back) were pretty worn down and in need of replacement. I've bought the correct OEM Brembo pads and fitted them to all wheels, taking my time to remove the calliper carriers and clean them up gently with a file so that the pads move freely in them and also re-assembled with a bit of copper grease. I thought all was well, except that after a bit of a test with the car jacked up, the passenger side front wheel is really stiff because the brake pads appear to be sticking on. If I press the brake pedal, and then get out of the car and try to turn the jacked-up passenger wheel, I can only just turn it by hand. If I gently lever the calliper a bit, I can free it off so that the pads only drag a 'normal' amount. However, pressing the brake pedal causes the brakes to stick on again. I'm thinking it's probably just a sticky piston in the calliper - would you guys agree? Short of replacing the calliper, or removing it and examining the conditions of the piston and bore, is there anything else that can be done? I'm tempted to get a pair of new callipers for the front axle seeing as this is the car that my Fiancé uses every day and we also drive my 18 month daughter around in it, but don't want to risk going to the expense and then find that it's something else! My thinking is that this could be a common problem in cars that are fairly old (6 years in this case) but have low mileages. Many thanks for any expertise that you can share ;-)

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24th June 2021, 18:02	#2
suzublu This is my second home rover 75 1.8 vvc club se wedgwood blue Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Seaton Carew Posts: 26,911 Thanks: 65 Thanked 7,142 Times in 4,642 Posts	May I suggest you remove the copper grease and use proper brake grease. Happened to me after cleaning etc of my calipers for the umteenth time and finding out the copper grease gets hot and becomes sticky, rather than lubing

24th June 2021, 18:09	#3
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,911 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	From your description it sounds as if the piston is sticking in the caliper. I did my front pistons on the drive a month or so ago. apart from the dust seal it was a fairly easy job to replace piston and inner seal. If you only change one side you may find the car will pull to one side under braking and so you perhaps should change both sides macafee2

24th June 2021, 19:04	#4
xsport Posted a thing or two rover 75 club se Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Leicester Posts: 1,636 Thanks: 358 Thanked 419 Times in 310 Posts	macafee2 is correct. strip them both down and give the calipers a good clean inside and fit new service kits. take off the caliper holders and give them a good clean up or renew if too badly corroded. lack of maintenance im afraid.

24th June 2021, 20:38	#5
AndrewJames Loves to post Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 291 Thanks: 133 Thanked 102 Times in 61 Posts	You could always potentially have a bad brake hose too. The other comments are probably a more likely explanation but just thought I'd throw that into the hat.

25th June 2021, 14:19	#7
xsport Posted a thing or two rover 75 club se Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Leicester Posts: 1,636 Thanks: 358 Thanked 419 Times in 310 Posts	i have always serviced my own brakes. i like to know they have been done properly ( you only get one life apparently unless you grow wings) so unless you have had a car from new you dont know its brake service history whilst changing pads over the years. anyone can stamp a service book after they have been skimped. even if you go to a reputable garage or quick fit type tyre/brakes centre you would not know any different. do these service guys remove the guide pins and clean them or wire brush the carriers and use brake cleaner ? not all are guilty but in most cases where pads are fitted quickly just do enough to get the old pads out and force the calliper piston back in to get in the new ones. so its little wonder eventually they stick or do not retract properly. brake fluid never changed ...brake hoses clamped ... the list goes on. we do all live in this just " turn the key" car age but lives can be thrown away just as easy as cars.....

25th June 2021, 22:11	#10
xsport Posted a thing or two rover 75 club se Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Leicester Posts: 1,636 Thanks: 358 Thanked 419 Times in 310 Posts	yes the brake spanner is key for this job as eastpete strongly enforced in his brakes service post on here. i have just changed all four of my flexi hoses and was in my mind dreading the outcome of a union that would not unscrew or rupture. my plan was not to attempt anything until i was sure the unions would undo before i started. strict cleaning and wire brushing of the union first followed by a few light taps and finally a liberal dose of plusgas and left for a few days. following marinabrians advise of tightening first they all came undone no problems. however i did make sure a day before i tackled the job that they undid first and just nipped them back up before i tackled the job. pretty straight forward job and very satisfying once done. even though i had the correct brake spanners i still bought myself a russian brake spanner from ebay (still available) cheap looking tool it is but very effective.it gives nearly 100 % wrap around the union (all 5 sides) as it has an adjustable bolt to take up all play and its thicker faces will give no play at all once tightened. if fact i bought 4 different sizes of the spanner which covered all brake nipples sizes and they removed my seized ones at the rear with ease. i dont have a link but well worth looking for on ebay under brake spanners. the unions may well have come undone with the standard brake spanner but i used the belt and braces aproach just in case. ...