E46 rear brake caliper help
Discussion
Can anyone give me advice on the most cost effective way to tackle a problem I have with my 325i saloon rear calipers?
Basically just yesterday had new handbrake back plates, handbrake shoes, rear discs and pads all fitted at great cost (£596 to be exact, handbrake assembly collapsed and stuck on due to rusted back plates on way to dealership for free airbag recall work to be carried out, typical), only to be then told by the dealer that both calipers were now binding since the new pads were installed. Obviously I wasn’t wanting to fork out dealership prices for new calipers on a 15 year old car so took the car home as it was, no obvious signs of braking effect when driving it home, but discs were a tad hot so assuming they are indeed binding and don’t want to damage new components having just forked out a fortune for them.
Was thinking about a set of new aftermarket ones from eBay at £96 delivered for the pair, made by NTY and sold by Energized Customs, does anyone have experience of either? Generally tend to avoid aftermarket, but hell of a lot cheaper than the £450 I was quoted by the dealership. Or if anyone could recommend some other decent priced ones made by a respected aftermarket company, ATE ones I have also seen at just under £80 a side? Was thinking of installing the cheap ones and possibly sending my originals off to Bigg Red to be fully refurbished. Any experience of aftermarket brakes would be welcome basically, don’t want to waste money on cheaper ones if they’re going to be a waste of time. Would assume new slide pins would be needed as well, as caliper assembly only includes the bleed screw and piston from what I can make out
Basically just yesterday had new handbrake back plates, handbrake shoes, rear discs and pads all fitted at great cost (£596 to be exact, handbrake assembly collapsed and stuck on due to rusted back plates on way to dealership for free airbag recall work to be carried out, typical), only to be then told by the dealer that both calipers were now binding since the new pads were installed. Obviously I wasn’t wanting to fork out dealership prices for new calipers on a 15 year old car so took the car home as it was, no obvious signs of braking effect when driving it home, but discs were a tad hot so assuming they are indeed binding and don’t want to damage new components having just forked out a fortune for them.
Was thinking about a set of new aftermarket ones from eBay at £96 delivered for the pair, made by NTY and sold by Energized Customs, does anyone have experience of either? Generally tend to avoid aftermarket, but hell of a lot cheaper than the £450 I was quoted by the dealership. Or if anyone could recommend some other decent priced ones made by a respected aftermarket company, ATE ones I have also seen at just under £80 a side? Was thinking of installing the cheap ones and possibly sending my originals off to Bigg Red to be fully refurbished. Any experience of aftermarket brakes would be welcome basically, don’t want to waste money on cheaper ones if they’re going to be a waste of time. Would assume new slide pins would be needed as well, as caliper assembly only includes the bleed screw and piston from what I can make out
Cheapest option would be to buy a caliper seal/piston/nipple kit and get your local garage to remove and rebuild the calipers.
Sticking calipers are almost always down to the square cut seal in the bore of the caliper getting 'hung up' (for want of a better expression) on corrosion on the piston. Because of this, the piston cannot retract when you take your foot off the brake pedal and keeps the pads in firm contact with the brake rotor leading to overheating etc.. Only rarely is the bore of the caliper compromised that's why a simple rebuild of the caliper with a piston and seal kit normally resolves the issue.
Your guide pins may be OK but are worth inspecting for smoothness. Should be pretty much flawless if to be reused. New rubber guide tubes for the pins are worth installing at little extra cost and often included in a rebuild kit.
If you're handy with the spanners you can do all this yourself. A competent local garage should be able to rebuild a caliper on the workshop bench in 20-30 mins. It's not difficult. I rebuilt both calipers on my M5 and they were a cinch, apart from getting the old pistons out - compressed air applied to the nipple housing had them out in double quick time.
If you send your calipers away for a refurb to Bigg Red et al they'll come back looking almost new since they'll have been media blasted and painted/powder coated. I took mine to my local alloy wheel refurb place and they blasted them clean for a tenner (taking care not to blast the bores of the caliper). I painted mine with a rattle can of satin black caliper paint and they ended up looking new.
Have a look here for caliper rebuild kits: https://brakeparts.co.uk/
Sticking calipers are almost always down to the square cut seal in the bore of the caliper getting 'hung up' (for want of a better expression) on corrosion on the piston. Because of this, the piston cannot retract when you take your foot off the brake pedal and keeps the pads in firm contact with the brake rotor leading to overheating etc.. Only rarely is the bore of the caliper compromised that's why a simple rebuild of the caliper with a piston and seal kit normally resolves the issue.
Your guide pins may be OK but are worth inspecting for smoothness. Should be pretty much flawless if to be reused. New rubber guide tubes for the pins are worth installing at little extra cost and often included in a rebuild kit.
If you're handy with the spanners you can do all this yourself. A competent local garage should be able to rebuild a caliper on the workshop bench in 20-30 mins. It's not difficult. I rebuilt both calipers on my M5 and they were a cinch, apart from getting the old pistons out - compressed air applied to the nipple housing had them out in double quick time.
If you send your calipers away for a refurb to Bigg Red et al they'll come back looking almost new since they'll have been media blasted and painted/powder coated. I took mine to my local alloy wheel refurb place and they blasted them clean for a tenner (taking care not to blast the bores of the caliper). I painted mine with a rattle can of satin black caliper paint and they ended up looking new.
Have a look here for caliper rebuild kits: https://brakeparts.co.uk/
Edited by Depthhoar on Thursday 30th August 20:16
Had a look on https://brakeparts.co.uk/, rather than a rebuild kit there are 2 new calipers by Budweg for £65 a side from their eBay shop, looks like cheapest and quickest option I can find, I assume they are good quality parts only from that website?
I won't even ask how good your handbrake is.... but seriously, if that's also poor, be aware it's nothing to do with the caliper and is an totally separate small drum in the middle of the disk.
There also afaik not the same calipers as on the 330, so if hunting around, make sure your getting there right thing and it traces back on 'real oem' or the like.
There also afaik not the same calipers as on the 330, so if hunting around, make sure your getting there right thing and it traces back on 'real oem' or the like.
dhutch said:
I won't even ask how good your handbrake is.... but seriously, if that's also poor, be aware it's nothing to do with the caliper and is an totally separate small drum in the middle of the disk.
The handbrake was appalling but funnily enough it is actually excellent now, which I hear is a rare thing. Just had brand new discs, backplates, shoe assemblies and pads on both sides which helps, will see how long it stays good for! Went with Budweg calipers and new slide pin kits from brake parts, hopefully that lot should see me back on the road without any hassle. Do the flexi hoses usually hold up ok on these when undoing the calipers?Thanks for all the help once again, Budweg calipers for both sides and new guide pin kits ordered and on-route for £140 all in. Will be changing these over myself, not 100% sure on re-building calipers myself so this seems like the most affordable & trusted route for me to take! Might get the original BMW ones refurbed and powder coated black by Bigg Red then sell the Budwegs on but we will see, yet more money at the end of the day, would look nice behind the freshly powder coated MV1’s and new discs etc. however.
I've had good millage out of the some bigg-red calipers on the kitcar, base spec (no fancy paint) but paid for the stainless pistons as its an infrequently used car. Had nearly ten years out of them and counting. But there is often a leadtime which is an issue if its your daily.
If the calipers you get work I would just keep them and move on. Life is too short!
Daniel
If the calipers you get work I would just keep them and move on. Life is too short!
Daniel
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