What's up with my 1 series?!

[redevil]

Hi guys,

I have a 120d which has been making a strange vibrating noise intermittently in the last few days.

Judging by the amount of brake dust on the offside rear alloy, i'd guess it's an issue with the brakes? The funny thing is though, that it only occurs after around 15 minutes of driving on motorways and then within a minute or two it's gone for the rest of the journey. It seems to be that it only occurs with the brakes at a certain temperature but i really don't know. The brakes work normally and there doesn't seem to be an issue with the handling or any of the tyres.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Neil.D]

It sounds like your brake caliper is binding. 2 ways to check, firslty feel the wheel after a longish drive. It should not be hot to touch - and I mean seriously hot so be careful.
Second is to jack up the offending corner and try to spin the wheel (handbrake off of course). It should turn freely with only minor friction from the pads.

This may explain your brake dust, and why it happens on the motorway as the wheel is turning faster and creating more friction. It will also affect your fuel consumption.

Neil.D

[redevil]

Hi Neil,

Many thanks for your reponse. I haven't jacked the car up but I can confirm that the wheel is fairly warm after a decent length drive and the fuel consumption is slightly down.

What's the solution? Something I could maybe do or an expensive trip to see BMW?

Thanks

Ben.

[AlfaSpider]

I had the same problem with my 330d the dust seal on the calliper piston seems to be just a bad design allowing water into the bore. BMW supply rebuild kits for callipers, its a lot cheaper than a new calliper and you can get them bead blasted and zinc plated for a very reasonable price i did all four for peace of mind. I also found the offending calliper had caused the disc to warp slightly this may not be the case but worth looking at.

[Neil.D]

Warping may occur as it is being heated up beyond what it would normally be expected to do.
If you are hand with a spanner then you can buy a caliper seal kit from bmw, pop the piston out yourself, clean it up, top up the system, replace then bleed the caliper which should do it.