Are my brakes okay?
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anonymous-user

Original Poster:

71 months

Saturday 16th March 2024
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The initial message was deleted from this topic on 08 July 2025 at 20:49

GreenV8S

30,956 posts

301 months

Saturday 16th March 2024
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That's quite common and unlikely to be anything to worry about. It's quite normal for pads to rest against the surface of the disc when the brakes are off. You wouldn't normally hear this unless you have you ear up agaist it, but if any dirt got trapped on the face of the pad it may produce a slight grinding noise. The witness marks on that disc suggest something has been caught at some point.

If you want extra reassurance then look around the disc to make sure you don't have any loose wires or anything like that in contact with the disc, but that would be pretty unusual and also not safety critical in any case. From what you've described there's no reason not to drive the car while you figure out what's going on, and if it was me I'd give the problem a couple of weeks to go away on its own before I considered paying somebody to look into it.

deggles

665 posts

219 months

Saturday 16th March 2024
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Rear pads look a little low but not critical. If there’s a mechanical wear indicator that could be causing noise once the pads get down to 3mm or so?

Otherwise I think brakes often benefit from the equivalent of an ‘Italian tuneup’ - find an empty road and do some good hard stops from 70 down to 30 to get some heat and friction through them and clean up the surfaces biggrin

E-bmw

11,349 posts

169 months

Saturday 16th March 2024
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The discs aren't in brilliant condition especially the rear, the inner surfaces may well be worse.

If it were mine I would be replacing discs & pads all round.

Having said that, they are still likely to pass the next MOT bit possibly with an advisory, and as you say they clearly still work, so it is up to you what to do/not about them.

Smint

2,502 posts

52 months

Sunday 17th March 2024
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^ this.

New discs all round, and a rub down and coat of paint on those calipers?

stevieturbo

17,835 posts

264 months

Sunday 17th March 2024
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Discs are very worn, also possible some sticky calipers.

Every now and again these things need serviced, which can help prevent problems.

bern

1,318 posts

237 months

Sunday 17th March 2024
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New disks and pads all round and a proper brake service if it was me. Make sure everything is free and moving properly.

PositronicRay

28,169 posts

200 months

Sunday 17th March 2024
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E-bmw said:
The discs aren't in brilliant condition especially the rear, the inner surfaces may well be worse.

If it were mine I would be replacing discs & pads all round.

Having said that, they are still likely to pass the next MOT bit possibly with an advisory, and as you say they clearly still work, so it is up to you what to do/not about them.
These were an advisory.


E-bmw

11,349 posts

169 months

Sunday 17th March 2024
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PositronicRay said:
E-bmw said:
The discs aren't in brilliant condition especially the rear, the inner surfaces may well be worse.

If it were mine I would be replacing discs & pads all round.

Having said that, they are still likely to pass the next MOT bit possibly with an advisory, and as you say they clearly still work, so it is up to you what to do/not about them.
These were an advisory.

Hence why I would change the OP's discs & pads.

GreenV8S

30,956 posts

301 months

Monday 18th March 2024
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E-bmw said:
These were an advisory.
I see you've been trying out the new quick change brake linings.

E-bmw

11,349 posts

169 months

Tuesday 19th March 2024
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GreenV8S said:
E-bmw said:
These were an advisory.
I see you've been trying out the new quick change brake linings.
That wasn't my post, just sayin'. wink