Poor braking performance - new 320D

[Magnus Barelegs]

Ever since leaving my car sitting on the drive for days/weeks on end, because of snow, the braking performance of my new 320D (efficient dynamics) seems to have gone to pot.
Gentle braking is fine.
It's when you try and brake harder it becomes scary.
Four people in the car at the weekend, it was taking an incredible amount of pressure to slow the car down.
Could the pads have 'gone off'?
I've tried hard braking to burn off any glazing, it doesn't seem to have made much difference.

[McSwerve II]

My 320ed brakes as pretty poor as well.

I thought it was down to the eco (crap) tyres. Do you get the ABS cutting in also?

[Patrick Bateman]

When you say hard braking how often was this?

I'd imagine a handful of decent braking attempts from 60 to 20 or whatever might help if you'd only tried it a couple of times?

[finestjammy]

I've noticed the ABS kicks in pretty early on my 320D Efficient Dynamics. I haven't noticed the brakes being particularly poor though

[Magnus Barelegs]

No, no problem with the ABS kicking in.
I also think the eco-tyres (bridgestone on mine) are pretty good.
No grip problems at all, and I've come from an Alpina with 265 rear tyres!
It's just a lack of braking power, the pdeal needs a hefty shove.
I noticed a 'squeak squeak squeak' from on of the front wheels yesterday too, which went away when you touched the brakes.
I suspect a caliper isn't working properly, which would explain both problems.

[northandy]

Sounds like a good strip down and clean is required. My 120d after being stood a few days over Xmas had similar issue, however it's back to normal now but I do 600 miles a week.

If it was a caliper issue it would be much more noticeable as a pull to either side.

I'd strip them down, give them a good clean, light sanding of the disc and pad faces and reassemble with copper grease on the pad to calliper interfaces. Or take it to a garage.

[McSwerve II]

Magnus Barelegs said:

No, no problem with the ABS kicking in.
I also think the eco-tyres (bridgestone on mine) are pretty good.
No grip problems at all, and I've come from an Alpina with 265 rear tyres!

I think I'm right in saying that the ED comes with Michelin Energy Savers as standard. Was your's supplied with Bridgestone's as new, or something you've changed to?

[finestjammy]

McSwerve II said:

Magnus Barelegs said:

No, no problem with the ABS kicking in.
I also think the eco-tyres (bridgestone on mine) are pretty good.
No grip problems at all, and I've come from an Alpina with 265 rear tyres!

I think I'm right in saying that the ED comes with Michelin Energy Savers as standard. Was your's supplied with Bridgestone's as new, or something you've changed to?

Michelins on mine. Got the car mid October.

[Magnus Barelegs]

I specified runflat energy savers on my car, registered 25/10/10.
They are Bridgestone Turenzas energy saving runflats.
As I said, I've been very impressed with the way they grip, wet or dry.
Snow, not so good, which is why I'm currently running Pirelli Sottozero runflats (not energy savers).

[FaineantFreddy]

I've just driven my girlfriend's brand new 320D. She's had new 320Ds for the past 5 years. I can't say the brakes on this new one are much different from the last one she had. If anything, they're still too overpowered and sharp at low speeds and lack some feel braking from high speeds, but they're not what I'd call heavy to use.

What IS heavy is the steering. Big difference from the last one, to the extent that I'm wondering if something is wrong with the power steering system. Has anyone else found this with the new 320Ds?

Also, the engine note is much harsher, but maybe it just needs more miles to loosen up?