E30 Zone

thats what its gonna cost me do do the brakes

it locked up on me today, i was at the lights and came off the clutch, but the back of the car just dipped and went nowhere

mighty pissed, i drove to bmwԚ´s. Went there yesterday to ask what it will cost me (just as a starting estimate) to deal with the matter

Quote 1 for a new set of rear discs, pads front and rear, handbrake shoes, new brake fluid and so on Ԛ£270

Quote 2as above + 2 new calipers on the back, and hoses....Ԛ£512


Please dont say, do it myself or such like as im a bit gutted
I know bmwԚ´s are expensive and i donԚ´t realy care about how much i end up spending on her in the long run, but iԚ´m abit gutted over the cost

I left her there this morning, and the work isnԚ´t to be done until i confirm it should go ahead

What should i do lads n lasses

i think the sell your body bit sounds like a good bet, however i think you may just have to bight the bullet and get the whole works done, be better in the long run, something less to go wrong then.

Can you not find an independent to do the work and get the parts from Euro Car Parts or somewhere? Should work out less than at the $tealers. If i've got the wrong end of the stick just ignore me.

mat , i hear u bruvs.. i looked at getting the parts myself, and getting an independant to fit, but i cant find anyone who is prepared to take the job on at a reasonable cost

the labour for the job at bmw is 129 for the fitting

wats wrong with the car?

its sound like rear calipers seized
if so
get a set of rear calipers of a braker or ebay pay about 40 -60 for a pair and fit them with new pads and disks from gsf if you need new ones . but 500 is steep in my eyes

a set of recon calipers must be Ԛ£120 from gsf
but fitting just rear calipers is a bit of cake . remove .refit .bleed!

but without looking i cant tell

AND is it both sides ?

wats wrong with the car?

its sound like rear calipers seized
if so
get a set of rear calipers of a braker or ebay pay about 40 -60 for a pair and fit them with new pads and disks from gsf if you need new ones . but 500 is steep in my eyes

a set of recon calipers must be Ԛ£120 from gsf
but fitting just rear calipers is a bit of cake . remove .refit .bleed!

but without looking i cant tell

AND is it both sides ?

Agree with that, Ԛ£512 is too much and a proper garage will trouble shoot it a bit for you before replacing everything at once, sounds like there's one daft thing wrong like a seized handbrake cable

don't really know what to suggest except that sorting the brakes is a pretty straightforward job and you should be able to find an independant to put the bits on for you.

i have decided...

the car is to be benched, at home until i

(a) Find a reliable mechanics to do the work

(b) Aquire said parts and Ԛ´attemptԚ´ to fit them myself

(c) wake up in a cold sweat and book it in for the following morning


as far as i see it now, its not such a great deal of money..who am i kiddin, thats a fakkin holiday there man

it comes home tommorow

Johnno if you've still got that vaseline it might come in handy for your O ring if you sell you're arse.

u still on that martin! i worry about u dude

I might be talking out of my o ring but the first e30 i had i drove to destruction because i had a sticking brake peddle that caused just enough bite to bind the back brakes that then led to knakered gearbox bearings.
Thats one opinion the only other thing i can surgest is pulling it apart yourself, you'll probably find the rear disks don't need to be replaced just yet (thats bmw being extra cautious and tyring to charge you over the top for parts) i know i can get them for Ԛ£11. As for the calipers if you need new ones get refurbs or you can buy a kit with just new seals (yes more o rings) or just wind them back in and out a few times it might just be crap inside stopping them functioning properly.
And finnaly check the handbrake shoes inside and make sure the lining hasn't come away from the sheo.
Good luck it sounds like a lot of work but its got to be easier than selling your arse.

cheers martina! the discs are ridged so i want to change them, though they could be turned flat again, but i need a machinest to do it and the chances of gettin it all together on the same day is unlikely

the option is realy toget the zimmermanns front and new cross drilled rears, pads, handbrake shoes, hanbrake cable (why not), CAPLIPERS, and some new brake juice and im larfin

Jack the car up, take the back wheels off, put it in gear, start it up and hold a file against the edge of the disc. Job done

now thats a tip i can use

I've been told about Green Stuff brake shoes they work well on standard disks but wear out quicker/cause more dust/cost more but might work out cheaper that drilled discs.
As for the hoses, thats new gear without a doubt. I was quite shoked at the price though for what you get.

so was i fella, so was i

Johnno i did a quick tally on euro car parts and for standard bits it's about Ԛ£190.
If you get the back wheels off do us a favour and let me know what colour paint marker is on your rear springs.(see my thread about springs)
Cheers.

i would get the car jacked up ,get the wheels and disks off, and have a look to see whats wrong with it before i made any decision.

the retaining pins on the handbrake shoes can pull out of the back plate .The shoes then can move and lock up the back end

i took her back home today from bmw, they were properly moody... probably because they just missed out on skinnin me for 500 sobs!

a big thank you to all for some sense into me i am gonna take the job on myself, so get ready for the show!

its gonna be laughter, tears, freakouts and everything. DonԚ´t miss it

Just do it yourself. Parts will be less than Ԛ£200 and it's an easy job.

If you get stuck, just post on here and we'll help you through it!!

Better than forking out Ԛ£500 odd quid!

I would try it myself.. What am I talking about I did, and couldn't get the sodding caliper bolts off!!!

Seriously, try it yourself. I bought the front discs and pads for mine, (as well as other stuff) then when it went a bit pear shaped I took it to the local independant. I supplied front discs + pads, new springs all round (35/40 mm lower) cam belt, tensioner and water pump.

The garage did all the brakes (although they said it took 2 mechanics on the end of a steel bar to remove the bolt I was having problems with) springs, supplied and fitted new front shocks, supplied + fitted rear discs and pads (they did ask me first but I knew they were shot) cam belt change, tensioner, waterpump. They removed all water pipes, replaced any old looking ones and put new clips on the hoses for Ԛ£690, now that was a bargain!

There is always a good cheap independant, find them and use them!

thank you sir , a personal invitation from E30 adam is not to be taken lightly

im on it!

i have done jobs like this in the past mate and would advise you to invest in summat like this http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/LIS-29200.html you wont belive how much easier the job will be instead of hanging on big extension bars you use a small lump hammer to hit the tool and it twists the rusted bolts/allen bolts out 3 tips a/ the night bfore you do the job spray offending bolts with penartating oil b/ make sure impact driver is set to loosen not tighten (obvious i know but easy mistake to make) c/ and the most important before you fit new pads make sure you aint left any of the penatrating oil behind(you can buy a degreaser/solvent called ambersil in a can) else you will be spending all the money you have saved on a new front end when your new brakes fail hope this helps m8

Johnono
you will only need the impact driver if you can't get the disc retaining screw out (hexbolt) but there peanut and you can drill them out if your replacing the disc.
The bolt demon daz (sound's like a realy good washing powder ) is on about is the caliper retaing bolts 17mm thats bonded in with thread lock.
I ended up using a jack under the end of the spanner. No swinging of hammers for me just nice and easy.

Just spotted this on Fleabay, might be not use to you but then again...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 97088&rd=1

instead of forking out 500, why not buy some tools yourself and give it a go.
At least you will have something to show for it!

Martinaston, I wish I'd have thought of the jack under the socket!!! Oh well, I know for next time.

Tried the hammer approach but got pi**ed off with the spanner taking flight

just got the brakes done on my touring...

bought x-drilled zimmerman discs all round and pagid fast road pads all round, plus 4x Flexi hozes

cost Ԛ£200.01 in parts (suppost to be Ԛ£228 inc vat but I told em to sod off )

Phoned up my local garage at 12noon, they said "bring the car up"

took it up for 12.15, they fitted all the parts, replaced the two rear pipes and put new fluid in, bled it all for Ԛ£150

so cost me Ԛ£350.01 all in, well chuffed and it now stops as well as it goes

poser only joking!
yeah, sounds good, if it was only pads and stuff, i could get a good deal on it, but calipers cost a bit more.... although a repair pack for a caliper costd peanuts so i may have a crack at that

i spent Ԛ£100 on halfrouds tool kit and i bought groved disks and v/fast track pads and a piston pushback tool all about Ԛ£200

and i get to keep the tools!

Well Lads and Lasses

The Parts are home

so far.. ive gotten

Caliper set
comprises of 2 brand new calipers,
pads for both sides, clips and bits

2 rear discs

set of hanbrake shoes
springs and clips for handbrake shoes

brake fluid (4 ltr, coz i think i may waist a bit )

PRICE ALL IN WITH VAT........................170 squideroons

(does this mean im happy with the price?)

Well its a lot better than 512 so as long as i dont balls it up in typical "o no" style then all should be cool

Well done mate!

Pretty good prices!

If you need any help I'm sure people here will be more than happy to advise!

im an appy chappy

im going down to start it now.

be back on tonight with a progress report

safe

Ok,..

not so happy chappy now, not that anything went wrong as such but i couldnԚ´t change the calipers coz the flexi lines are siezed solid

hit that with wd40, then tried to drain some fluid, but the nipple thiny wasnt budging, so i rounded that
not so bad though coz iԚ´m giving my old set back to them for Ԛ£25

after dropping the caliper, and seeing that the inner pad was completely gone, i am not joking. the pad back was the only thing stopping the car. the outer one was still in fair condition, 7mm left
mabey the last garage that had her tried to save a buck and replaced only the ones he could see

and on we went to handbrake shoes.. but the last garage to touch them had Welded! washers on the back of the shoe holders(pegs with springs in the middle) so i lost it.. and pulled the peg through the disc plate behind, seeing that it was a bit on the weak side

Are these hard to replace, or does the bearing need to come off?

anyway, handbrake shoes on, and a custom attatchment later and i have one side of the car with a new pair of shoes..4 hours later

ill get some new flexi lines and depending on how hard it is to replace, some of those disc backs.
Just tidied up and put the new disc and caliper on (caliper not lined in but in its fixed position) it looks lush
after all this ill get Zimms for the front coz she deserves it