I've been a bit of a prat

[Andy335Touring]

I've had a slight rubbing/scrapping noise comming from the rear of my car for a while along with my hand brake being weak, i new what it was but let it slide rather than sorting it.

What happened is the little fastening that holds the hand brake shoe down failed some how and because i've left it to long it's knackered the shoes and the discs Both of which had plenty of life left in them.

I just thought i'd post this up to give every one else a "heads up" on the symtoms to look out for this little E30 problem and to ask wheather this uneven brake pad wear is normal ? The sliders looked in good condition, nothing looked stuck or seized ?

Theres a two pound coin on the thinner pad for scale which makes the thinner pad about 4mm thick.



Chewed fasteners and chamfered shoe



Some one has already been in there and fabbed some fasteners up for the other shoe, i didn't take it apart but it looks like they have put a bolt in from the back, drilled and tapped it so they could put a screw and washer from the front. The bolt head also had a big blob of weld on it ?





You can't see it very well from the pic but the drum type surface that the pad press's on to is badly grooved due to the shoe not sitting right.



ah well, new fasteners, shoes and discs will sort it but it could have been a cheaper fix if i'd sorted it sooner

[TW166Y]

yep ive had this happen too andy but i sorted miine straight away

sorry

[Simon13]

a popular problem isn't it, bit of a harsh thread title too!

[HartgeH27]

Andy ......good man ....Thanks!!!!

[gareth]

oops!!!

it'll only cost about Ԛ£50 for all new disks, handbrake shoes and pads from gsf so it's not all bad...

the handbrakes do seem to get neglected on these cars!

[gazza]

and a pair of back plates ive seen the bolts trick before when the hole that the handbrake shoe pins locate in rust away making the hole bigger you cant make the pin/springs stay in place so the bolts do as a temp fix then get forgotten when you buy all your bits get the backplates as you will sit down to do it then realise you cant finish the job and the backplates are not usually available that day ( i learnt the hard way)

[Andy335Touring]

Cheers chaps

So is that uneven pad wear normal ?

Gazza, i guess you've got to take the hub off to change the back plate ? Can the bearing races(?) be left in place ?

Luckily i've got the right sized socket for the big retaining nut.

How much were the back plates ?

[Globulator]

Back-plate was about Ԛ£10-12 or something from BMW as I recall. Sadly mine is still on a hook awaiting a day when I pull the hub off....
.... any pointers to hub removal articles would be handy if and when you find them!!

[Dan318-is]

andy iv got a rear backplate if you want if from BMW unused if you need it

[Andy335Touring]

Cheers for the offer Dan but i may as well get get it from the dealer as i'll have to go there for the shoe fasteners/springs

[mattG]

a popular problem isn't it, bit of a harsh thread title too!

re the title didn't run out of petrol recently

[Andy335Touring]

a popular problem isn't it, bit of a harsh thread title too!

re the title didn't run out of petrol recently

eye, but it was the lying petrol gauge that caused it

[mattG]

eye, but it was the lying petrol gauge that caused it

eye, but how long was it faulty for

[Andy335Touring]

eye, but it was the lying petrol gauge that caused it

eye, but how long was it faulty for

That was the first time !

I still haven't done any thing to try to fix it though apart from keeping it more full and keeping a can petrol in the boot

[gazza]

when you buy the springs/clips from bmw you can buy it as a set Ԛ£22 or the idividual items if you can do without buying the big springs then all is good as the springs retail for about Ԛ£6 each when bought seperately and the set is available from stock that day or the next where the seperate items are on back order and may take a week to come in
re the pad wear my outer pads always wear much quicker than the inner ones on the rear
as i recall the bearing assembly has to come off you may as well replace the the caliper retaining bolts and the 4 bolts that secure the caliper carrier as well cost you about Ԛ£5 at bmw ....my etk shows the backplates at aroundԚ£6 each you will have to let us know what you pay as pattern ones are Ԛ£14 on a website i just looked at each...can it be you are getting something cheaper from bmw

[Andy335Touring]

Cheers for the info Gazza

Time to raid my ETK and ECP web site to sort the bits out.

[mattG]

eye, but it was the lying petrol gauge that caused it

eye, but how long was it faulty for

That was the first time !

I still haven't done any thing to try to fix it though apart from keeping it more full and keeping a can petrol in the boot

my touring has the same problem runs out at half way mark, although the light has come on once before when i collected it i fill he up every 250mls just to be sure. it'll be interesting to see if the megasquirt makes it more economical?

[gareth]

i would have run out 70 miles before that matt!

[mattG]

i would have run out 70 miles before that matt!

so what mpg are you getting out of the m30

[gareth]

18 ish...? never goes out of town though and takes aaaaggggeees to heat up so is mostly running cold.

[mattG]

so a turbo conversion should be better in another way as well

[gareth]

wanna bet? most turbo conversions need M30 injectors or bigger for good reason!

[mattG]

wanna bet? most turbo conversions need M30 injectors or bigger for good reason!

ah a challenge

[Andy335Touring]

....my etk shows the backplates at aroundԚ£6 each you will have to let us know what you pay as pattern ones are Ԛ£14 on a website i just looked at each...can it be you are getting something cheaper from bmw

The plates were 11 quid, what bumped the bill up more than i thought was the carrier slider bolt thingy's at 9.60 each(four needed)

I cocked up a bit with the ETK, i look at the diagrame and thought right, 4 x item 10 + 11 and ordered them. If i'd have looked at the description i'd have realized i didn't need item 10(spring) because you get it already with item 11

Oh well, they were only about 1.60 for four so i didn't waste to much dosh.



They won't stay shiny for long

I just hope fitting them doesn't turn in to one of those PITA jobs

[Brianmoooore]

can it be you are getting something cheaper from bmw

Not unusual at all. Always include dealer prices when you're pricing up something.

[320Touring]

Funnily enough I had a similar issue on my touring- only noticed it whilst doing "testing" on my airfield at 130mph (indicated) you can bet your bottom dollar I got it fixed asap.

Jusging by the thread title I thought you'd pranged it (GOD FORBID!)

[Andy335Touring]

Jusging by the thread title I thought you'd pranged it (GOD FORBID!)

Touch wood dude

[gareth]

two new "PROTEC PLAT's" i wonder what that mean in german!

tricky choices to be made too... silver springs or black ones!

oh andy, this will cheer you up... my wife ran out of fuel earlier with a indicated range of 33 miles on the OBC!!!

[Andy335Touring]

tricky choices to be made too... silver springs or black ones!

Silver because i'm a tart

oh andy, this will cheer you up... my wife ran out of fuel earlier with a indicated range of 33 miles on the OBC!!!

It must be catching, you will be next !

[bigpimpin]

The same happened on my 325 sport, there was a grinding noise from the drivers rear which could be cured by giving the handbrake a jab while on the move. Mine had the rusted through backplate problem.

[gareth]

It must be catching, you will be next !

not likely, i never trust fuel gauges and reset the trip meter at every fill up. i then refill the tank every 180 miles

i spend too much time in old cars to trust these electrical bits! i also work for a transducer / sensor manufacturere so know how innacurate things like this can be!

[Brianmoooore]

i spend too much time in old cars to trust these electrical bits! i also work for a transducer / sensor manufacturere so know how innacurate things like this can be!

We're not talking about old cars - we're talking about BMWs. I've never seen a fuel gauge on an E30 that I wouldn't trust implicitly.
Also, once the light comes on, every E30 I've driven, gives 40 - 50 miles.

[Demlotcrew]

It must be catching, you will be next !

not likely, i never trust fuel gauges and reset the trip meter at every fill up. i then refill the tank every 180 miles

i spend too much time in old cars to trust these electrical bits! i also work for a transducer / sensor manufacturere so know how innacurate things like this can be!

A min ago you said you work for the F1

[gareth]

i've seen enough fuel gauges to not trust them beyond the start of the red! it's not worth the hassle of running lower with the kids in tow etc.

oh demlotcrew, a minute ago you didn't read my posts correctly, again! i have never said i "work for the F1"!!!! the company i work for designs and manufacturers sensors and transucers for various industries including everything from petrochemical, medical, manufacturing, process & contol, education, motorsport (F1 mostly as they have seemingly unlimited R&D budgets!) as well as others. within previous employment i have worked for several other sensor / transucer manufacturers and a motorsport / aerospace aerodynamics force measurement company so strangely enough i do actually happen to know a lot about the subject! within my current company i am the sole design engineer and most of my design work (as well as my personal interest) happens to be for the F1 guys as the bulk of the other work is of the shelf components for very technically challenging applications (mainly braking and suspension systems). the F1 stuff is generally bespoke and 99% of the time hush-hush with NDA's etc! needless to say i don't have the need to explain myself to you or others but whenever i attempt to imart any of my relevant knowledge and experience to somehting as simple as a road car i get criticised for it!

what do you do? other than criticise and wear silly yellow vests!!

[Demlotcrew]

what do you do? other than criticise and wear silly yellow vests!!

Well unlike you i have been working on 'proper' cars for the last year not just dreaming about them.

Andrew