e46 330d rear brakes overhaul

It became apparent yesterday that the 330d had a sticking rear right caliper – apparent because after a journey of only a few miles, the brakes were really juddery and the rear right wheel was what could only be described as ‘bastard hot’. This morning I leapt into action – grabbing new rear discs, pads and sensor from the Woking ECP. The chap there was super helpful, advising that I check that the hose hadn’t collapsed before assuming that the caliper was at fault. I was pleased to return at 9:30am with this haul:

I was pleased that nothing was seized, stuck, rounded or rusty; everything came off a treat.

I’d been advised to check if light passed through the hose in order to determine whether or not it had collapsed. I couldn’t do this, so returned to ECP with both the caliper and hose to see what the chap there thought. With the aid of an LED torch he proved the hose was okay, and so a caliper was ordered – to be available from 2:30pm – bonus! So, back home and time to do everything else I could.

Shiny shiny!

An all too familiar sight…

I enjoyed a spot of lunch from the BBQ while watching the world cup opening ceremory. The chap was right – the caliper was ready at 2:30. So, back to it:

I bled the brakes off and verified that nearly everything was fine. The handbrake didn’t work. I noticed while changing the rotors that the old shoes were pretty worn, and in a desperate attempt to tighten things up at the handbrake end to allow me to get back to the world cup match, I’ve snapped a cable. Grrr!

So in order, I should have:

  • Slackened off the handbrake at the lever before trying to remove the rotors
  • Adjusted up the shoes properly from the rear of the car
  • Stuck to my principals and refused to work on a car while the world cup was on

So I’ve booked the car in to have new shoes and a new cable fitted on Tuesday. That’s pretty pricey, but the shoes definitely need replacing, and I wouldn’t want to do that myself (especially during the world cup!). I’ll be very pleased to know all the rear brakes are renewed. While I’ve replaced the rear pads in September 2008, the rotors looked pretty old when I got the car over 50,000 miles ago, so it all certainly needed doing.