Need Help with Brakes

[Dan-ny-m398]

Well I lowered my car yesterday and after I put everything back together , my Antilock brakes light went on, and I just took the car for a test dride and when I got back my front brakes were burning(both ) , also when I was puting the brakes back I disconected the brake fluid hose , for a few seconds , but I bled the drivers side brakes afterwards, anyways If anybody has any ideas it would be highly appreciated,

[SharkmanBMW]

I hope you didn't warp the discsfrom the heat.... what do you mean by burning??

[Dan-ny-m398]

I hope you didn't warp the discsfrom the heat.... what do you mean by burning??

It was really hot, and smell weird.

[TheDuke]

That's funny, well meayby not. Same thing happened to me today, after replacing left thrust arm and bushing. I think that the rotor is rubbing the dust cover behind it, or the disc isnt thight. Do you get metal to metal rubbing noise around 20mph?

[Dan-ny-m398]

That's funny, well meayby not. Same thing happened to me today, after replacing left thrust arm and bushing. I think that the rotor is rubbing the dust cover behind it, or the disc isnt thight. Do you get metal to metal rubbing noise around 20mph?


Yes I do get the metal noise, around 20 MPH, yo cant' really hear it when you go faster, but you can deffenetly feel it around that speed.

[TheDuke]

Ok, I found out what was wrong with my breaks. The cover that I was talking about… Here’s a pic. I just had to bend it towards the steering arm and whola. Works like new. Now I just have to get an alignment. Rear is fixed so I don’t have to do the back right? http://www.bimmer.info/bmw/TheDuke/rotor.jpg

[Kalevera]

That's the dust shield and, because I've done it before myself, I'll speculate that someone balanced the struthousing on said shield to perform any number of tasks on the spring/strut/strut mount.

The sad reality of it is that once the shield is bent, it's usually ****ed for good. Having it bent in towards the rotor will (in your case) cause it to cut the rotor (does it have a huge ridge in it now?) or bang against the rotor when going over bumps (clang!). In response, most people bend the shield back towards the engine. This would work, except for the fact that there's a lot of surface area in the shield and very little clearance to get a specific angle on it. When the shield is pushed back towards the car, it will rub against the lower control arm ball joint, which results in a screeching or chirping sound over rough roads. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get the shield set just right.

In my case, I ended up cutting out the dust shield with a wizzle wheel. Replacement involves pulling the bearing, and I don't want to deal with that right now. Earlier this week, I did a 525 with bad front shield and was able to bend it back reasonably; the real problem was a poorly adjusted park brake, but the customer got something extra.


best, whit

[TheDuke]

I think I got it right. It took some trial and error before I got it. No rubbing so far, but I guess we'll see with time.

[632 Regal]

both of mine look like they were in a demolition derby...the good old balancing act doesn't do these things any justice.