[leito211]

hi,

I have replaced front and rear pads and discs also front calipers. Tried to bleed the brake system according to newtis, 1.7bar pressure on the fluid cap, rear right left front right left bleeding. Brakes are slowing the car down, but the braking starts from after 2/3 of the pedal travel, before that there is little to no braking force. If I try to pump the brake while the car is off, pedal gets hard after ~2 presses and stays hard.

I have no clue how differently I should have done the bleeding.

Thanks for your advise!

 

[jeremybingham]

Why did you feel the need to bleed the brakes after you put in new pads-simply push the pistons back and away you go! Sounds like there is air in the system-get a one person bleeder attach to the nipple and loosen it then push the pedal on each caliper and get rid of the air! No need to touch the fluid if you are replacing pads-in future simply make sure it doesn't overflow when you are pushing the pistons back at the front or screwing them in at the rear.

 

[vicvo]

I've noticed that the brake pedal always gets hard when the engine's off, after ~2 pushes. Don't really know why that is, though. But it's normal.

 

[leito211]

Why did you feel the need to bleed the brakes after you put in new pads-simply push the pistons back and away you go! Sounds like there is air in the system-get a one person bleeder attach to the nipple and loosen it then push the pedal on each caliper and get rid of the air! No need to touch the fluid if you are replacing pads-in future simply make sure it doesn't overflow when you are pushing the pistons back at the front or screwing them in at the rear.

Front calipers were also replaced

 

[jeremybingham]

So sorry! Should have read your post properly! Try a one person bleed kit. About £6 and works for me!

 

[Soc]

I've noticed that the brake pedal always gets hard when the engine's off, after ~2 pushes. Don't really know why that is, though. But it's normal.

I have experienced what you are describing after a brake job.

Firstly, the peddle going rock hard after pumping the pedal with the engine off is normal. as vacuum by the engine, running isn't being generated to assist the servo.

If you didn't clamp the brake hoses when changing the calipers, you may have introduced air into the ABS system. The only way to remove this air is either to go and activate the ABS a number of times, (between 5 to 10) to force the tiny air bubbles out of the ABS chambers and towards the brake calipers then you bleed as normal, or ou use software like BMW's ISTA to activate the ABS module via a specific ABS bleeding program.

Failing all that, just take your car to a BMW/MINI specialist and ask them to Bleed the brakes and ABS module. Although it may cost you, it is worth it to get the brakes working correctly.

Good luck and it can be resolved with the correct tools.

 

[AarnMunro]

...

Failing all that, just take your car to a BMW/MINI specialist and ask them to Bleed the brakes and ABS module. Although it may cost you, it is worth it to get the brakes working correctly.

Good luck and it can be resolved with the correct tools.

...I like this!
That's whay my mechanic did the first bleeding rather bad...and only after a second try the brake lines were ok.
Now I know why.
My mechanic told me that...a PC was necessary during the operation but...I didn't believe him!
I will come back to him...with a beer !

 

[leito211]

Do you need to have 20psi pressure of air (from compressor for example) for bleeding or you need to have 20 psi brake fluid input?

 

[vicvo]

...
Firstly, the peddle going rock hard after pumping the pedal with the engine off is normal. as vacuum by the engine, running isn't being generated to assist the servo.

Thanks for the explanation!!

 

[Barry Chocolate]

I had this same issue after replacing discs and pads. Pedal went hard with engine off. However when engine was on there was a huge amount of travel. Keeping my foot on the brake would result in it eventually reaching the floor.

It is worth checking the brake pads are in the correct way. I put Brembo discs and pads on. The pads have two small bumps on the back of them. Two of the pads had the bumps further apart. The bumps are designed to help seat the pads in the calliper. Having them the wrong way round meant the bumps were Interfering with the calliper/piston. Having the pad that was meant to be on the inside on the outside, resulted in the above symptoms. Simply swapping them resolved the issue.

I had initial assumed that they all had bumps in the same place but that wasn’t the case. Lesson learnt.

Like others I assumed that air must have got in and bled the brakes, but with little change. Swapping the pads fixed it. Might not solve everyone’s problems but is a simple thing to check that may give a quick win.

 

[kringer2]

I've noticed that the brake pedal always gets hard when the engine's off, after ~2 pushes. Don't really know why that is, though. But it's normal.

The reason for this is that there is only enough reserve in the booster for 1 or 2 pushed on the brake pedal, so you are losing the assist from the booster.