What have you done to your car today?

Soldato
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6 May 2004
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Fareham
Trying to investigate a brake judder issue with my E90. It's pretty weird in that when braking (even lightly) from 50-60mph or lower it's fine. From 70mph I'll get a weird judder that feels like it's coming from the rear of the car but that may be my imagination. Can't feel anything through the brake pedal.

I know my wheel balancing is ok and suspension bits all seem to check out ok so it's got to be brake related. I changed my rear discs and pads not that long ago...no idea what the condition of the front disc/inner front pads are like though. Don't really want to go buying new discs/pads all round if it isn't going to sort it out though. Best get the suspension bits looked at properly first I suppose.

Well I changed my rear discs/pads anyway and it wasn't caused by those :) I've got no idea now. Will take the front brakes apart and take a look at those when I can be bothered but otherwise I'm at a loss. Garage time I suppose.
 
Associate
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27 Feb 2009
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On the edge of a Cliffe
Took my car into BMW today as I am getting vibrations few the steering wheel since having my new tires fitted. Just had them call back to tell me I have the wrong tires fitted (Eagle F1 AS2 in the right sizes) and that I should sell them and get the original tires for it. Safe to say I am not about to do that :/

They have balanced the front wheels for me for free though and told be I have vibrations though the front brakes (same ones I replaced completely this time last year). Bloody cars.
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
Took my car into BMW today as I am getting vibrations few the steering wheel since having my new tires fitted. Just had them call back to tell me I have the wrong tires fitted (Eagle F1 AS2 in the right sizes) and that I should sell them and get the original tires for it. Safe to say I am not about to do that :/

What a bloody daft thing to suggest... And a daft thing to say... :p
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
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10,596
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Kent
They have balanced the front wheels for me for free though and told be I have vibrations though the front brakes (same ones I replaced completely this time last year). Bloody cars.

You could try bedding your brakes in again? It could be brake pad material deposited unevenly on the disc.

Take it for a drive with some fast stops to get the brakes nice and hot. Then do a few stops from high speed to almost a complete stop (but do not come to a stop!). Repeat that a few times on a nice quiet stretch of road, then drive for a while to cool the brakes off. It might fix it.
 
Associate
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I know, sell them as part warns (1 month old) for half what I got them for then spend another ~£700 on an ancient(?) design. Had F1 AS2 on my last Z4 and it was fine, no fiery crash death. They are better on this one so far minus the bloody vibrations over 70.
 
Associate
Joined
27 Feb 2009
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Location
On the edge of a Cliffe
You could try bedding your brakes in again? It could be brake pad material deposited unevenly on the disc.

Take it for a drive with some fast stops to get the brakes nice and hot. Then do a few stops from high speed to almost a complete stop (but do not come to a stop!). Repeat that a few times on a nice quiet stretch of road, then drive for a while to cool the brakes off. It might fix it.

Thanks, ill give that a try if I get a chance at the weekend, if not the meet will be a good excuse to.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2004
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5,998
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Fareham
Wheels. Get-rebalanced. Weight might have fallen off. :)

I did think that, and I will get the balancing checked out properly, but just as a quick test I swapped my front and rears wheels around the other day and it was the same.

It's the fact that it's fine at 60-65mph that bothers me, yet braking from anything over that gives me the juddering. It almost feels like the pads are being applied, eased off and applied again in very quick succession, so maybe it's a stuck caliper or something.

Rear brakes definitely seemed to be fine to me though and no sign of any caliper problems there. I guess I need to investigate the fronts. It feels like the juddering is coming from the rear but I can't really be sure - it may well be the fronts after all. Hate these problems :)
 
Soldato
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5,998
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Fareham
A good call :) Jacked each corner up and took each wheel off, all seems to be moving as it should so I guess that eliminates a binding caliper - that's something at least.

I'm quite tempted to just replace the front discs/pads if they look in any way knackered when I take them off and then garage it if that doesn't sort the juddering. Haven't got a pad wear warning in dash yet and they look like they have a decent bit of meat left in them but who knows what the inside of the disc and inside pads look like.

It seems to be quite a common thing on E90s and the vast majority of the time it seems it's the front discs/pads that are the problem. I'm just not sure how it could have happened as I always put the handbrake on after slowing to a stop etc. I guess I'll see how it goes tomorrow.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
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10,596
Location
Kent
Picked the car up, haven't payed for anything so that's good. Didn't get up to motorway speeds so not sure about the vibrations. But they reckon I might have a warped disk :/ Technician is ringing me tomorrow to give me more info.

The symptoms most people refer to as warped discs are more often than not simply a build up of pad material on the disc surface. I would still try that bedding procedure before replacing them.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2004
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19,815
Changed the engine oil, gearbox oil and rear diff oil in the Scoob tonight.

Engine oil was a shade over 6k miles old (so due a change anyway) and gearbox oil didn't look very old either but I feel better knowing exactly what's in there now.

Genuine Subaru black oil filter to finish off. The filter I took off was a 'BluePrint' brand. I have heard of them before, but surprising given that my car was previously serviced by a reputable specialist.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
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11,596
Location
Northampton
Wouldn't use a K&N oil filter if you paid me.

For the negligible cost difference I use OEM filters on the MX5. Dad's Impreza only gets the Black OEM filters, was a few reports of the blue ones loosening themselves at one point
 
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