Up next in 10
BMW E36 Brake Rotor Replacement
Jan 29, 2023
BMW e36 brake rotor replacement is a fairly easy job, and required from time to time to ensure a properly functioning brake system. Brake rotors should be checked every time the brakes are replaced. Technically, it is recommended to replace the brake rotors every time you perform a disc brake change, however I like many others do not follow that rule. I typically only change the brake rotors when they show signs of warping or are extremely thin. Signs of bad brake rotors include: loss of breaking power, steering wheel shake when brakes applied especially at high speeds, and loud/squeaky brakes. There are a few things to look out for when replacing your rotors. First and foremost, the caliper should be removed prior to the removal of the caliper bracket. This is because it will be necessary to press the piston in to fit on the new rotor. Second, don't forget to open your brake master cylinder when pressing in the piston. Third, have something readily accessible to hold the caliper after removal, this is because you don't want it dangling by the brake line.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey E36 Fanatics, Steven here. Today I'm doing a rotor replacement on my brother's BMW
0:06
1995 318 I. I'm doing the rear rotors today. It's a relatively simple job and it's pretty
0:14
universal on most BMWs, BMWs. I've done this, I've done rotor replacement several times on other
0:21
E36s. On the rear it's very easy to do. First thing you got to do is obviously you got to jack up the
0:29
vehicle and remove the wheels. Go ahead and remove the brake caliper bracket. Remove the two piston
0:38
caps right here. Let's sit on these pistons and remove them. They are, I believe they're 7mm
0:47
hexes and they're typically fairly easy to remove. The reason you remove these is because
0:53
once you replace the rotor, you're going to have to compress the piston and you're going to
0:58
to separate the bracket and the bracket and the caliper from each other to compress it
1:04
So you might as well go ahead and get this out of the way. Then once you're done with that, you're going to pull off this bracket
1:10
which it is two 15mm bolts holding it to the rotor to the frame right here
1:16
Then once you're done with that, we can go ahead and remove the rotor. If I'm having trouble breaking the bolt with this hex tool right here, take a rubber mallet and hit it
1:28
Also, typically you can just pull these right through, but if you can't, take a screwdriver
1:37
take a screwdriver and get it in here and pull the piston out that way, but typically you can just pull it out
1:44
Alright, so once you've got that brake caliper loosened up, these two bolts loosened up
1:50
you can see the brake caliper just falls right out. You're going to want to have something holding it because you don't want it just sitting by the, by the, by the, by the baller
1:57
by the brake lines or hanging from the brake lines. Usually I'll use a bungee cord
2:05
but I've got the wheel low enough where I can just use a tire, set it on tire
2:11
So at this point you're about ready to remove your brake rotor. Next thing you're gonna wanna do
2:16
the only thing holding it in is this little hex right here. And it is a size, it is a size six
2:25
So obviously if you've got both, both of your rear wheels jacked up. The rotor's going to want to spin freely, but if you
2:33
just hold it with one side and turn it out, hold the rotor on one side and then turn it out
2:43
turn it out with a ratchet on the other This bolt doesn have much torque on it so you can get it out that way Here the only thing holding in your rotor This little bolt right here Set that right there
2:57
but I'll probably replace it. All right. So with rotor replacement, here's where the fun
3:03
typically begins. The problem is over the years, as you can see all this rust, they tend to get
3:10
rusted on where they're stuck onto the face of the hub. It usually gets rusted on right around
3:18
the lug nut holes right here. And man, it can be really tough to get these things off. If you were
3:26
if you were, say, doing a CV axle job or something or replacing a wheel bearing in the rear
3:32
end and you wanted to save the rotor, you would not want to do what I'm about to do. But if you're
3:40
replacing the rotor like I am it doesn't matter how you beat the thing because you're
3:45
switching it out anyways so the first thing I'm gonna do is take some liquid wrench
3:50
penetrating hole you can also use pb blaster even WD40 I don't like WD 40 as much
3:59
though spraying to all the wheel stud holes the reason for that is some of it's
4:05
gonna seep around the area where it's gonna be rusted on the face
4:10
here and it'll help you a little bit with getting off this rotor if it's really on
4:14
there and sometimes these rotors do get really stuck onto the face of the hub so I'm
4:22
just going to give it a nice spray into those holes and you can wait a couple wait
4:28
like five ten minutes to get back to it I haven't actually tested how how stuck on
4:36
this rotor is yet though so I'm gonna go ahead and start beating it a little bit
4:40
So first, say if you were just removing the rotor to do something else in this area that you needed to remove the rotor first
4:49
then if you're doing that and you don't want to replace the rotor, you're only going to want to hit it in the middle right here
4:58
And then you can also hit it on the top area right here. But you're mostly going to want to focus on the face right here
5:06
Now, if you're like me and you don't care about the rotor
5:10
because you're switching it out, you can hit it on where the brake is going to make contact
5:19
with the rotor because you're switching it out anyways. Doesn't matter. So if you can beat it
5:29
if you are replacing the rotor you can beat it on the backside and typically that help it fall out a whole lot quicker There we go Here your old rotor
5:47
If you're not, then you just got to hit it, keep tapping it around right in this area right here
5:55
And you can see where the penetrating oil was able to seep in. This is your hub assembly right here
6:00
And this face right here is where it's going to see. here is where it's going to get stuck onto the hub assembly
6:08
So next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to wipe this down a little bit and then I'm going
6:13
to go ahead and place my new rotor on. If you would want to, you can also replace your parking brake, which is right here, your
6:23
parking brake shoes, and then it's got a couple of different pieces associated with it
6:28
I'm not going to mess with it. Okay, so I'm going to clean the hub
6:32
face right here with brake cleaner. You know what
6:42
I'm going to spray this too, why not? Try and clean up this as best as I can a little bit
6:52
Now the last thing I'm going to do before I go ahead and start popping on the new rotor
6:57
is these springs right here. Let me use some silicone spray. some silicone spray lubricant
7:11
So you could potentially go ahead and mess with this parking brake right here
7:16
and replace all these wear parts right here, these springs. However, I've done this before and it's a real pain and this is a beater BMW
7:26
My brother just, my brother beats this thing so I'm not going to do all that
7:33
I'm just spraying these springs in here too. Alright, so since your new caliper is going to be thicker, you're going to have to compress your piston
7:42
I just use an old brake pad. If you're replacing your brake pads, just use that
7:47
These used, these ones are in pretty good shape, so I'm going to keep these, but I've got, I just did another brake job, so I'm just using those bad brake pads and just compress it in
7:59
Make sure you open that master cylinder though and leave it open so the brake fluid's
8:03
got somewhere to go. There we go. It's compressed. Now only one side actually has a brake pad wear sensor
8:20
This side is the one without it so I don have to worry about it I going to pop your brake pads back in Then you going to want to
8:33
want to put your bracket back on. Give your bracket a final tightening on those two big studs
9:02
Next, you're going to want to go ahead and put back on your brake caliper
9:22
Now if you want to throw some grease on your pads, you're more than welcome to
9:29
I'm not going to worry about that. There we go. Now for these little bolts right here, I like to sprit some with silicone lubricant
9:59
the same stuff that I use on the brake, the parking brake stuff
10:04
so I'm going to and spritz it now now now I'm thread them back in
10:12
next you're going to throw these caps back on your dust caps
10:21
and last but not least you're going to want to put your clip
10:26
back on this copper is actually missing its clip so that's a problem
10:32
need to find that but you put your clip back on. After that, that's about all you got to do
10:42
You can now have one new rotor and new brake pads if you change those
10:48
Also, don't forget to head back to your engine bay and close back up that master cylinder
10:54
And then once you put this back, the vehicle back down, you're going to need to bleed your brakes a little bit
10:59
or to you're going to need to mash the pedal a couple times just to reset your brakes
11:06
After that, you're pretty much finished and you've got nothing else to worry about
11:11
Hope y'all enjoyed this video. If you did, please like and subscribe. Y'all have a good one
#BMW
#Vehicle Modification & Tuning
#Vehicle Repair & Maintenance