BMW brake pad wear warning
BMWs have a wear sensor on one front and one rear brake: a wire clipped into the pad that the disc wears through when the pad is nearly gone. Then the brake pad warning comes on.
On BMWs with condition based service (CBS), the brake service is also tracked as a service reminder, worked out from the sensor and how you drive.
Usual causes
- The pads on that axle are worn to the sensor: replace the pads, and the sensor with them, since a worn-through sensor doesn't recover.
- A sensor or its connector damaged during a brake job, or a sensor that wasn't plugged back in.
- New pads fitted, but the service reminder not reset.
What to do
- Check the pads on both axles and replace the wear sensor along with the pads that triggered it.
- Reset the brake service reminder after the job: the service intervals how-to shows how.
- If the warning stays with new pads and sensor, read the faults in the instrument cluster and the stability control module, which watch the sensors.
General guidance from how BMWs work, not a diagnosis of your car: the fault the module stored, with its details, tells you more.
The fault codes behind it
- Instrument cluster fault codes 116 codes · E60, E61, E63, E64, E65, E66, …
- Dynamic stability control fault codes 918 codes · E60, E61, E63, E64, E65, E66, …
How-tos
Reading the fault
AutoLingo for BMW reads the fault behind the light from the module that stored it, in plain English and with its details, and clears it after the repair, with BMW's own diagnostic protocols: a generic OBD2 code reader only reaches the engine's emissions faults. See what it does on your BMW.
Questions
- Do I have to replace the wear sensor with the pads?
- Yes, if the old one has been worn through: it's a single-use wire. If the pads were changed before the sensor was reached, it can be reused.
- How do I reset the brake service reminder?
- With a tool that resets BMW's condition based service, or on some cars from the instrument cluster's menu. The service intervals how-to shows how with AutoLingo for BMW.
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