Hi all,

I hope someone can help me with the following issue

jan 2017 I purchased a BMW X5 from cooper Durham,

before purchasing the vehicle I was sent a video of the car.

The on screen display showed 37000 miles for the front brake pads as they were new.

Last week I took my car for an MOT to Sytner BMW Coventry

they said the front pads and discs need replacing as they are 3.5mm.

I was pretty surprised as i would expect them to last longer as I had done under 6000 miles.

Cooper Durham want to inspect the car as they think there must be an issue.

I'm around 200 miles away from them.

Sytner BMW Coventry are saying there's no issue and its just worn

I still have around a week warrantly left in the car but the pads and discs are not covered as part of that.

I'm trying to get Cooper Durham to replace the parts as they should not have worn out in 6000 miles but they are not going to do it until they inspect it in Durham

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Sadly, I wouldn't trust BMW any longer on these servicing issues. I was told I had to have new discs and pads on mine (not an X5) because they were - wait for it - Rusty!

Having built a car myself I know a tiny thing or two about cars and having just had the car MOT'd and passed I took the car back to the MOT centre and asked them to inspect them again. The only 'rust' on the disc was that 1/4" around the outer rim where the pads don't touch so of course that bit was rusty being exposed to the elements.

I took it up with BMW and they just said they have to be 100% sure the braking system is 100% efficient - yeah right! - If they'd have had their way and I not as wise this would have been a near £1200 bill I'd have had to pay for all discs and pads to be replaced by them.

I think you'll need to go back to Durham, but I'd make sure they repay your costs if you do first.

Good luck. Oh, and don't forget there are more things than Warranties to fall back on in consumer protection laws that others I'm sure will point you in the direction of - I'm a bit 'rusty' on the current laws, but they used to be covered by the old Sales of Goods Act.....take a look.

A1

Cra

I'm not sure about the X5, but my 5 series showed 70,000 on a new set of pads.

The problem with the computer estimates us that they rely on the driver history to generate the future use.

So if the previous owner was very light on the brakes the estimate would be high, even although the discs were fairly worn.

What milage is on the car and has it had a recent mot

But as above I would not trust BMW, ask them to show you the pads.

Also they do have a habit of changing the discs and pads at the same time, when pads would do!

Thanks for the input so far

The thing with the consumer protection is that I may have to take the car to Durham and its a 400 mile round trip and not worth the hassle

Last week my first point of contact was the chap who sold the vehicle to me but I couldn't get through to him and then I tried his manager who promised to call me back and that didn't happen. I eventually found this manager's manager contact number and he's the head of a department so currently speaking to him

There's definitely a problem with the car as both front and rear pads were showing around 37000 miles and the rear ones still have 9mm left whereas the front have 3.5mm.

Cooper Durham do not trust the inspection done by Sytner Coventry

At this moment in time I just want them to replace the pads although i'm not sure whether they should/would need to do discs as well

They did show me a video of the front pads and it looked worn out

Front pads will always wear out long before the rears---it's the way they design the brake system nowadays----the front do most of the braking.

hmm ok but its a massive difference between 37000 miles and giving only around 5000-6000 miles. If there pads were worn out after around 10000-15000 i still would have been ok with it but i don't think this is acceptable.

Cooper Durham are now avoiding my emails

BMW's have 'menu based servicing' which i have always found to be a little complicated.

One can have quite a few service reminders

(brakes, both front and rear, brake fluid, coolant, engine oil etc) all running at the same time.

The system relies on being reset when parts are replaced or inspections carried out.

The brake distance indicator is just that and of course relies on the fact that no one has reset the counter early either by accident or wilfully.

I would image that this issue stems from the indicator not being in line with the material left on the pads.

I would much rather believe a visual check rather than the servicing counter on the screen.

To summise i think your 'issue' will be down to the computer not being in sync with the physical state of your brakes.

I would just change the pads locally,

reset the front brake pad counter and move on.

Warranties are not there to cover consumables after all,

if the pads were legal and good when you took delivery then im not sure how the dealer is at fault?

Not unless you had a case that the counter had been reset to benefit the supplying dealer,

irrelevant and unnecessary posts removed

dx

siteteam

You need to take responsibility and ownership for maintenance of your car. This has nothing to do with the CRA.