Cerberos

I'm going to be tracking my M5 in a couple of weeks and will be using the Pagid pads. My preference would be to install them and bleed my brakes myself in lieu of having my dealer do the work. It would help to get hold of the BMW instructions for reference instead of just forging ahead on my own. Anyone got access to these instructions?

JamesInLV

Shawn? (same name as Shawn on the M5board)

I learned how to bleed them myself, so I could e-mail you directions and information on that. Unfoundhorsepower on the M5board was a great help...a few PMs and a few phone calls and with him and I had it done. I went with the "push, wait, let go" method...with my wife on board doing it for me (as opposed to using a pressure or vacuum bleeder to do it yourself). I also stuck with the OEM fluid. Even the BMW mechanic said to stick with it since I was under warranty anyway, and that unless I was doing some serious track driving the ratings on the OEM fluid would stand up to the abuse. With Pagids...and if you're really going to be killing the brakes that much, you might need to go to something else. The ATE Gold seems to be recommended overall, and if you want to spend extra and get the best Motul 600 was the favorite. I only used two OEM size bottles to bleed mine (about 780ml), but you'll want to have at least a liter of whatever you use to make sure you get a thorough flush.

As far as changing the brake pads themselves, the general consensus was that if I had never done a brake pad change, DON'T. Now...I'm not one to shy away from a mechanical challenge, but a few of the guys who do change their pads said that a flush is one thing, but actually changing the pads and getting them set right on these brakes is not the place to cut my teeth. With two days on the track to total just over 200 miles, I only burned up what the wear indicators show as 3000 miles on the pads. That is not nearly what I thought would happen, so I wouldn't worry too much about changing the pads for the track event unless you have already tracked the car in the past and we're unhappy with brake fade. With 30 minutes sessions on a 14-turn, 2.1 mile roadcourse here, I never thought there were any issues with the brakes overheating or fading.

Rudy

The following post has the information on the front pads (as well as rotors):
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=102679

Here is what you need for the rear pads:
MST_Removing_and_installing_or_replacing_brake_linings_on_both_rear_disk_brakes.pdf
And here is the bleeding instructions:
RA__Bleeding_brake_system_with_DSC.pdf

Cerberos

Thanks Rudy! I had caught youor other thread with the instructions for the front pads, but did not clue-in that it also covered the M5. I thought it just addressed the standard E60 brakes. My fault for not reading it more carefully the first time.

Cerberos

Hey James! I tracked the M5 several times last summer and have already switched out the brake fluid to ATE Type 200 (will go with Super Blue with this flush). Last summer, during one of the last track days of the season, the front pads went to mush, i.e. I hit the brakes and the pedal stayed firm but the car did not slow as expected. So, I had my dealer switch out the pads for the final track day. Worked great except for the noise. The car sounds like freight train when the Pagids are cold.

Anyway, since I've got a fair amount of experience with brake systems, I figured I would just do the pad exchanges myself this year. That way I can also control the brake bleeding, which is so critical. Dealers always want to use thieir pressure bleeding systems, even when they claim otherwise. It was just plain common sense to have BMW's specs on hand for the job. I knew that Rudy had posted the specs for the "standard" E60 (the specs actually covered the M5 also, I just didn't read them as throughly as I should have) so I took a chance that this board would have the M5 specs also.

Rudy

I wasn't sure myself if the instructions were different so I pulled them up for the M5 on TIS and saw that they were the same as the non-M cars. I pointed you to the earlier thread to save me a few seconds (and to save the server a few Kb) instead of reposting something that was already out there.

Glad you are all set...

JamesInLV

Thank you very much for these directions! While I'm not sure I will go so far as to do pad swaps myself, the day may come so I'm happy to have these.

Shawn, watch out for the Super Blue. Lots of opinions against using it when I asked about doing fluid flushes on M5board. They said the gold is the same fluid just without the blue, and that the blue will stain everything from the reservoir to the end of the line. In the future, should you change to a different brake fluid, apparently the blue color will continue staining the new fluid and only after several fluid flushes later will it fully clear out. I could be wrong about them being the same fluid, but the staining issue was enough for me to reconsider...maybe I'll just jump to Motul 600 if I'm serious enough to go to Pagid Yellow pads too.