jhalsey

I've had my 545 for 4 months now, and my only complaint is that the brakes are really "grippy" when I come to a complete stop. What I mean by this is that I can't come to a smooth stop because once the car is down near 2 mph, the brakes suddenly grip and stop the car abruptly, causing it to rock forward and back a couple times, and if your head is against the headrest, it can be jarring. Don't get me wrong, I love the massive brakes on the E60 and am impressed with how quickly it can stop, but I would like to combine that with a smooth stop at traffic lights or in parking lots.

I've tried easing off the brake peddle as I slow down, but I haven't found a position where it will still permit me to stop without the grabbing effect. I either continue to coast if I don't apply enough pressure, or I stop abruptly with normal pressure.

Anyone else experience this? Can the dealership adjust the brakes without losing the high-performance braking capability? I haven't talked to anyone at BMW about it yet.

heezy545i

Have you had this problem in other cars? Because it sound like your problem is simply a heavy left foot.

jhalsey

No, I've never had this problem in other cars. I travel a lot, and every rental I've had lately I've been taking note of the brakes. Every car is different, but I can always find the right amount of pressure on the peddle where I decelerate at a constant rate and gracefully stop without causing any discomfort for passengers. I just can't get my 545 to do this.

I've even tried this: From a complete stop, I slowly let off the brake until the car starts creeping forward. At that point, if I put any additional pressure on the peddle, the brakes grip hard and the car stops abruptly again. Even if it only moved 5 feet forward, and I hardly push the peddle.

I'm tempted to go for a test drive with another E60 to see how it behaves.

sj3

In driver's ed, I was taught to stop with my right foot. Have I been doing it wrong all these years (we won't discuss how many!).

j: How many miles are on your baby? If it's less than 500, then give it some time for the brakes to break in. You'll notice they'll smooth out nicely after they're broken in. Although the manual says 1200 miles, brakes usually brake in around 500, in my experience. Has anyone else driven your car? Maybe a service tech driving, with you as passenger, can recreate it. It doesn't sound completely normal.

Sam

Iceman

Actually using the right foot is smoother for the most ppl. But you can use the left foot as well. When you like to drive your car real sporty you should start practicing your left foot.
Using the right foot is not wrong! It's what the most ppl do!
F1 drivers use their left foot to brake...

It's the same with the technique you use to hold and move the steering wheel. Some ppl say you never take a hand off the steering wheel and you never go with the one arm across the other arm, but that gives you more control. The only point all so called experts agree is, that you should allways have your both hands on the steering wheel on a "quarter to three" position.

Anyways...

Different techniques out there... It doesn't mean you are doing it wrong !

jhalsey

I've got over 6000 miles, so I doubt it's a break-in thing.

I'll just have BMW check the brakes next time I'm in for service.

dba1t

I have had the same experience with our 545i, now with 5,700 miles. Exactly as you described. The problem is consistent on the other 545i's that I have driven. Nearly impossible to stop smoothly when slowing. If you are driving a Steptronic, a fast idle could be contributing to the problem. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with the brakes.

Iceman

I was experiencing the same. The brakes are just simply waaay better than the brakes I had on other cars before.
But with a little practice I was able to learn how to slow down and brake down smoothly. It took me about three weeks to learn it.

cidair

After nearly 20.000 km my brakes have started to feel different.

Just had the same feeling as you guys describe, but now they have gone more soft in feeling. Maybe the brakepads surface changes due to the wear or high temperature?

Wonder if the life of the pads will be shorter when you drive a lot with the ACC engaged. Could see a big amount of brakedust ( more than normal ) on the front rims when driving at high speeeds for long times, with ACC on.

Jimbo

I have this problem as well. With 3200 miles on my ride, it's impossible to come to a smooth stop. I've had plenty of practice with my previous beemer. It's a little better than when it was new but still irritating when you notice your passengers head bouncing back and forth and you have to apologize for the hard stop.

Another irritation with the brakes occurs when coming to a complete stop and parking. In all the other cars I drive, before putting the car in park I engage the parking brake. This keeps the car stable and allow Park to be engaged w/o the car leaning on the transmission.

Whenever I attempt this in the 530, the car moves forward a little and on any kind of incline, it moves forward quite a bit before the brake engages.

So now I put the 530 in neutral, engage the parking brake, let off the foot brake and then put in park.

Don't understand either of these "features".

My '97 Honda Accord, '01 Odyssey, etc. don't have these features!