My lease ends in October. Today, my BMW indicates that I need brake service. Because this is an active notification, I’m expecting they ask me to replace pads before returning.
They claim that returns must have at least 3mm of pad left. I’m thinking about measuring actual brake wear. If greater, I would fight any brake replacement charges at lease end. If they are, indeed worn to 3mm or less, I would replace in my own but service notice would not be reset.
Anyone else encounter this? Is the service notice accurate?
Inspector will not measure brakes, if the light is on, the inspector will check off some box and some amount will be charged. How many miles on this mystery Bimmer?
Google how to reset the sensor/service alert, I think some of them are just a function of miles regardless of what the wear on the item, once you’ve reset the alert, have the inspection done. Voila !
I think Bimmer’s have an actually sensor that measures pad thickness, I believe it’s a throw away part that has to be replaced too. The Germans like to over engineer everything
This is probably the case now, But I had a 2016 320xi which did the same thing to me, the brake service alert came on about 2 months before it was due in, so I googled how to reset it, reset it, had the inspection done, and returned the car when it was due in. The service alert never came on back during the two months after doing the reset. Your mileage may vary, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. I was willing to do the service/pay for it if it was indeed the case.
On my 2016 328i the OEM pads have a sensor inside the pad that goes off when it gets to a certain thickness. Pretty sure they are made by a company called Jurid. I would just order them online and have a local tire / brake guy change them. Then use a code reader to do a reset or stop by an Auto parts store and have it done, all assuming the brake guy doesn’t have a code reader.
BMW Dealer Here. We just go off the cars notice. If you tried to fight it with me, I would just order a third party inspection and let you and BMW go at it, and they often “find” more then we do at the store.
But with that said, their is a crazy shortage of used car inventory. Perhaps this will change by October but I doubt it. Call a few dealers tell them you’ll turn in to the dealer that wont charge you for brakes.
The Truth Is that if I want to sell a car here, I’m going to try and CPO the car. Even if the brakes pass lease turn in most likely I am replacing them anyway to pass CPO.
That was always a guilty pleasure for one of my used car managers. If someone wasn’t buying a new BMW and they didn’t like the charges, he just said BMW will be out to look at it in 5-10 days. And that bill was always higher than what his inspection was.
We had one a while back, and we were going to get him for like $1,800 in damages. I mean car was dented to hell and back. And we felt we could have our dent guy take car of it (he is a miracle worker), and have the bumpers repainted at the body shop. Car had lower miles and we could have sold it here.
Well the guy thought that was outrageous, and said no. So we explained the process and it going to a third party for an assessment, and we warned him we have no say or control over them. So it goes Third party and they ended up billing something like 15k for all new panels and paint, along with some interior work that our guy would have fixed. The guy comes back begging/threatening/throwing a fit. And it was just too late at that point.
Ill never sell or try and convince anyone of anything our of a fear tactic, but that one was a couple years ago and stuck with me.
I wonder if there is different notification for when the brake pad sensor goes off due to the pads being thin, vs a mileage based notification that you need to replace your brake pads after xx amount of miles ?
not even kidding my lease ends next week and the brake service notice came up today. WTF sh*t is rigged lol
Anyway what do you think i should do ?
took it in for service a month ago and they didn’t say anything about my brakes. Also the 3rd party inspector came by and didn’t get dinged for anything except a missing key which i had in my pocket (i know im an idiot)
If you lease an expensive car the least you can do is suck it up and maintain it accordingly.
That being said, we are in a crazy market so the best suggestion is to shop the return to a dealer that isn’t going to nitpick you when he will turn around and make $3k off the car in a week.
So I saw a few people here who had a similar problem but I will be returning my 2019 bmw x2 next week and literally today the brake alert popped up. Honestly believe it’s rigged to do that close to your lease end but anyway 2 months ago I brought it in for service and they didn’t mention anything about my brakes and also the 3rd party inspector came by 2 weeks ago and I didn’t get dinged for anything except a missing key …which i had in my pocket
so my question is… can i just reset the alert or is that illegal lol
