Can I replace a brake pad wear sensor without taking the wheel off?

[RickyWins]

I got a warning that my 8 month old brakes needed replacing, so I checked under the car and saw the brake pad sensor hanging loose and dragging on the road.

I bought a replacement sensor, but before I start, I wanted to ask: is it possible to remove the old one and plug in the new one without taking the wheels off?

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[tsaulsbu]

Quite difficult

But, since it's hanging down, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to strip the ends and wire them together - and then use BimmerLink to reset the maintenance cycle. That said, I would think you'd want to pull the wheel and figure out what's going on that caused it to come out in the first place.

 

[Rizen]

It will take you longer to do it this way than just removing the wheel.

 

[razorlab]

Could easily do it on a lift but sounds like you don't have access to one.

 

[RickyWins]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

@razorlab
I unfortunately don't have access to a lift at the moment, but let's say once I have access and I can take the wheel off, could someone give me some instructions to install the new cable?

 

[lucky phil]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

@razorlab
I unfortunately don't have access to a lift at the moment, but let's say once I have access and I can take the wheel off, could someone give me some instructions to install the new cable?

You don't have a small trolly jack?
Phil

 

[RickyWins]

You don't have a small trolly jack?
Phil

I don't, but I do have a friend who has a lift, I would just have to make the drive, which I could do. I would just need to know how to do it.

 

[tracer bullet]

It'll be really obvious once you see it. One end goes in the pad, there's a spot for it, and the sensor is spring loaded to stay. Then it's just following the wire up to the junction box. Little plastic clips hold it closed. There will be a few other little rubber pieces that go into metal holders.

It's good to see ahead of time what to do but once it's in front of you you'll be like - yeah, this is easy.

 

[RickyWins]

It'll be really obvious once you see it. One end goes in the pad, there's a spot for it, and the sensor is spring loaded to stay. Then it's just following the wire up to the junction box. Little plastic clips hold it closed. There will be a few other little rubber pieces that go into metal holders.

It's good to see ahead of time what to do but once it's in front of you you'll be like - yeah, this is easy.

That's good to hear! Thanks for the info!

 

[Rizen]

That's good to hear! Thanks for the info!

Not the best visual but this is from the factory service manual.

One end of the cable goes into a small black box where it clips into the main harness. The other end pops onto a tab on the inner brake pad. It's very easy to do, it will make sense once you look at it. Just be careful with the clip that goes onto the brake pad, it is not exactly robust.

 

[RickyWins]

Not the best visual but this is from the factory service manual.

One end of the cable goes into a small black box where it clips into the main harness. The other end pops onto a tab on the inner brake pad. It's very easy to do, it will make sense once you look at it. Just be careful with the clip that goes onto the brake pad, it is not exactly robust.

Thanks for the diagram, bro!

I went and had my car lifted, removed the wheel, and it was 100% straightforward.

The ONLY thing that seems iffy are the little groves that hold the wire in place. It seems to be a slightly loose fit, which is why I'm guessing it fell out lol.

Hoping it's not the case again but if it does fall out again, I'll just tape the wire onto the metal groves.

 

[tracer bullet]

Or expand the metal itself a tiny bit to give it a tighter fit.

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