[EvenKeel]

Originally Posted by cortex

I put on my H&R sport springs (not the sport +) on my 435d xDrive F32 2015 and it was needed as this car is rather heavy compared to the M4 and the diesel 3-liter, automatic gearbox, xDrive it is near 2000 kg. The original springs are to high, to soft. This works perfect with adaptive suspention. LED/Xenon lights autoadjust height, no need to fiddle with that, but watch out if you change suspension yourself, arms can get cloged backward and lights point into the wazoo then...

Care to elaborate on what this has to do with the brake fail issue?

[Mageshkk]

Originally Posted by topcat87

I thought my experience was an isolated incident and hope it doesnt happen again, but the rise in occurrence by fellow forumers leads me to think that this is a real cause for concern and might be a factory defect in our cars


Known Cases of brake failure

I personally experienced this, while creeping foward in a carpark exit i stepped on the brakes but it was rock hard and didnt respond. Luckily it was an upslope and gravity stopped the car before i rear ended the guy in front






Serious but non-fatal accident


Other cases












BMW if you're reading this . . . please do something about it and issue a recall, if necessary.

Do chime in if you have a similar incident

Guys.. so I encountered the same issue last evening. My brake pedal was so hard. I had to double check if I'm actually pressing the brake pedal. I went off the road to hit the car in front of me. Any one got a resolution for this issue?

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by Mageshkk

Guys.. so I encountered the same issue last evening. My brake pedal was so hard. I had to double check if I'm actually pressing the brake pedal. I went off the road to hit the car in front of me. Any one got a resolution for this issue?

I believe the resolution is further back in this thread.
Failure of lubrication for the air pump, covered by a recall.

[XKxRome0ox]

Originally Posted by Mageshkk

Guys.. so I encountered the same issue last evening. My brake pedal was so hard. I had to double check if I'm actually pressing the brake pedal. I went off the road to hit the car in front of me. Any one got a resolution for this issue?

You tell your insurance and the body shop that the cause could be a known issue
And that they need to investigate it
Otherwise you will be placed at fault for the collision

So what happened? You posted a month ago so I hope things went well for you

[Mageshkk]

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

You tell your insurance and the body shop that the cause could be a known issue
And that they need to investigate it
Otherwise you will be placed at fault for the collision

So what happened? You posted a month ago so I hope things went well for you

I didn't have to go to insurance. The damage was very minor to the bumper... The dealership INVESTIGATED the issue and suggested me to change tires. lol. So I called BMWNA and complained. Tbh, they were excellent to work with. They called the dealer and they took the car again to thoroughly investigate. Nothing turned out again.

But I lost confidence in driving the car around. So I traded in the car with the same dealer and got a 135is. Took a $5k hit.

[XKxRome0ox]

Originally Posted by Mageshkk

I didn't have to go to insurance. The damage was very minor to the bumper... The dealership INVESTIGATED the issue and suggested me to change tires. lol. So I called BMWNA and complained. Tbh, they were excellent to work with. They called the dealer and they took the car again to thoroughly investigate. Nothing turned out again.

But I lost confidence in driving the car around. So I traded in the car with the same dealer and got a 135is. Took a $5k hit.

...............
were your tires bald?
were you driving in the snow with summer tires?

you said you hit another car
so you had damage to your own car and someone else's car
if the brakes failed, i would not be dropping this that easily

[Mageshkk]

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

...............
were your tires bald?
were you driving in the snow with summer tires?

you said you hit another car
so you had damage to your own car and someone else's car
if the brakes failed, i would not be dropping this that easily

The tires were a bit bald. The front ones. I didn't hit the car in front. I meant to avoid hitting the car in front, I went off the road instead. I used hand brake to stop the car. The traffic was bad and I was going probably 20 -25 mph.

[rikashh]

I ran into this same problem and it scared the life out of me. 2016 320i is what I drive. Base model no m-sport anything. I was going about 50mph and I was coming up at a red light and the brake pedal became rock hard and would not go down. As I kept getting closer I just kept pumping the brake pedal and it eventually went down and I screeched the car to a stop. From there I drove the car to work and the whole time after that the brakes were giving a bad grinding noise. I then had the car towed to BMW. Next day I went to pick it up and they told me they found no problems in the vehicle's diagnostics or on the road tests.

I really hope BMW issues a recall on these f30s and fixes this problem. Terrifies me to drive my car now since I have to always worry about not being able to stop.

[ah3nyc]

Hey guys so two weeks ago my 340 msport xdrive started to have brake issues. It seemed that when braking the pedal becomes soft then dead and won't stop he car unless you pump it several times. It's even worse in situations of bumper to bumper traffic. Long story short took it to BMW and they can't replicate the problem; not surprised. They told me I have to come in to drive it with shop foreman in order for them to replicate the problem. Has anyone had issues with the b58. I'm scared to drive a car with potential brakes that can't stop the car. I had someone in my family drive the car that has had bmws for over decade and noticed issue right away. How can BMW not fix anything anymore?

What should I do guys? I think it can be air in brake line or brake vacuum pump having issues as did the n20. I've already had a 528 with n20 engine have its brakes fail and thankfully no one got hurt but the axle was broken because brakes completely failed and BMW didn't want to take liability on themselves saying that specific vin wasn't under recall even though that year was. I don't want history to repeat itself. I have to go tomorrow morning to BMW to attempt to replicate problem. Any advise . Thank you.

[Travelfreek]

Hello fellow beemers
I have a 2012 F30 N20 328i and have noticed my vacuum pump oil leak issue is tied to this brake failure issue thread. One or more of you have correctly stated the vacuum pump leak or failure is the root cause of the ultimate issues with the vehicle brakes not the brakes themselves. Well I have found another issues with the vacuum pump that causes another issue and could ultimately lead to brake issues.

I discovered an oil leak while I was removing the decorative engine cover and disconnecting the turbo vacuum lines from the cover (see picture below). About a minute after I set the cover to the side the vacuum reservoir under the cover started pouring oil out. When I let it sit over the drain pan I got about 2 tablespoons of oil from the vacuum reservoir tank - disturbing!

I have never seen oil in the vacuum lines before so I started to investigate.
The lines going from the vacuum pump on the rear of the engine to the plastic cover reservoir and then to the vacuum waste-gate solenoid valve on my 328i. The vacuum pump failure is the root cause to many of the posts in this thread as its primary job is to supply vacuum boost to the brake booster - HOWEVER on the diaphragm waste-gate turbos on the early N20 engines from the 2012 and 2013 model years I seem to have found a pre-failure symptom of the vacuum pump. Most of the threads seem to be later models which have had failures and are also equipped with an electronic waste-gate rather than the vacuum.

GOOD news is I called my dealer and BMW has extended the warranty on the vacuum pumps on many cars to 10 years, 100K miles. So check with your dealer to see if you can get it fixed for FREE if you experience either intermittent brake boost lose or an oil leak from the turbo waste-gate vacuum line as pictured here.

I did also find a recall for the later model engines for vacuum pump failures for exactly what many are describing as the lose of "assisted brakes".

Now to the REAL REASON I was removing my engine cover was for the last few months I have noticed that when under high acceleration the power does not come on and climb with the normal linear feel. When the engine is hot, accelerating hard, and mostly at high RPM the engine surges power. It is hard to explain and the lose or pause in between normal power is very short and does not limit the ultimate power but just appears to hesitate in small burps as I am accelerating. Now that I have found the vacuum line full of oil I believe i may have found my power surge issue. With oil in the waste-gate lines the waste-gate diaphragm cannot release back to the closed position quickly but rather S..L..O..W..L..Y keeping the turbo from a consistent PSI at peak or high acceleration. I will keep everyone updated on if the vacuum pump issue fixes the problem with the power surging as I have been trying to diagnosis this for a few weeks now.

[Alpine5x]

did the vacuum pump solve your problem? i have the same issue on my 528 n20

[ccharin]

I have never had this experience and I have owned a 2011 BMW 328i xDrive and two 2014 BMW 328i xDrive. All BMW's were purchased from the dealer.

[lilredandsexy]

Question, what is the best affordable brake kit for a 2016 435i Gran Coupe M Sport?
I was considering buying the POWER STOP Z26 Street Warrior Brake Kit; any suggestions?

[heredan]

Originally Posted by rikashh

I ran into this same problem and it scared the life out of me. 2016 320i is what I drive. Base model no m-sport anything. I was going about 50mph and I was coming up at a red light and the brake pedal became rock hard and would not go down. As I kept getting closer I just kept pumping the brake pedal and it eventually went down and I screeched the car to a stop. From there I drove the car to work and the whole time after that the brakes were giving a bad grinding noise. I then had the car towed to BMW. Next day I went to pick it up and they told me they found no problems in the vehicle's diagnostics or on the road tests.

I really hope BMW issues a recall on these f30s and fixes this problem. Terrifies me to drive my car now since I have to always worry about not being able to stop.

-------

So glad I found this thread - at least I know I'm not the only one! I had my first ever accident on 11/29/19 after over 3 decades of driving due to the same issue. I was too shocked to even think about the hand break! Thank god my speed was around 40 m/hr and there were no fatalities but both cars are totaled and I've been dealing with the pain of bruised ribs + body and numb arm because of the seatbelt & airbag. I also feel horrible for the moms and kids in the other car but thank god they only have soft tissue injuries.

I absolutely love the X1 and this was my 3rd leased one, but I noticed a slow brakes action from the beginning. Then a couple of scary incidents of the brakes first failing and then working after pumping it a couple of times. A couple of days later, on 11/12/19 I took the car to BMW dealership for its first service and complained of the brakes not functioning properly. My car was delivered back to me and I was told my brakes were fine.

Now a BMW engineer is supposed to come to investigate the blackbox and cause of the crash but I'm a typical female who doesn't know anything about cars and I'm afraid if I'll be taken seriously since it's my claim against the engineering giant.

I just truly hope that the BMW makes sure that this would never ever happen to anyone else. Despite all this, after test driving so many cars, I leased my 4th X1 yesterday. Can I hate all men because of one horrible one? :/

[Tommy985]

I have another problem with F31 320d, left front caliper is grabing 1sec slower then right caliper . Driving faster then 80 kph you notice that car is going for 1sec right then is even. I have dissambled, cleaned and lubticate brake pistons, changed front brake lines, changed brake fluid 2 times. Can be that brake caliper at itself has problem?

[hornett_ph]

same issue above

[GHQM-X3]

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by lilredandsexy

Question, what is the best affordable brake kit for a 2016 435i Gran Coupe M Sport?
I was considering buying the POWER STOP Z26 Street Warrior Brake Kit; any suggestions?

Humble suggestion. This question will get more traction if created in a separate thread.

[Jach50]

same issue above

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by Lster

Hi all,

I have a 328i 2014 showing the same issues, but...it was manufactured in Munich a few months after the recall dates (which are through 8/2013). I braked at full pressure but experienced loss of braking power leading to a collision (no injuries)...

This has happened to me 3 times if I remember correctly. And I'm too outside warranty and outside recall dates with 2016 330e.

Two or three times in the parking, I think each time with cold start and had to panic shift to neutral and/or use handbrake to stop the car.

Few weeks back I had this when it was -20degC outside during driving, and almost reared driver in front. I assumed there was no air in the brake assist since pedal was very hard, but I was able to slow down the car, though very slightly.

[civic2066]

Originally Posted by bluesport

This has happened to me 3 times if I remember correctly. And I'm too outside warranty and outside recall dates with 2016 330e.

Two or three times in the parking, I think each time with cold start and had to panic shift to neutral and/or use handbrake to stop the car.

Few weeks back I had this when it was -20degC outside during driving, and almost reared driver in front. I assumed there was no air in the brake assist since pedal was very hard, but I was able to slow down the car, though very slightly.

Tonight I was approaching a set of red lights in my F30 320i from 2012. They were amber I was very close so braked suddenly. However my car was still moving even when I kept applying my foot on the brake. I actually ended up over the white line. Thankfully the junction was empty other than a van in the lane next to me.

[casualDIYer]

"my last resort was the handbrake"

What?! No, no, no. You have a handbrake as an alternative to the hydraulic brake. Both are brakes made for braking. Don't screw around with other crap.

Hit the brake pedal and not much/nothing happens? Foot off accelerator, car in neutral, hand brake HARD. You can still keep pumping the brake pedal but get that hand brake on immediately. It's a brake. Use it.