Not too much news on the car front lately. And that’s not a bad thing — when you own two BMWs long out of warranty, no news is good news. There’s no escaping the fact that these cars require preventative maintenance, an alien concept to many drivers today who have no interest in owning a car for longer than two or three years.
Unfortunately the previous owner of the 2001 530 was not a car guy at all, and while the mileage was low and I think the car was driven lightly it was also neglected in some ways. I had all the fluids changed soon after purchase, and new alternator and battery. Couple of weeks ago the car failed the VA state inspection due to thin front brake pads. Naturally my first reaction was irritation — c’mon man just extort the recently jacked up fee and give me my new sticker! — but then I thought the pads were no doubt original so properly were thin. And I hated how dusty the OEM pads were anyway, the wheels got dirty after a single day of driving.
So I went with PBX Deluxe pads. Excellent all around and very little brake dust. With a deadline of two weeks to reinspect and being really busy at work, I had Gary at Martin Motorsports put them on. But I’ve got my spring project lined up — I’m going to tackle the rears pads myself. We’ll see how that goes in a couple of months.
Hey, how did the brake job go? My husband does the brakes on our cars (Volvo, Ford and Subaru) and the only problem we’ve found is if they are original, getting the rotor off can be a real challenge. We’ve taken sledge hammers to the old ones and they just wouldn’t budge. But the newer ceramic pads DO cut down on the brake dust. Less dust = fewer of those expensive car washes where they use that (most likely illegal) stuff that’ll probably burn through steel gloves but gets the brake dust off in 10 seconds. I think I’ll stick with ceramic!