Brake squeal when cold

[MSUGOGRN]

I searched this entire forum and I was surprised to not find a thread addressing this so I turn to you gents again. I have had my 650 convertible now since August of 2016 and I am still under factory warranty. Over that time, I have brought it into my dealership at least 4 times for what is a really annoying brake squeal. The brakes only show this trait for about the first 10 minutes after I start up the car under normal braking conditions. If I brake very hard, there is no squeal. After they finally warm up, the squeal goes away.

The dealership has chamfered the pads multiple times and even this last time, they replaced my pads despite the fact they did not meet the requirements to do so. They keep telling me this is standard for all the 650’s as we have “performance brakes”. While I appreciate this, I have owned a 350Z Convertible and a Porsche Cayenne Turbo and I would say the brakes on those 2 vehicles were as good if not better than this and I never heard the squealing. For a car this expensive, when the brakes are new, one should never have squealing brakes in my opinion.

Now that the weather is nice here in Denver again, I have the top down pretty much all the time and the squeal in the morning is really annoying. I ask you my 6’er comrades, is this something you hear or deal with every day? Should I press harder on the dealership to stop installing the same stock pads? Are there other pads out there that don’t squeal? Have you had a similar experience with a dealership but they were able to fix the problem?

Thanks in advance!

[PIR3lly]

No squeal here. It's very silent during braking.
Only time I ever had a squeal, was when I replaced the brake pads on my e46 with ebc redstuff.

[upstate650]

Only time mine ever squeal at all is the first time I brake after car has sat for a few days, and then they return to their normal silent state.

[MSUGOGRN]

Thanks guys. Would love to hear from anybody else, with or without this. Would be helpful to have ammo.

[Broag]

What's up OP? I have this same issue with my 2012 650i xDrive. Brakes have squealed since I bought it back in August 2016. I plan on getting the car serviced within the next couple of weeks in which I'm getting new tires. I'm going to address the break squeal then. I'll let you know what they say.

[MSUGOGRN]

Originally Posted by Broag

What's up OP? I have this same issue with my 2012 650i xDrive. Brakes have squealed since I bought it back in August 2016. I plan on getting the car serviced within the next couple of weeks in which I'm getting new tires. I'm going to address the break squeal then. I'll let you know what they say.

Thanks Broag! I am curious what they end up telling you. I was at the dealership yesterday and they seem to think it's a "Colorado" thing and they were saying that all BMW's squeal like that in the morning. I think I am ready to just deal with this as opposed to fighting the good fight.

[Broag]

I live in Pennsylvania so you are much higher up than I am! Mine squeal in the morning and when I leave work in the late afternoon. It could be just not driving the car for long periods of time. Enjoy your beautiful car and I'll keep you updated.

[DTP1980]

Assuming it's not a stone between a disc and disc protector, then I tend to resolve squeals by doing a breaking in procedure, as I would for new brakes and especially for performance pads.

From 50mph do a really hard stop without engaging abs, to 0 mph. Allow 30 seconds to cool. Repeat 4 times. Tends to resolve squealing which can often be caused by regular light use of the brakes, and gets life back into dulled brakes caused by the same type of use.

[Broag]

For OP.

My rear brakes were at about 8%, so that's why my breaks were squealing badly. Wish I had more of an explanation for you.

[MSUGOGRN]

Originally Posted by Broag

For OP.

My rear brakes were at about 8%, so that's why my breaks were squealing badly. Wish I had more of an explanation for you.

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to probably just keep complaining to the dealership about it. I have another year under full maintenance. They will fix this.

[LLTS]

I was suffering from this as well.

One dealer decided to change the pads, which did not do any good.

Took it to another dealer, and they found that the brake rotor itself was not balanced / a bit crooked (I think was the term, for a lack of a better word). Since then, it was problem solved for me.

But then again, we might have different brake compounds / set-up so don't take my word too seriously just something to explore!