Compared to the rest of you, my task was pretty minor, replaced the front brake pads and alignment pins,the pins being rusted in place presented a challenge but I got them out, replaced them with new ones and used Honda Moly 60 grease. Motorcycle driveshaft grease should be good on disk brake sliders... Good grief, that 2 hour job took me 6 hours, and then I realized that I had not used the shims (backing plates?) on the old ones, I may be re-doing the job!!! Maybe it is time for me to get an electric scooter...

 

super easy. Took 2 hours. Only cos I was lazy and tried to do it without taking the front right wheel off. Ended up having to do it to get the hoses back on the valve block. Oh and fighting the stupid plastic clips that hold the plastic fender guard off ! No orange light in the dash after 100 miles. Feeling happy it was only $25 on eBay !

 

The word alignment pins and rusted got my attention.

Are the alignment pins to sort of guide the two parts of the caliper so that in theory the brake pads on both sides wear the same amount.
I ask as I am getting news pads etc I suppose all sround, but the reason is that for both front wheels, the pad on one side is near 2 mm and the other side of the caliper, the pad is perhaps 4 mm or thicker.
My LR shop, (Sandy Lane here in Edmonton) said something about pins rusting etc - is that perhaps what you were referencing?

I must say that have also been looking at electric scooters but the one that caught my eye was a fifties Vespa similar to Audrey Hepburn's ride of choice around Rome. That Vespa in almost new condition was on the floor at a local cycle shop.


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Yes, those are the caliper alignment pins. Sandy Lane was the other Volvo go-to-place when I got our Volvos serviced at Carl's Place in Edmonton. Those pins have to be serviced every time the pads are replaced to allow the calipers to evenly press against the pads, obviously my previous owner's mechanic was not up to my admittedly pretty low maintenance standards. I recycled the old pads so can't send a photo, but they were worn as you inferred, pretty thick on one end, and pretty thin on the other end. I'll be doing the rears on spec soon, they are not causing any problems but I'll replace them to save me wondering. They only have one piston but of course have two pins, if they are bad I'll post photos...

 

The rubber boots are on the caliper guide pins. They rust up solid and don't allow the caliper to float and you end up with dragging brakes. Sometimes you're not that lucky and they snap off when you try to free them and a new bracket is in your future. I pull them fairly regularly now to service them.

 

I was looking back in my records and I see that I last installed ceramic pads and rotors in January of 2012 and 148,000 km. I now have about 373,000 km on my 3.

The rear pads are still OK (about 6mm) and the fronts would be if it were not for the uneven pad wear. I guess after eight years and 225,000 km, (140,000 miles) I guess I should not cry too much.
More correctly, I guess about four years ago, I should have at least greased up the alignment pins.

Your rear brakes will be more fun for you as you are dealing with a disc/brake drum combo on both sides, the drum portion being the parking brake.

 

Well, I was very lucky on the fronts, one slide on each side was seized so tight I couldn't move them with a wrench, but I do have a very large impact tool that I used to loosen and spin them, managed to get them both out with a drift punch and 2 1/2 Kg hammer. As ArmyRover points out, if you can't get them out you'll be buying a whole new bracket, and they are incredibly difficult to remove after years of rusting in place. His post with the photo attached shows how rusty they get, so service them every couple of years, can't believe you've had yours on and working since 2012... !!!

 

I appreciated the ArmyRover jpg, makes it easier for me to understand.

The reason I think for the pads lasting as long as they have is that most of my miles are city miles and I use the downshift feature for pretty much all red lights / slowing down etc. It seems that procedure saves pads.
My 3 is a daily driver and I bought it to stay on the road; you have to pay me to go off road.

The link below is to a 36 page pdf download of what is called Bodsy's Brake Bible. You may already have it already and if so, you are one of the 29,000 views / downloads to date. It has pretty much everything in it related to our D3 brakes - do not recall the alignment pins but they must be there. He has a good section on the rear brakes which are "different".
https://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/dis...bum=4184&pos=5

 

On page 15 of 36 in Ian's brake description, he calls the slider bolt the "calliper" bolt and they are the ones with (in my case) a short thread lock bolt with a 13mm head and a 17mm nut (on the slider) and have the little rubber covers on them. Pull off the rubber covers and the slide pins should come right out of the caliper mounting plate and they then should be lubricated with any good quality grease to enable them to slide in and out easily. If either of these slide pins becomes frozen (rusted) and can't move, then you'll get uneven brake pad wear, so it is a good idea to give them some regular TLC. I don't see any instructions on lubing these slider pins in the service manual, but it does need to be done...

 

I had to use the fire hammer to heat one up to get it to loosen up, was positive that one was going to be scrap but I saved it