[DRK1]

I thought I would post my experience with this issue since I see a lot of questions about it. My 2008 M3 Coupe brake pad warning light came on as a result of the service indicator counting down to zero. It said all pads had to be replaced (based on mileage, not actual wear of the pad sensors which were tied off due to frequent pad swaps for the track). I double checked all 3 pad sensors, and they were intact. I tried the reset procedure using the odo button and the BC button on the turn signal stalk, but it refused to reset. I also tried using my AutoEnginuity ODB tool and it refused to reset.

Only after changing 3 apparently good pad wear sensors to new ones did the warning reset sucessfully using the odo button/BC button. I then checked to see if the old brake wear sensors had self-destructed, and all indicated a short on a low resistance ohmmeter (i.e. they were ok). This leads me to conclude that the car's computer system looks for the brake wear sensors to be disconnected and then re-connected to determine if they have been replaced. If it thinks they are not replaced, it continues to issue a warning.

Strangely, none of the service people (including manager) at my dealership were aware of this. If my assessment is true, it means BMW is using a sneaky trick to force us to buy overpriced wear sensors even if the old ones are good.

I hope someone in a similar situation can try simply disconnecting all of their old / intact pad wear sensors and reconnecting them to see if this in fact will allow the brake service light to be reset. If this is confirmed, it should be posted as a sticky and the word spread widely so we can counteract this unethical sales practice of BMW!