brake fluids change warning

[ack334]

Hi
I just got this warning :
Brake Fluids change due soon

my Question is how soon ?
can I wait for 1500 kilo to do it with my oil and filter service or is it urgent service and I should not drive the car?
best regards

[Grail05]

Yes you can...

[1sikbmr]

Its fine. Just change it with the oil the same time

[jphughan]

First off since I see this is your first post, welcome to the forum!

Brake fluid needs to be changed because over time it gets "wet", meaning that water gets absorbed into the system. When that happens, as brakes get hot, the water will boil at a relatively low temperature compared to pure brake fluid. That causes water to turn to vapor, which (unlike liquid) is compressible. The problem with that is that when you press the brake pedal, you want all of your foot's force to be transmitted straight to the caliper, which requires that nothing between your foot and the caliper be compressible. But when you have compressible gas in there, some of your force is lost compressing said gas, which means that the more gas in the system (caused by more water in the system), the more force from your foot will be required to achieve a given force at the caliper. Incidentally, this is why performance brake fluids exist; their fluid has a higher boiling point than standard fluid (and MUCH higher than water), which means they can remain in liquid form and transmit all of your foot's force to the brakes even as the brakes get much hotter.

Notice, though, that none of this really matters until you really heat up your brakes, so if you're just driving rather moderately, you can definitely hold off replacing brake fluid a bit longer. In fact on cars produced 3/2011 and later, the service indicator is programmed to require brake fluid changes every 3 years rather than 2, even though there was no change in the braking system or the fluid; it's just BMW cutting costs on Ultimate Service. So you'll be fine!

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by jphughan

First off since I see this is your first post, welcome to the forum!

Brake fluid needs to be changed because over time it gets "wet", meaning that water gets absorbed into the system. When that happens, as brakes get hot, the water will boil at a relatively low temperature compared to pure brake fluid. That causes water to turn to vapor, which (unlike liquid) is compressible. The problem with that is that when you press the brake pedal, you want all of your foot's force to be transmitted straight to the caliper, which requires that nothing between your foot and the caliper be compressible. But when you have compressible gas in there, some of your force is lost compressing said gas, which means that the more gas in the system (caused by more water in the system), the more force from your foot will be required to achieve a given force at the caliper. Incidentally, this is why performance brake fluids exist; their fluid has a higher boiling point than standard fluid (and MUCH higher than water), which means they can remain in liquid form and transmit all of your foot's force to the brakes even as the brakes get much hotter.

Notice, though, that none of this really matters until you really heat up your brakes, so if you're just driving rather moderately, you can definitely hold off replacing brake fluid a bit longer. In fact on cars produced 3/2011 and later, the service indicator is programmed to require brake fluid changes every 3 years rather than 2, even though there was no change in the braking system or the fluid; it's just BMW cutting costs on Ultimate Service. So you'll be fine!

^What he said!

[GIdriver]

Originally Posted by jphughan

First off since I see this is your first post, welcome to the forum!

Brake fluid needs to be changed because over time it gets "wet", meaning that water gets absorbed into the system. When that happens, as brakes get hot, the water will boil at a relatively low temperature compared to pure brake fluid. That causes water to turn to vapor, which (unlike liquid) is compressible. The problem with that is that when you press the brake pedal, you want all of your foot's force to be transmitted straight to the caliper, which requires that nothing between your foot and the caliper be compressible. But when you have compressible gas in there, some of your force is lost compressing said gas, which means that the more gas in the system (caused by more water in the system), the more force from your foot will be required to achieve a given force at the caliper. Incidentally, this is why performance brake fluids exist; their fluid has a higher boiling point than standard fluid (and MUCH higher than water), which means they can remain in liquid form and transmit all of your foot's force to the brakes even as the brakes get much hotter.

Notice, though, that none of this really matters until you really heat up your brakes, so if you're just driving rather moderately, you can definitely hold off replacing brake fluid a bit longer. In fact on cars produced 3/2011 and later, the service indicator is programmed to require brake fluid changes every 3 years rather than 2, even though there was no change in the braking system or the fluid; it's just BMW cutting costs on Ultimate Service. So you'll be fine!

Excellent explanation.

[Grail05]

Originally Posted by jphughan

First off since I see this is your first post, welcome to the forum!

Brake fluid needs to be changed because over time it gets "wet", meaning that water gets absorbed into the system. When that happens, as brakes get hot, the water will boil at a relatively low temperature compared to pure brake fluid. That causes water to turn to vapor, which (unlike liquid) is compressible. The problem with that is that when you press the brake pedal, you want all of your foot's force to be transmitted straight to the caliper, which requires that nothing between your foot and the caliper be compressible. But when you have compressible gas in there, some of your force is lost compressing said gas, which means that the more gas in the system (caused by more water in the system), the more force from your foot will be required to achieve a given force at the caliper. Incidentally, this is why performance brake fluids exist; their fluid has a higher boiling point than standard fluid (and MUCH higher than water), which means they can remain in liquid form and transmit all of your foot's force to the brakes even as the brakes get much hotter.

Notice, though, that none of this really matters until you really heat up your brakes, so if you're just driving rather moderately, you can definitely hold off replacing brake fluid a bit longer. In fact on cars produced 3/2011 and later, the service indicator is programmed to require brake fluid changes every 3 years rather than 2, even though there was no change in the braking system or the fluid; it's just BMW cutting costs on Ultimate Service. So you'll be fine!

HOLY MOLY... you cant get any better than that..... GOOD JOB.... i was lazy and just said yes... I only recommend YES to him if he doesnt track the car...

[WarrantyTracker]

Originally Posted by jphughan

First off since I see this is your first post, welcome to the forum!

Brake fluid needs to be changed because over time it gets "wet", meaning that water gets absorbed into the system. When that happens, as brakes get hot, the water will boil at a relatively low temperature compared to pure brake fluid. That causes water to turn to vapor, which (unlike liquid) is compressible. The problem with that is that when you press the brake pedal, you want all of your foot's force to be transmitted straight to the caliper, which requires that nothing between your foot and the caliper be compressible. But when you have compressible gas in there, some of your force is lost compressing said gas, which means that the more gas in the system (caused by more water in the system), the more force from your foot will be required to achieve a given force at the caliper. Incidentally, this is why performance brake fluids exist; their fluid has a higher boiling point than standard fluid (and MUCH higher than water), which means they can remain in liquid form and transmit all of your foot's force to the brakes even as the brakes get much hotter.

Notice, though, that none of this really matters until you really heat up your brakes, so if you're just driving rather moderately, you can definitely hold off replacing brake fluid a bit longer. In fact on cars produced 3/2011 and later, the service indicator is programmed to require brake fluid changes every 3 years rather than 2, even though there was no change in the braking system or the fluid; it's just BMW cutting costs on Ultimate Service. So you'll be fine!

This explanation rules! Now can you take on other topics? I'm dying to know why party politics has become a disfunctional mess in the U.S.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by JBasham

This explanation rules! Now can you take on other topics? I'm dying to know why party politics has become a disfunctional mess in the U.S.

HAH! Unfortunately that isn't rooted in concrete science like the brake fluid explanation. But I'm going to place a fair amount of blame at the feet of the Tea Party, whose founding premise was reasonable enough but who ruined it for everyone when they went completely off the radical deep end -- and then somehow managed to get elected to Congress in large numbers! So now these asshats are spouting extreme rightist rhetoric and making the rest of the country forget that it is in fact possible to be a reasonable person and have reasonable conservative viewpoints; instead, people just think all Republicans are now that way just because the Tea Party falsely claims to represent typical or "true" Republicans. Combine that with the kneejerk reaction in Congress nowadays to automatically oppose anything the other party supports purely because the other party supports it (and/or to spite them for not supporting your bill earlier), and you have a completely log-jammed system.

It makes me sad that normal Republicans have gotten such a bad rap because of these clowns. They're up there in Congress talking about all the things they're against, but never really talk about what they're for! Even if you don't agree with everything the Democrats want to do, at least they're acknowledging problems in our country and trying to get solutions implemented. The "Republicans" in Congress are just voting "No" all the time -- and come on, it's not like this country is so perfect that any change would be for the worse. Just once I want to read a news article saying, "Republicans today proposed a bill that would...." rather than, "Republicans have pledged to block a proposed bill that would..."

I still think my brake fluid explanation was better though.

[m3an]

Originally Posted by jphughan

HAH! Unfortunately that isn't rooted in concrete science like the brake fluid explanation. But I'm going to place a fair amount of blame at the feet of the Tea Party, whose founding premise was reasonable enough but who ruined it for everyone when they went completely off the radical deep end -- and then somehow managed to get elected to Congress in large numbers! So now these asshats are spouting extreme rightist rhetoric and making the rest of the country forget that it is in fact possible to be a reasonable person and have reasonable conservative viewpoints; instead, people just think all Republicans are now that way just because the Tea Party falsely claims to represent typical or "true" Republicans. Combine that with the kneejerk reaction in Congress nowadays to automatically oppose anything the other party supports purely because the other party supports it (and/or to spite them for not supporting your bill earlier), and you have a completely log-jammed system.

It makes me sad that normal Republicans have gotten such a bad rap because of these clowns. They're up there in Congress talking about all the things they're against, but never really talk about what they're for! Even if you don't agree with everything the Democrats want to do, at least they're acknowledging problems in our country and trying to get solutions implemented. The "Republicans" in Congress are just voting "No" all the time -- and come on, it's not like this country is so perfect that any change would be for the worse. Just once I want to read a news article saying, "Republicans today proposed a bill that would...." rather than, "Republicans have pledged to block a proposed bill that would..."

I still think my brake fluid explanation was better though.

Please take this BS to off topic


NO party (repub or demo) talk about what they are for, rather they slander the opposition. This has been the worst run ever, and all you hear are negatives. I have stopped watching the news; the news are so biased as is that dependent upon what channel you watch you get diff info. Really sad to see the state of affairs now

[DavidZ]

I'll bleed my track car brakes before every event but road car (which my M3 still is) hardly ever (even Stop Tech says it's hardly necessary). I was surprised when my brake fluid indicator came on at just 2 years and 5k miles. Are all BMWs like this or just the M models?

[sensi09]

Originally Posted by DavidZ

I'll bleed my track car brakes before every event but road car (which my M3 still is) hardly ever (even Stop Tech says it's hardly necessary). I was surprised when my brake fluid indicator came on at just 2 years and 5k miles. Are all BMWs like this or just the M models?

Yes all BMWs have the 2 year interval.