Jan 29 - stop and go

You can tell when a change of calipers works ... you stop when you want to and after stopping, upon releasing the brake pedal, you go. That sounds obvious, but it's the last part that indicates that you've fixed the problem. I stop in the driveway, which is almost level, and if I take my foot off the brake, the car will roll a little ... indicating that the calipers aren't sticking ... yay !

It was a project in two parts -- Jason gave me a hand in the a.m. as I cranked up the car, removed the wheel, removed the caliper, couldn't get the hydraulic brake line hose off the caliper -- reinstall the caliper so that's it's solid -- loosen the hose -- remove caliper again -- remove hose -- screw hose into new caliper after dripping a 1/4 teaspoon of fluid -- add pads and reinstall. We then bled that brake without any trouble, cleaned up and I took it for a test ride ... one fixed ! No stickie !

We then got on with the rest of our day, of which the lion's share was going to the art show "Images" along Riverside and Canal streets. The dogs came along and were well behaved even in those mobs of people. We were walking for a long time -- it's over a mile to where the tents start, which is a quick walk, and then a slow visit-every-tent walk for the next couple of hours. Our dogs weren't the only ones out there so there was some heavy petting and sniffing going on :).

Back home, we had a late lunch and then Lorraine headed out for a run. Jason had put his bike together and I gave it a cleaning so he accompanied her. Since they were gone ... I got out the jack and tackled the drivers side. The only thing that I was unsure about on that side was the brake wear indicator connection but after seeing where that connects, I recalled how it detaches and re-attaches from when I replaced the rotors and pads last summer. That wheel took half the time, because of course I didn't have to re-attach the old caliper, now knowing what I was doing. roughly a half-hour after I started I was ready to bleed the brakes and Jason was back and did the honors at the brake pedal.

Since a chunk of time is simply getting tools out, it's probably a half-hour job for one side and 45 minute job for both sides. The calipers -- genuine BMW -- will have cost me $59 each after I get the $38 return for used parts -- the so-called "core charge". In 2010, I paid Tire Kingdom $1004.82 to replace one caliper + rotor + pads. That too was a rebuilt BMW caliper so we aren't talking apples and oranges. When you figure that the rotor and pads are worth less than $100 ...

So ... what next ? Well, Jason needs a new set of pads. He was planning on getting them done when in Florida so we may do those today. We jacked up his car, looked at the setup, priced the pads online and checked to see that Advance Auto stocks them ... yup ... get out your stopwatch !

By the time we'd checked out Jason's car, it was 5pm and Sandy was agitating to get over to the club. I had a quick shower and off we went. We test drove the car over to the club ... yay, it stopped ! ... and had our usual burger, this time Kobe Beef ... and went home stuffed. It was very busy at the club, busy from Images, we figured.

Today -- well, we have those brakes. Jason and I are going for a bike ride. We don't have any other plans.

Onward !