Our 520d Touring has now had its front brakes serviced and the results are astounding.
It turns out the brake pads had worn out in 7000 miles. If you think it’s my driving then I’ve two lines of defence. The first is that I’ve turned into something of an economy geek, so almost always drive with an eco foot, which is easier on all parts of the car. Secondly, rattling off 7000 miles in half a year, many of which were at 6am and therefore pretty braking-free motorway runs, isn’t putting particular pressure on the pads. What was also astounding was that a member of the service team at Sunningdale BMW told me the average distance before the front pads need replacing for a car of this type is just 10,000 miles and he’d seen others, like mine, come in at 7000 miles.
The next pill to swallow was the price of new pads. All-in the total was £176.24. Ouch. This can’t be good for the 5-series’ SMR costs. Interestingly the on-board computer claims the pads will now last 25,000 miles. We’ll see.
Pads aside, the service from Sunningdale BMW was first class. The collect and deliver option was smooth, communication was good, and the car came back sparkling. Let’s just hope I don’t need to go back in another 7000 miles.
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