Need Help, Weird Sound In When Parked

[Henri]

Hi all

I'll need a few hints if you have some on the only trouble I still have with my car since I bought it 3 months ago.

So, to be short:

318i 1998, 4 doors, manual transmission. New brakes rotor and fairly unused pads. Car has 80 000km on it... 50k miles.

Ok, I asked the dealership to repair that sound like 5 times since I bought it. Was on warranty so they didn't charge me a buck. They also disassembled the brakes 2-3 times and changed all four rotors to correct this problem, without any success.

Now the warranty is over, I don't want to get back there if they can't fix it in only one time (can't afford 5 other repairs on it if they can't fix this lol).

The problem is simple: When the car is parked, with hand brake on, if I "push" on the car, there is a very noticeable KWIK KWIK sound. I don't even need to push on the car, getting out or entering the car will do the same sound. If the hand brake is not on, absolutely no sound. If I had an Hyundai I would say f... off but I don't think my bmw should do this B)

Thanks for your help

[wulley1]

sounds like the parking brake might be slipping a little. Changing the rotors wouldn't help, because the parking brake doesn't use the rotors.

I don't know if you have Midas or Monroe in Quebec, but here in the states those shops will usually check out your brakes and give you free estimates. You could ask them to look at the parking brakes to see if they need new pads.

[xsperf]

thats it, your parking brake is screwed up. actually the parking brake does use the rotors, just not the calipers.


what you need to do is:

take of the rotor(s) most likely its coming from one tire.. if it is coming from both, then this is probably the wrong answer

the parking brake has a lot of springs and a ton of other stuff.. and most likely one of them is hitting something.. so when u take the rotor off, just inspect it to see what is the deal. this might sound kinda funny, but it could be also ur brake shield

u would save a ton of money if u did this urself.. and its very easy

[Henri]

Thanks! Yes, there are Midas shops here in Montreal. I just went out to check if the sound was from both side...

Some day, the sound is REALLY loud, tonight, I was hardly able to produce the sound. It was louder from one side (passenger) but both side were doing it.

Last question: Don't you think that BMW mechanics would have noticed the problem when they disassembled the brakes... 3 times? If they didn't, can I really repair this by myself? lol

[xsperf]

who knows.. but lets use the simplest of logic here..

and by the way im not trying to offend u in any way, although it may soud like it

when the kwik sound, or whatever keeps happening, that means that something is rotating inside the car and it is hitting something, right?

this only happens when the handbrake is up, which means it has something to do with the handbrake.

the bmw handbrake is much different from most other cars, it is actually behind the rotor.

well, when u open it up you would probably see..

now, sometimes mechanics are in a hurry, and sometimes their just plain stupid.. other times their not..

some mechanics dont really analyze the problem, they just replace anything that gets into their way,
while it was under warranty, i dont know why they didnt replace the whole parking brake mechanism.. that would be smart because it only happens when the parking break is on, right? i dont know WHY they replaced the rotor..

anyway, good luck. i tink if u look at it u might be able to figure it out

[Henri]

Thanks for your help! I'll take the time to remove a wheel this week to see what you're talking about! If I'm not too sure, I'll go to a Midas or whatever shop to ask them to check it for me... I just don't want to mess up with brakes since I need them to drive lol... it's not like A/C or power window lol...

Anyway, thanks

[uiuc240]

It's just the sound of your brake pads rubbing lightly on the rotor when your suspension unloads when you get out of the car. If you release the brake, the wheels will roll slightly when you do this. Just ignore the sound...it's totally normal.

Eric

[Henri]

Man, the sound is SO BAD sometimes I feel like getting out of an Hyundai Poney 1982... Even my old Hyundai was not doing this kinda sound lol

What scared me is a month ago, when I asked a BMW master mechanic who owns his own little shop about that sound, he looked at me and told me that I will have this sound forever... I wasn't able to understand well what he explained to me because he hardly speaks english or french (he's german).

If it wasn't for that sound, my car would be sooo nice... now I really feel like driving an old car ghead

Edit : By the way, I don't weight that much lol... 140 pouds, so I don't think it's "normal" lol B) ... Well, I hope it's not! ghead

[uiuc240]

Try different brake pads and see if it lessens the sound.

[Turbodefrost]

and when your taking off your rotor... BE CAREFULL!! I had a bad wheel-bearing, and ended up screwing my whole halfshaft and rotor, ceizing the CV joints trying to get it off with a hub puller kit. A fix that should've cost less than $100, ended up costing me $650!!

[nycbmw325is]

First off.... the car does not use a rotor for the hand brake it uses a brake DRUM. it is very similar to older american style rear drum brakes, except that the drum part is integral with the rear rotor. Take it back to your dealer, and have them replace the handbrake pads. then adjust the handbrake according to spec. I have the same noise on my 1992 325IS, like a groaning creaking sound. it happens on a lot of cars. it really is nothing to worry about as long as the handbrake works well... but since you had a warranty push the issue and tell them what it is... and then replicate the noise for them. they just dont want to repair the thing thasts why they are jerking you around. Drum brakes are kinda hokey as a rule, and you have to dissasemble them and then clean and lub and they hate doing that.

[Henri]

Thanks! Ok, just to be sure I understand well.. the handbrake is a "drum" style brake but it has his own "pads" ?? So we're not talking about the regular brake pads?

I'll call another dealership tomorrow to fix this thing. hoping it will solve my trouble!

Thanks again!