E39 ATE Front Brake Disc Issue

[VictorMike]

Hey all,

I decided to get new brakes. Went to my local Midas and got given a set of discs for front and back.

When I took the new front disc out of the box I noticed that the inner hub on the new disc had a larger diameter than the old one. Feeling concerned I went on-line and looked up the ATE code (130.0173). I found 2 PDFs that confirmed that the part was indeed for a BMW e39 540i (1996-2003):
http://www.ate.co.za/documents/9.5 Disc guide.pdf
https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&r...sqayXMiiDQALz4Q&bvm=bv.96339352,d.ZGU&cad=rja

However after fitting the disc and assembling everything it was obvious that the hub was rubbing up against the retaining clip:

Everything else was 100% (wheel nut holes / disc outer diameter / hole for small screw that hold disc in place), so I decided to leave it and see if it would cause a problem.

Of course there is a problem. The grinding noise is horrendous!

I am taking the discs back, but before I do I would like to know I am correct in assuming that the discs are at fault, and that maybe I don't need a new retaining clip instead?

 

[spawn616]

discs are at fault

the reason is that there are different models and specs and what we get in sa is not always what is specced on the parts broker pc,

ate pads are also slightly longer on some of our models so they metal frame hits the brake disc at about 35 percent life left,which isn't really an inconvenience but you don't get full life of the pad

i have ate brakes(discs and pads) and the retaining clip doesn't touch

 

[VictorMike]

Thanks bud.

Ugh, am so frustrated right now. It took Midas a week to find me these discs...

 

[applehero]

Does the part number on the disk correspond to the ATE number?

 

[VictorMike]

Does the part number on the disk correspond to the ATE number?

Yup. I went back to Midas today. We re-checked it and they said they will look for a replacement. In the meantime I will put my old discs back.

 

[Ratslaaf]

Why not look at something from Meyle? Just a suggestion.

 

[Dewald Basson]

Try Goldwagen as well

 

[spawn616]

ived used meyle and febi

nothing wrong with either but ate is the maker of my brakes and since they only 50 ronds more ,might aswell stick with it and the pads have much less dust.....so much less

 

[VictorMike]

Thanks for all the suggestions gents.

I contacted Goldwagen yesterday and they do have discs for me.And they are two thirds the price of the ATE ones...

Unfortunately, I went to Midas again this morning and now I am dealing with the main manager and he is giving me uphill. I have to give him my old and new discs at the same time so that he can do measurements, before he does anything.

 

[Dewald Basson]

I buy most of my spares from goldwagen what they don't have get from Axis(price depending).


I bought some sure brake pads(oke said that these won't squeak like the ATE) on Saturday, so far no issues. I have driven almost 250km since then. And like you say their prices are much better.

 

[spawn616]

ate is roughly 600 *a disc
meyle is close to that
febi about 500
gmc is about 360 never tried them tho worried a good pad will eat through them

 

[Solo Man]

Had to find new front discs on my 2003 E39 530d when i still had the car. After the second set from a local supplier did not fit i took the exact measurements and went to Good Hope Motor spares in Brackenfell and they had one set left on the shelf. We measured it and it was similar to my old ones. Paid just over R1000 for the set (about 3 years ago) where as the local supplier wanted R1500 for the "wrong" ones. I insisted on ATE as i had some bad warping/whatever vibrating problems with the aftermarket non ATE ones i had on one of my other E39's. Just my 2c. Take a sample of your disc or take accurate measurements of all the areas on the disc if you cannot take a sample. Shop around and good luck! (I think my car was one of the run out models as it was a 2003 E39 and BMW had perhaps fitted either 540 or E60 discs to it as we really battled to get the right discs)

 

[MajorChipHazard]

Try G-Drive.co.za as well he has discs for the e39 as well

 

[Ralf*]

subscribing to this thread
As a fellow E39 owner, this bit of "bad-luck" you are having right now, will hopefully be avoided by others in the future..--KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

 

[spawn616]

Ralf you don't count coz you can source brembos haha or wilwoods

 

[spawn616]

so guess what

yip my discs are wrong my feb discs and very badly used ate discs are 324 mm my new ate are 324 apparently but the disc is cutting into the caliper,its like a mm to big

this has to stop .pay back the money oh wait wrong complaint haha

but still :smashScreen:

atleast i have a spare car while this gets fixed don't know what the solution would be

 

[Philip Foglar]

This is not the first time that I have seen ATE disk size problems! Not good!

 

[Dewald Basson]

so guess what

yip my discs are wrong my feb discs and very badly used ate discs are 324 mm my new ate are 324 apparently but the disc is cutting into the caliper,its like a mm to big

this has to stop .pay back the money oh wait wrong complaint haha

but still :smashScreen:

atleast i have a spare car while this gets fixed don't know what the solution would be

:sorry:

 

[spawn616]

it was a quick fix, part numbers match but disk was indeed wrong,

have no idea what other car has the same brakes as the e39 but what ever ,all sorted now

 

[Dewald Basson]

it was a quick fix, part numbers match but disk was indeed wrong,

have no idea what other car has the same brakes as the e39 but what ever ,all sorted now

Sweet :clapper: