Hey everyone, I've been fixing up an '83 240D for my wife to use as a daily driver. I was getting down to the brakes, as they were squealing a bit, and I could feel a bit of drag. At this point I must say that Haynes manuals have caused me nothing but misery in the past, and once again I find this to be the truth. The manual says that you should pull the brake wear sensor before pulling the pins. Well, after tugging with needle nose pliers(as per the manual) I hear a nice *snap*. I immediately stopped pulling, but I definitely cracked the plastic of the brake wear sensor. I eventually saw that it was being held in by the anti-rattle springs... The sensors just popped out when I removed the pins and pulled out the springs. Now here's my first question.

One of the brake wear sensors is missing the black covering on the end where it attaches near the brake pad. I'm not sure if it was pulled out when I removed it, or if it just wore away. Will this affect anything? This is also the same one that had the nice *snap* when I pulled on it. I'm not sure how these brake sensors even work. Does the bare wire make contact with the rotor, and that is what sets off the sensor? Any help would be appreciated. (I miss mechanical brake wear warnings...)


Now my second question. One of the rubber boot covers for the piston has a good 1/2" hole in it. Should I just rebuild the whole caliper? My brother, along with others I've spoken to, said to just stick the new pads on and forget about it since it's just the dust boot. I'm worried that it would allow foreign material to get near the piston and rust it. Let me know what you all think. Also, if there's anything I should be watching out for while doing the rebuild, please let me know. Thanks


Great forum by the way! It's helped me out quite a bit so far.