Unexpected expense from bi-annual brake fluid change

[outnumbered]

My local BMW dealer managed to shear off the bleed nipple on one of the front brake calipers, for which their solution is to replace the caliper at my expense

They're claiming that sometimes they just shear off due to corrosion and there's nothing they could do, and it's a safety issue to try to extract the remains of the nipple as they might damage the thread and it'd leak in future. After I complained to the service manager they've agreed to reduce the replacement to @cost or thereabouts, but it's still going to be a significant outlay.

I thought about getting the car to the good local indy to have a go at drilling the remains of the nipple out, but since I still want to get a BMW stamp for the warranty, it'd then have to go back to BMW anyway, and I can't be bothered with the hassle as I'm going away at the w/e.

Can't wait to see some more official documentation from Mondial about using non-franchised dealers for servicing, so I can just take the car to somewhere I trust a lot more...

[shimmy]

Are they AP or OEM?

Nipple rusting is pretty common and they do sheer off very easily.

[shane@mbtech]

Agree,

We have had a few nipples shear off with no warning and very little pressure too.

Certain calipers on Mercedes seem more problematic,

Issues can arise from previous over tightening too.

And I can understand their stance on replacement, not worth the risk for them.

[Equinox]

Sounds fairly honest to me, unfortunatley these things happen every now and then and this time it was your car, its a pain in the arse but in all honesty its not their fault.

Equinox

[Mark CSL]

If it was my car and it was in the dealer and they broke it they would be fixing it.

Also why dont they change them as its a cheap part bleed nipples say every 2 years like the fluid

Does warranty not cover this ??????????

[outnumbered]

I can see that it just happens sometimes, but was pissed off that their first response was sorry mate, that'll be £550. Would have been good to have offered some goodwill without me having to push...

Warranty classes it as consumable/service item when the dealer checked with mondial.

[shane@mbtech]

Originally Posted by Mark CSL

If it was my car and it was in the dealer and they broke it they would be fixing it.

Also why dont they change them as its a cheap part bleed nipples say every 2 years like the fluid

Does warranty not cover this ??????????

Look at it from my point of view as a garage owner Mark......

Its not my car, its not my caliper, its not my bleed nipple and its not my corrosion that caused it. Its the owners car, the owners caliper, the owners bleed nipple, and the owners corrosion.

I have bled the brakes on probably 1000's of calipers, and about 5 have snapped on me personally over the years. You can only turn the nipple, I know how to undo a bolt correctly, and if one does snap I know 100% its not my fault.

Its not always as black and white as it might seem.

Having said that on the ones that have snapped, we have repaired all of them at no cost to the customer, because customer service goes a long long way, and if a customer returns, the profit from their business over the years, and their reccomendations, more than covers the small time taken to repair. Most come out with easy outs, heat, penetrating oil and lots of patience, only one required drilling and tapping.

It does not take long to take a caliper off and get it in the vice to work on.