The dream continues part 2...

I’ve had the sports car for a little over a month and although I hate to say it some hiccups have occurred.

I do love it, it’s a fun ride just was hoping it didn’t seem like things were as constant…well..one after the other…I am not doing it much service here.

A few weeks ago, about a day after the used car warranty expired the airbag light went off. Nothing too alarming but nobody likes dashboard lights.  Nobody.  After some research online and realizing it could be a few things I realized it needed to get “looked at”.  I could drive it though.

I had some time off work and was going to have my son’s car looked at as well (just oil change etc.) so I stopped in and asked if they can look at/work on BMWs.  They could so that makes it easier as I am familiar and happy with this business.  I was going to bring it in “next week”.

That weekend I was out for a short drive to meet a friend.  About 3-4 miles from home I started to hear this front-end squeal/squeak.  When the top is down you really hear a lot.  I rounded the bend and said, “this can’t be me, can it?”  Yep.  Definitely front drivers side wheel noise.

I arrived at my destination and got out of the car.  Looked at the tire/rim and nothing really.  For some reason I decided to touch the wheel (shake etc.??) and the rim was WHITE hot.  You could cook an egg on it, it was so hot.  Now, one doesn’t typically touch rims (I don’t think) after a drive so I touched the other 3, and they were “warm”, but this was noticeably HOT.  So a quick google search lead me to believe a caliper is/was probably the issue.

Hung out for a bit to allow the rim to “cool” and after talking to a buddy he suggested using the gears more than the brakes on the ride home to see if that made a difference.  I did and it did.  Safe back in the garage the rim was hot for sure but nothing like it was before with the heavier breaking.

Mid-week of my week off (the car hadn’t been driven) I brought it to my local shop.  Towards the end of the day I got the phone call of what was going on.  Sure, enough it was a caliper and they’d have to order the part.  The airbag light was a bit more troubling…it was the passenger presence airbag sensor.  They’d be unable to work on that due to it needed to be “reset” if/when a repair was made.

I need to take my 1998 to a dealership.   * sigh *

So the caliper was delayed in coming in and I finally got the car back the end of the day Friday.  I drove it home with no issues.  After a little bit I decided I wanted to take it for a run.  It was dusk, time to just go out for a cruise.  About 3-4 miles into the drive I notice a squeak again when breaking.  Its more when I was slowing to a stop sign (under 25 mph, where the last noise was there even when not on the brakes).  Nothing crazy, but my brakes were squeaking.

I had to wait until Monday to reach out to the mechanic and that call is always odd. “Hey, remember all that hard work..yeah something is not right”.  I was asked when could I bring it in?  “Tonight, and I’ll leave it for tomorrow”.  So, I dropped the car off.

End of the next day I get a call “It has to be a bad caliper; I’ve taken it apart etc. and its still not working…so I’ve ordered another one”.

So that is where I stand as of this post.

Anyone that is reading I am doing this more of a chronicle of my experience.  I am not super handy but thinking that might need to change!  Hopefully its good to go for a run soon!