The '07S front rotors were at 20.5mm after three years and 29000 mi and the dealer would not replace the rotors under the maintenance program before it ended because front rotor service limit is 20.4mm. The OEM Jurid pads as most of you know are very messy, some of the worst pads I have seen. BMW and Mini should dump these pads as OEM. Sourced Wagner rotors and Akebono pads for the replacement parts and read several pad replacement posts on NAM to get some pointers. Thanks to all who wrote about the job at hand, I would rather learn from others than to make the same mistakes again.
First you need all the correct new parts, proper jacks, jack stands, #50 torx socket, 13, 16, 17mm sockets, extra brake fluid, c-clamp, 24 mm open end wrench, a large vise grip pliers, a"thin" crescent wrench, brake cleaner-3 spray cans, Locktite, fine wire and fine plastic brushes.
Remove tires, remove caliper, remove caliper bracket, remove rotor, clean caliper, put pads in clean caliper, clean wheel hub, install rotor, compress new pads into calipers, replace calipers, bleed brakes, bed brakes.
The torx screw was no problem, used a big wooden block and a lug bolt installed to keep the rotor from spinning as you crank on the torx to loosen. The calipers are simple to remove, you need a "thin" wrench to hold the lock nut on the caliper while you loosen the 13mm outer bolt. Very dirty so a lot of time is spent cleaning the caliper of old dust/pad material. Take your time and clean the pad guides/channels on the caliper, that contact point of the pads affects the overall operation greatly. You can take the stainless steel brake pad guide out of the caliper bracket and clean it easier, be careful not to force it or bend it. Dab a bit of the supplied brake lubricant on the tips of the pads and its channel that it slides on during operation. Open the brake bleeder screw and put a piece of clear tubing to let the brake fluid out as you compress the thicker new pads so they fit around the new rotor.
When you do the rear pad replacement you will see a caliper piston that has a X pattern on it. I was not able to compress this piston without turning it as described in other posts. I took my 24mm open end wrench put on a pair of vise grips for leverage and pushed and turned the piston to get it to retract. This was the trickiest part of the whole job. Lock the ends of the wrench in the X and turn clockwise and push slowly, steadily and hard.
The front were easily compressed with a c-clamp and some blocks of wood to prevent any damage to the caliper piston. You will see Locktite on some of the caliper bolts, reapply as you reassemble. Double, then triple check EVERY bolt and nut. Brake failure is serious business.
Bleed brakes, then I opted to bed my brakes. You will find some people say that this is unnecessary but I feel when you have all new components a bedding is going to mate the pads and the rotors well. Do some searching and make your decision.


So after a successful F&R rotor and pad replacement a annoying clunk, rattle appeared much to my dismay. It was coming from the front driver's side and was not revealing itself easily. After jacking up the car twice and rechecking everything, I was still miffed. Finally after reading posts on NAM again I found that the upper sway bar link where it attaches to the strut was loose. I had grabbed the sway bar link and shaken it before but that was not enough to elicit the rattle/clunk when the sway bar moved. You had to put your finger DIRECTLY on the bolt that runs through the upper link eye and apply force to hear the clunk. These suspension components have a preload on them so to find the loose component takes some concentrated force to expose the loose or worn culprit. I had narrowed it down to the sway bar bushings, control arm bushings or the link bushings/attachments. Other have talked about a rear clunk/rattle, if you are hearing these check the link bushings and attachment bolts closely and your noises may disappear and you can drive in silence again.


The Akebono pads(made in Kentucky USA!) I highly recommend, the job took longer than I thought it would but my wife and I really cleaned everything very well. The rear caliper piston retraction is a bit tricky but once you know the trick it's manageable. Plus you get to check your suspension out well, clean it better than any service tech would, and have the satisfaction of a job you know is done right.

pics; supporting the caliper on disassembly, Jurid coated caliper bracket, cleaned bracket with Akebono pads

 

some more pics of the operation; compressing rear piston with makeshift tool, cleaned caliper bracket, reassembled Front

 

a rather crusty front hub before and after, front caliper compressed ready for pads

 

caliper bracket/frame cleaned, rear caliper piston, dirty sliding surfaces on caliper bracket

 

torx bolt size#50, rear disassembly, below service limit vs. new

 

Nice write up. I did mine about a month ago. As you note, there were quite a few tools that were needed that I had not seen listed in the other DIYs I found. Mostly the wrenches, especially a thin wrench.

I did have one torx bolt get stripped and eventually had to cut it out with a Dremel.