BMW tried to tailor on the brakes, but it will come out sideways

Have you ever tried to become a supplier of spare parts for an automobile assembly line? Entertaining action. About ten years ago, the plant I was then in charge of, became a supplier of vibration damping inserts in the Ford Focus III doors. Hemorrhoids for certification of the production site under the conditions of the automotive quality management system were through the roof. It took more than a year to prepare, five times Ford audited me, digging into the smallest details, and what a huge number of test samples were made!

It was extremely difficult to become a supplier of even such, in general, garbage. And then my beloved BMW messed up not with anything, but with the brake system. I can't even imagine how it went through all the selections, controls and audits. Has the supplier been so successful in corrupting BMW's purchasing department? Don't know. Or are the numbers of potential savings clouding your eyes?

The essence of history. On new BMW models, first R1250GS, and then on S1000RR, and R1250RT, instead of the time-tested Brembo front calipers, suddenly appeared calipers from the American company Hayes, which is better known as a manufacturer of brake systems for bicycles. Although, they say, Hayes brakes are also on Harley-Davidson.

It is clear that there was a tender, and Hayes won it. But as soon as motorcycles with these brakes appeared on sale, a misunderstanding began. No, there were no problems in terms of braking. Brakes slowed down no worse than Brembo. But some owners around the world began to notice that brake fluid was leaking from the calipers.

Such a problem occurs, albeit not on all Hayes calipers (this has passed me and my friends), but on a fairly large number of them. And even if this does not directly affect security, then you must admit that this is complete garbage and zashkvar.

Further investigation showed that it was not the stuffing box seals of the brake pistons, as it might seem at first glance. Disassembly shows perfect cylinder surfaces and perfect seals. It doesn't flow from there.

The point is the design of the calipers themselves. They are made of two halves connected by a bolted joint. while from one half to the second there are channels through which the brake fluid flows. And it is precisely at the junction of these two halves that a leak occurs.

Apparently, it's just in the design, and not in the quality of manufacture. Or in other words, the design is such that even if the parts are within tolerances, a leak occurs

It is also sad that there are already cases when, under warranty, the current calipers were changed to new ones, which also flowed.

It got to the point that in the US, BMW Motorrad simply stopped issuing even already paid motorcycles with these brake calipers. In Europe, and recently, it has not yet come to this, and for those who have leaks, the calipers are changed to new ones.

Particularly suspicious BMW owners change Hayes calipers for Brembo calipers at their own expense, which in general is not very cheap, about 70 conditional units.

Brembo calipers, by the way, are machined from a single piece of aluminum, and not assembled from two halves.

The situation for BMW is unpleasant and they will obviously lose more on this than they saved on changing suppliers. Or maybe not.

UPD

Found this video