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W210 E430 2000 Front Brakes Upgrade (Just installed)
Hello guys.
In this report i want to talk you about front brakes upgrade on W210 chassis. As you know i have 2000 E430. The car is imported from japan and has the same brake system as W210 E320. I think this isn’t right decision from Mercedes… Car which is heavier, faster, and more powerful with it’s V8 must have stronger brakes than the simple E320 (with it’s one piston floating caliper and 300mm brake rotor).
First of all i want to say that I am not a racer, and don’t love to drive fast. But I bought my E430 because i wanted it to be the E430 (with the different engine, transmission, brakes and e.t. against the E320). You may say: ‘’why you didn’t look at the brakes when you were buying the car?’’, That was my mistake… But overall car was in a very good shape and i bought it.
Now about the job. First as you may know from my youtube channel (W210 Source), i was going to install W210 /W208 V8 front brake system on my car and that’s why i bought them. Before facelift W210 and W208 V8 cars were equipped with 4 piston fixed brake caliper and 316mm brake rotor. Whole brake components were made by famouse German manufacturer ATE. Also this brakes were installed on W202 C36 AMG from 1995 year. Specally 1995 year C36 had different brakes.
Then i asked some advise to my friend, which knows Mercedes technical better than me. My friend said that if i would upgrade 300mm rotor to 316mm i wouln’t feel any much difference in the brake performance. He advised me to put on much bigger rotors and finaly said that he had for sale whole brake system from W209 CLK550, with 4 piston fixed brembo aluminium caliper, and cross drilled 345mm brake rotors. Then he showed me his car (highly modified CLK230 Kompressor) with this brake setup and i was deeply impressed. (The brakes looked great and the braking performance was better). And i finaly decided to buy these setup from him. Don’t know about rotors, but i think, this calipers are also installed on W203 C32 AMG, and W203 C350 (Sport) too. My friend's CLK:
About two days ago we’ve started to upgrade my cars front brakes. First of all we removed old calipers, than removed brake lines and finally removed brake rotors. Every screw we removed very easily, thy weren't rusty. Then we installed new brake components, everything is bolt-on upgrade. We’ve modified only brake pad sensors, we took sensors from my old brake calipers and put them on the new calipers, here you may need some longer screws, stock caliper screws don’t work. And of course i must say that the old rotor screw hole didn’t match with newer, but for me this isn’t big deal. After installing brake components we made brake air bleeding, and add some brake fluid. My new setup with 18 inch carlsson rims:
Now the result: first i must say that Mercedes brake pedal was and is soft. But my car's braking performance is changed, car brakes much more better now, also it looks awesome with this brake setup. When you push the brake pedal you feel that calipers grab the rotor much more early than it was on old brake system. Overally i am very happy with my new setup.
So guys if you are going to upgrade brake system on W210 chassis (specially on E430) i highly recommend to install W209 CLK550, W203 C350 (Sport) or W203 C32 AMG front brake system.
Hope this report will be useful for them who is planning upgrading their w210 brake system...
Other useful info about W210 and other MB chassis you can find here:
My E55 was up for brakes recently and I also changed mine out with CLK550 / C32 calipers. The main thing I noticed was the weight difference between calipers before installation as they were much lighter. I also placed C32 sensors and wear sensor bolt along with stainless steel lines at the time. The lines did not fit under the hat so I had them tied securely. I bought the calipers remanufactured so they came cleaned so I simply painted, made the reflective vinyl AMG sticker and light clear coat. C32 rotors and Akebono pads.
I see it as a good upgrade as the rotors are cheaper. Stopping power seems equal to slightly better though the bite is less with the ceramic. Next time Ill try Porterfield pads.
Last edited by Tall Giraffe; 10-26-2015 at 10:23 PM.
your setup looks great... i also plan to paint my calipers in the future. I want to paint them red and add some vynil brembo sticker with brembo logo...
I also agree with you that these calipers are more lighter than Stock (1,2 Floating piston) w210 caliper, and 4 pistons fixed ATE calipers...
Thanks FlatlineEF9. I tried a engine gunmetal color due the high temperature rating but it looked awful- like a cast iron pan. I used a wire brush attachment to my drill and removed the paint till it had a shiny sheen then I resprayed the final color with a wheel gunmetal color that I saw another member use on a C Class one time from Advanced Auto. Couple of sprays and voila!
autopressagency- Thanks! I like how it turned out. I considered the red but felt that it was too common for me. Not to say I don't like the red but I was paying homage to the 2011 E63 with the wheels and gun metal calipers. I found the EPS file for the logo and my GF had a vinyl cutter. I found some reflective caliper vinyl and made the cuts. They could of been a little larger, maybe not enough to tell but I basically used some sizing from an actual C32 AMG logo I found. Brembo stickers are on ebay all day long.
The wheels are 19" X 8.5 using a 245/35 ET32 I clear but need a spacer to lower which I plan to do at some point. I have a spacer that I bought from 42 Draft but they dont clear the front hub to mount flush so I am working on that problem. I previously had 18 inch in the same wheel with an ET35 same width tire and they rubbed. In fairness the tires were Bridgestone S04 which are broader. These are Contis DW.
Last edited by Tall Giraffe; 10-28-2015 at 12:26 AM.
Yes, I wanna upgrade them too... I'm planning to put 300mm (ventilated) rotors and calipers from 210 e55 ... they are bolt-on and aren't so expensive.... Also i think brake ballance would be good with this type of rear brake system.
Last edited by autopressagency; 10-30-2015 at 03:27 AM.
In panic braking about 90% of braking comes from front wheels.
I wonder what poor braking have you notice on original brakes?
I yet have to see MB that would not lock the wheels on dry asphalt with factory brakes and when I replace pads, I put Akebono who supposedly lower the efficiency.
I know that US models come mostly with bigger brakes than European models, but they are heavier as well.
Yes front brakes have main role in braking (for most of mercedes models). AGREE...
I have nothing wrong with original setup. But as i already have said such car as E430 must have bigger rotors than 300MM and stronger calipers than (1 piston floating caliper). Also oem brakes look ugly against the new brembo setup.
about US and Euro models, don'r know about other cars and chassis, but about w210 i can guarantee that any euro E430/E420 has stronger front brake setup than USA models. For example German models are designed for Aobahns were you can drive 250km/h. Tell me are such public roads, or highways in the USA, where you can drive so fast? Driving fast = need more braking power...
Yes front brakes have main role in braking (for most of mercedes models). AGREE...
I have nothing wrong with original setup. But as i already have said such car as E430 must have bigger rotors than 300MM and stronger calipers than (1 piston floating caliper). Also oem brakes look ugly against the new brembo setup.
about US and Euro models, don'r know about other cars and chassis, but about w210 i can guarantee that any euro E430/E420 has stronger front brake setup than USA models. For example German models are designed for Aobahns were you can drive 250km/h. Tell me are such public roads, or highways in the USA, where you can drive so fast? Driving fast = need more braking power...
I take 5th on pointing those roads
It is the low speeds where you need more braking power, than high speeds. It is Germany where you can find W210 riding on 15" wheels and smaller brakes.
Bottom line, I have not heard about MB that would not lock the wheels with factory brakes. That is why ABS is so important on those cars.
Obviously I know zip about Japanese models.
I understand that some want to do bigger/crossed/slotted brakes for looks, but I disagree that the cars need bigger brakes.
I take 5th on pointing those roads
It is the low speeds where you need more braking power, than high speeds. It is Germany where you can find W210 riding on 15" wheels and smaller brakes.
Bottom line, I have not heard about MB that would not lock the wheels with factory brakes. That is why ABS is so important on those cars.
Obviously I know zip about Japanese models.
I understand that some want to do bigger/crossed/slotted brakes for looks, but I disagree that the cars need bigger brakes.
When will be your braking distance grow? when you brake from high speed, or when you brake from slow speed? Look at test drives, every tests tels how much is braking distance from 100km/h to 0... For example my car needs less braking area now to stop from 100 to - 0, then it needed with stock setup.
There are no E320/420/430 even in Germany which have smaller brakes, than there USA and Japan prototyps, i agree that the USA and Japan models have more options and they are more luxury than German models, but as technically German spec 210 are more stronger...
p.s. 15 wheels may be installed only on E200 - E230, E220D, and other wich have max 150-170 hp...
I also agree that for everyday use (if you don't like to accelerate hard) standard setup is quit good, but.... there are many reasons why have i changed them, and i already have talked about them.
Last edited by autopressagency; 11-03-2015 at 08:14 AM.
Yeah im gonna agree with autopress...our stock brakes are ok untill you actually try one of our cars with a BBK and you see what SHOULD have been. The stock brakes feel like wood compared to the BBK. I know if i ever get another car that doesnt have good brakes that will be my first mod.
Yes. Those both work. I bought remanufactured calipers and I noticed at the time if I bought C32 they were more pricey than CLK500 which are the same ones. I believe the sensors are the same but double check.
Ok so I want to buy these w209 calipers for my 2001 E430. I will need w209 rotors? You guys mentioned longer caliper bolts? Does the oem e430 brake line hook up the the w209 caliper?
10-26-2015, 03:19 PM
