trackpilot

Great write up!
So i guess the stock rotors are junk? My car has 20k miles and i get a pulsating feel in the pedal when braking. I haven't flushed the fluid yet but the pads look fine.

desiraja_1

My 2010 GLK 350 with about 56K miles needs new pads and possibly new rotors as well (i receive differing opinions from two sources). I am leaning towards purchasing both pads and rotors for all 4 axles just to be on the safe side...I see that lot of educated folks recommend Akebono ceramic pads but I didnt see a majority on the rotors.

Also, is it 'highly' recommended to get the replacement done at the dealer? my warranty (including prepaid service warranty) has expired and the quote to replace the brake from the dealership was over $1600.00 (including parts & labor). I have a mechanic friend that is willing to do for $150.00 if i purchase the parts, hence my above question.

rmfnla

Screw the dealer; I would grab that deal and run!

I just did F&R pads & rotors that I got on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271525351688?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
They went in perfectly and they work great!

I actually paid $257 so shop around; I think the prices go up and down.

You may not want the drilled rotors but they were priced only about $20 more than the solids so I figured they would be fun.

Also flushed out the fluid, very important to do every two years.

The best part is we have had brake noise ever since the car was new but now they are totally quiet, so the Mrs. is VERY happy...

ble2716

I would buy all the parts and let your mechanic friend do the job.
I've used Zimmerman rotors and Akebono pads. They are a little more expensive but I think they're worth it.

Mathew James

I have Luk Schaffer Cross Drilled/Slotted installed on my Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG Yes I know that's not how they are from OEM but I don't do any AutoX. They look sweet and stop nice.

I think I've had em for about 20k and no warping whatsoever, just smooth braking.

pgeller

Retracted

erlomd

how have the brakes been treating you?

NYCGLK

Those of you you who have done the brakes did you notice significant difference between inside and outside pads in terms of wear?

I can see my outside pads having plenty left, but my sensor keeps telling me to check the pad wear. I had that come up in very cold weather once last year. It started coming up again this winter but more frequently and eve in warmer 30 degree weather.

I wonder if inside pads done. Will pop a wheel off to check over the weekend.

ble2716

What inside brake pads are you referring to?
Is it the parking brake at the rear?
As far as I remember, there are only two brake sensors on the 2010 GLK.
I did my brake 2 years ago and still working very well. No errors.
Did you replaced the sensor(s) when you did the brake job?

NYCGLK

There are two pads per rotor, I'm referring to the one (inside) that you can't see without taking the wheel off and peaking behind the rotor.
The other, outside, pad can be seen between the wheel spokes without taking the wheel off.

What I'm asking is if the pads from one wheel had even wear or not.

I haven't changed my pads/rotors yet.

ble2716

When I replaced my brake pads, I did notice the inside pads were a little bit more worn out (thinner) than the outside ones but not much.

NYCGLK

Thanks. The outside pad looks around 50% to me.

NYCGLK

Quick update. Took the wheel off, both pads have even wear. Probably good 50% of pads left, if not more, and I'm at 53k miles. Rotors looks pretty bad, but I didn't have tool to measure thickness.

I noticed that I have pad sensors only on passenger side (front and rear). MB trying to save 50 cents?

erlomd

Just replaced all rotors and pads with R1 Concepts "Premiere Series" slotted rotors...they look great and work awesome!
I Know...I should have cleaned them up first

grane

Congrats, esp. on using slotted brakes.

Has anyone compared the Akebono ceramic pads to the R1 Hyper Italia ceramic pads versus the Powerslot ceramic pads? Among the usual things like braking force, compatibility with the pre-safe system, wear and so on, I am interested in the elimination of metallic "rail dust".

From what I can glean many ceramic brakes substitute copper for iron/steel. Hot copper particles may not be an improvement over molten iron - from the stock pads - in penetrating the paint. Thus our polar white GLK will get green-blue spots instead of (iron) red spots. with the copper-ceramic composite.

Facts and opinions?

erlomd

Very little brake dust build up so far...but the rotors (although the premiere series) still manages to build up some surface rust...especially in the crevices of the slots.
Other than that, they have been performing well...I'm happy.

NYCGLK

I'm curious to see how quickly the pads go.

rmfnla

Sorry to take so long to reply; I've been on forum hiatus for a bit.

2,500 miles later and all is well with the brakes (we don't do a lot of driving).

First off, they look better because the rotors are zinc plated, so the hubs haven't rusted like the OEMs did. The drilling looks cool, too.

Very little dust and only the occasional small noise, and if I run it up to about 15 mph in reverse and brake firmly the noise goes away.

I haven't bothered to measure them for wear but considering the OEMs gave out at 22.5K these don't have a very high bar to reach...

erlomd

well its only been 5 months of daily driving, highway and city stop and go standard driving (no Nurburgring here) and they seem to be holding up fairly well. very very minimal brake dust compared to the stock pads and the rotors still look and perform wonderfully.
they do accumulate surface rust fairly easily (especially in wet and humid south florida). even though supposedly they have an anti-rust coating. other than that, once you brake a few times before getting out of the neighborhood, they are back to normal...something I noticed as well with the stock brakes...again, most likely due to the high humidity we have here in Miami.

Jirenka

I have a question - do you need to open the fluid line in order to push the calipers back when changing the pads to avoid caliper damage?

sblvro

Never, in all calipers even brembo. Doing that will introduce air in the system. Just use a caliper spreader and insert the new pads one corner at a time. That way, you will not feel any change in pedal pressure.

cindyclk

I take the cover off of the master cylinder when spreading...watch that it does not overflow.

sblvro

That's why you fill the master cylinder AFTER doing all the brake calipers. But it's true if you fill it up beforehand it will definitely overflow.

SeaMonkeyGLK350

So I got a set of 4 Zimmermann rotors and two sets of Akebono pads for a total of $336.97. Does that seem like a good deal? I did quite a bit of searching and couldn't find anything better.

Thanks for this write-up!

saab_story

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I have some issues with the rotor/pad install I did and wondering what could be the cause. As per OP, I went with the Weaver rotors and Akebono pads for the front. The install was fairly smooth, but very shortly after (like within 6 months) of replacing them, I noticed the brakes were pulsating as if the rotors were warped already. My wife drives it daily so it's not driven hard. I took the driver's side wheel off last night and pulled off the pads and noticed the outer pad was nearly 80% gone already and sloping (the top most part of it that reaches the edge of the rotor was more worn than the part of the pad closest to the center of the rotor), but the inside pad was still practically brand new. Also the outer portion of the rotor is grooved as well, so it leads me to believe either A) the pad was bad somehow?? B) the rotor was bad; or C) something is causing uneven wear. I did notice that the outer pad is very tight against the rotor, is that normal? I'm new to MB's, done plenty of brake jobs on various other cars so I typically never have had issues like this.

Is it likely I just got bad parts? Or is something else causing the uneven wear like a piston not fully retracting and letting pressure off one side of the caliper?