ekalb

I am swapping all new Arnott front struts this week and figured I will put in some Akebono pads and Zimmermann rotors up front while I have the wheels off. A few questions:

1. The rear pads look to have about 50% life left. Should all 4 be done at once or is it fine to just do the fronts for now. I plan on bleeding all 4 corners either way.

2. Should all the sensors be replaced even if they haven't triggered? They are cheap enough that I was planning on doing it anyways.

3.. I do have a STAR computer and have read a bit about dissabling the SBC while doing this. Are there any actual DIY's for a brake pad and rotor swap on here? I have found the brake bleeding one, but nothing for the pads/rotors. I know its fairly straightforward, but there are always tricks that are helpful with a DIY.


4. Any helpful tips?

thanks

ss.dna02

Not trying to hijack but I was wondering the same minus having a Star system. I dont have it and I was wondering if I could do the change myself or do I need to take it in so they can use Star

also, heard Akebono pads are harder and dont stop as well as OEM? Have you heard anything ? I wanted to get those pads

ekalb

Blind leading the blind here, but this seems to be the best DIY I could find in the last 24hrs for our brake pads/rotors:
http://www.infsq.co.uk/2015/06/merce...nd-pad-change/

I have read just about every thread on here with the word "akebono" in it and I haven't really seen that complaint anywhere. In fact, everyone seems impressed enough to go back to akebono again once they have installed them once. We shall see.

ss.dna02

Yea im just going to try them out. I hate the brake dust.

Now I need to find a place to buy good rotors from.

equitiesguy

There is nothing straight forward about doing brakes on an SBC system. It has to be disabled through the computer so you don't lose 3 fingers, enabled properly, then bled through the computer, and the pads recalibrated to know the distance from the caliper/pad to the rotor at default. All done through STAR. Otherwise, the benefits of the SBC when cornering in the rain, priming for throttle release (emergency sensing) etc. won't work properly. It's even possible the brakes won't work properly at all.

PM me your email and I'll send you the full instructions.

One word of advice as far as the rotors. The car needs to be on a lift to properly break lose the original bolts holding on the rotors. I used a 6' pipe on a 1/2" drive snap-on ratchet that was 1.5' on its own. It's something like 400 pounds of torque required on those bolts. I did it on a lift, and I can't imagine doing it on the ground.

I should also mention... make sure your replacement rotors are German cast, and not Chinese, otherwise the 2500-2800 psi of the SBC system will warp the rotors, and you'll experience the joy of your brakes shaking every time you apply them.

equitiesguy

You can get German Zimmerman rotors from Autohausaz.com in Arizona. They also sell the German Textar pads (Effectively, OEM for Mercedes and Porche as long as they're made in Germany or UK).

I put them on my CLS55 because I don't mind the brake dust (very very minimal) and the regular pads do stop better than ceramics.

ss.dna02

thanks for the tip!

They only have rear rotors right now which sucks

equitiesguy

I'm 95% sure that Zimmerman is supplying Mercedes with front (only) OEM Rotors for the E55/CLS55. OEM for the fronts would be fine, as long as you check them out when you receive them and verify they're stamped "Made in Germany".

The test for Zimmerman is to see if the OEM rotors you're given have the cross drilled holes counter sunk. If so, they're Zimmerman.