Bosmann POLAND

http://www.r1concepts.com/

Benzben

That's exactly the route I'm planning for my fronts. The R1 rotors look cool, but I can't justify the significant additional expense for the looks/coolness factor over the much cheaper OEM's. Looks like they are $50.00 each for fronts from Mercedes-Benz Fort Lauderdale:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0

Anyone found a cheaper option?

Bosmann POLAND

Those brakes are not only the "look" believe me

jfabes

black with white lettering...like mine

white calipers will get way to dirty to quickly...

Glyn M Ruck

Nice original Silver - why make it look like a Xmas tree

maverik259

the black and white is sexy...though with a black car and with the inner wheel well being as dark as they are, i'd personally like to see more of the caliper...though black with white lettering is a top choice of mine! whered you get yours painted? or did you do it yourself?

jfabes

thanks! it is a lot of black, but it helps the letters stand out...and when they get filthy dirty, you can hardly tell until i wash the car, and then wash them through the spokes

I did it myself...it was easy, left them on the car, clenaed them and masked everything off. i used high temp primer/black paint/clear from autozone. the decals are from xenonmods.com...i was skeptical, but read on here that people were happy with them, so i tried them. the "mercedes-benz" decals were too large for the face of the caliper, so i cut off "-benz". 15k miles and everything is still perfect

bumpnzx3

i recently ordered all of the parts for a little bit of a brake upgrade- ebc slotted/dimpled rotors, ebc redstuff pads, ss brake lines.

the last of my order came in today- the front rotors. to my suprise they appear to be stockers with a coat of zinc to protect agains rust. not only are they drilled, rather than dimpled like they were supposed to have been- but they are both the same, just as the stocks (no difference between right and left). i've already got a pre-paid shipping label coming to return them. i've also got an email in to ebc to see what the deal is. they were advertised (both where i ordered and ebc's site) to be directional, slotted, dimpled. turns out, only the rears showed up like that. the part numbers on the package was right though. really wierd.

anyone else experience this?

Television

Its only when you get to the AMG cars that they are handed, never seen handed disc on non AMG cars

e1000

bumpnzx3

i wasn't talking about stock. ebc's are supposed to be directional, right/left handed. it states that on their website and shows picture of which one goes on which side. their site also lists them as being dimpled/slotted- not drilled. the set i ended up with from ebc looks like the exact same thing i currently have, minus the zinc coating of course.

GotDaBenz

No, not so (directional). I got ebc front rotors for my C class and they are slotted/dimpled AND directional. Any time you have slots or dimples, or drilled, it has to be directional. The OP was sent the wrong rotors.

maverik259

why would you want dimpled rather than drilled? drilled are much better at dissipating heat...do they not?

e1000

common misconception.

Cross drilling dosen't REALLY assist in cooling down your brake rotors. Cooling is a function of surface area and the tiny little drill holes don't add that much surface area to the rotor.

Brake rotors work by turning momentum into heat via friction. An important part of this is the ability to absorb that heat as it's generated. This is done by the mass of the brake rotor. More mass is better. This can be why dimples are better than drilling in some instances. Dimples remove less rotor mass than a drilled hole. Of course, on the 2005+ C-class sport sedans, the brake rotor is significantly oversize, so drilling or removing some rotor mass isn't a large concern.

I personally wouldn't get cross drilled rotors for the luxury sedans without upgrading to a larger rotor.

ok, i'm off my soapbox

bumpnzx3

i agree with E. however- this topic is one of the many that can be debated all day long

the main reason i am concerned about it is because i want them to match. i bought an entire setup. since it's all new and the brand is the same on the front/rear rotors- they should look the same. in this case they don't. and for $300 for a set of stinking rotors- i want what i ordered

C230 Sport Coup

Hey guys, I'm trying to source the stuff to do my rear brakes.

I've had good luck with the front Akebono's so I'm thinking I'll go with those, which BTW, when I look it up I seem to get conflicting info on which one to use.
Tirerack specifies the eur873 but, Rockauto offers both the
eur873 and the eur779. I actually called Akebono...guess what, they're in Kentucky. Really nice people, and 'Kirby' the guy I spoke to, swears that the 779's are what I want.

Now that being said, I see a lot of people talking about R1 Concepts.
I see them selling pairs of rear rotors for less than $30 !
This make me tend to believe that it's likely these are some cheap chinese knock offs. Nothing against the Chinese, but I don't personally want some cheap brakes parts that might fail on my car.

Then there's the package deals, drilled slotted rotors + ceramic pads for
120.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BENZ-...Q5fAccessories

Additionally I called and asked what brand the pads were,
they're Centric "Posi Quiet" pads.
I called Centric and asked about the country of Origin for their brake parts, and got a rather nebulous answer, like "some of it comes from China and some comes from other places".

Has anyone used these Centric and or R1 concepts products and can you provide an opinion?

I'd like to have the rear match my C32 brakes on the front, but not at the expense of quality, or having the rotors shatter.

ALSO all these mfg's keep referencing the "sport package" in determining which brakes to use.
I'm not aware of any differences on the rear brakes between models other than the AMG, so what the hell are they talking about?
The link from R1 specifies W203 2003 w/sport package...wtf?

e1000

damn I'm in the same boat. I was going to just go OEM because I haven't had a problem with them and I think the factory pads are made by pagid.

C230 Sport Coup

Well maybe factory on the rotors, but fuggetabout the factory pads, they suck!
Ceramic is the way to go.
I went from replacing the fronts every
20-25K miles, to now I'm at over 50K miles, and they still have a ways to go, less dust and stop great.

e1000

tried EBC Redstuff fronts, didn't like them. I'll definitely try the Akebono's next time though

Glyn M Ruck

+1

Glyn M Ruck

Todd, In places like SA where there is no such thing as a Sport - You can have the sport pack fitted to any model. Lowered suspension, brakes & wheels with some body kit.

The Sport pack gives you larger rotors back & front - biggest change front to what you have on your Sport models with Mercedes Benz on the calipre. But backs are also slightly larger than standard. I Imagine this is causing the confusion especially with imported stuff.

C230 Sport Coup

No doubt....the c32 rotors weigh a (approx) whopping 30 lbs. each.
I've got 2 giant gyroscopes on my front wheels.
You'd have to ride them pretty hard to get red hot.
I only experienced fade once, after driving fast and hard downhill for about 5 miles on a very steep road at the very bottom. Generally not considered a wise thing to do, but I can get away with it with the big brakes.

So, if mass is key, how do ceramic brake rotors work?

I would like to get drilled rear rotors if they are available.

I can't seem to find them other than, it seems,
R1 buying these cheap Centric disks, then drilling etc, and
plating them.

You put lipstick on a pig.....it's still a pig.
(As in junk in any form is still junk)

Then there's the EPC dimpled ones, but really, once again, am I just getting some dressed up junk?

I'm not saying the Centric stuff is junk, but no one seems to have any info yet.

I want quality, and I mean, 2 rotors for less than 40 bucks?
I suppose they might be ok....
I'd be nervous drilling holes in them, for sure.

I've heard it's a bad idea to drill a solid (as in not ventilated)
rotor. True or false?

Glyn M Ruck

Todd, Ceramic matrix rotors & the friction materials used with them require high temp to operate properly. They can tolerate enormous temperature so heat dissipation is less of an issue. With them the design challenge is minimising heat transfer to the bearings & brake fluid

Regarding drilled solid rotors - my bike racing experience tells me that drilling solid rotors is not an issue. Bikes all have drilled solid rotors - plasma coated in the case of Honda. Cast iron with Brembo. Carbon fibre matrix on MotoGP bikes are also drilled.

FrankW

+1...don't see how drilling solid rotors will do any harm unless you are going crazy with the holes and ended up weakening the rotor.

Glyn M Ruck

+1 I would only use tested drilled rotors from a competent supplier - no home jobs