seenastyle

Posts go back several years regarding this topic, and I think I've probably read all of them at least once, if not twice. It seems that everyone has widely varying opinions/experiences with all of the brake pad brands, even with the Porterfields that seem to be favored most of the time.

I am looking for non-racing pads that are:
1) Noiseless
2) Considerably lower dust than OEM
3) Rotor friendly
4) Reasonably priced

I am looking for ceramic pads, since they supposedly have the lowest dust, in my search for this, I came across Hawk Performance, searching their website, they have this for "2005 Mercedes Benz C230":
==========
Front only
FMSI Reference: D872
Pad Thickness: .740

Street Compounds
HPS Part: HB504F.740
Ceramic Part: HB504Z.740
==========


AND I hear people talking about Akebono ceramic pads, normally on the C32's...



Has anyone found/used the above pads, or any other ceramics for the 05 C230SS brake system?

Thanks,
Seena

dmatre

I haven't tried any of the ceramics.

I did get the Porterfield R4S pads from ForMyMercedes.com. These are Carbon/Kevlar, and are MUCH lower dusting (only about 10% of the dust of the OEM pads, and the dust doesn't 'clump' like the OEM does). They have better stopping torque, work from the first stop (very cold), dust much less, and are quiet.

I've heard from several people who didn't like the Akebono ceramic pads. They said that they faded worse than the OEM pads. Some disliked them so much that they replaced them after less than 1000 miles.

The R4S pads meet all 4 of your criteria, and I can highly recommend them.

seenastyle

dmatre,

Thanks for your input. While many people report the same good results as you do, some have trouble with the squealing noise, even after applying anti-squeal compound and waiting for the pads to "break-in". Besides, IMO $180 just for a front set is not reasonable. Street pads for commuting to work should be around $50-$100 max.

By the way, the Akebono western sales rep says that Akebono only has the rear brake pads currently, and possibly the front pads early next year..... I don't know why it's so hard to find good pads for this car, ugh!

Seena

Buellwinkle

I would say the Porterfields dust as much on my 2002 as my factory pads dust on my 2004.5. I don't know how the 2005 differs from the 2004.5 other than the 2004.5 is a 4 piston caliper and 2005 is a 2 piston caliper but does it really dust that much more? The 2002 C230 (as well as our SLK230) dusts a lot with factory pads, black in a few days, the 2004.5 has the same dust in about 2 weeks. I've heard people on this forum praise for the Pagid pads even though they are OEM, they may have a different pad blend than those spec'ed for MB.

As for the Akebono, I've heard mostly good on the C32 forum. I'll try them on our SLK230 or C230 which ever comes first but the factory pads on the C230 seem to last forever. I got 27K miles and the dealer measured them at 55% remaining pad life so I got another 3 years to go.

BKLYN_C

Ceramics are much harder than OEM therefore the disks will wear faster. For me personally, it's better to deal with dust on my wheels once a week while washing the car that buying new disks

yeuchau

i've head people said Hawk Performance is good
but it's damn expensive for just pads

I rather just stay with oem pads

dmatre

Given your 4 requirements, and the price point you want to be in, you may also want to consider semi-metallic pads from AutoZone.

I put their Duralast Semi-Met pads on my wife's Passat (also known for horrible dusting).

After the brake change, the wheels never dusted up again. The car was dirty long before the wheels turned black.

The only down side was that it seemed the pads were a little slick when cold, requiring slightly more pedal pressure than normal to stop. Once they heated up, they seemed fine.

bloodyhands

dmatre yea duralast semi-metalic mkd872 LLT i heard they are really good, much lower brake dust, feels like stock, no squeal,lifetime warranty(yes lifetime) and the best pat only 24.99
heres the thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...light=duralast

seenastyle

dmatre / bloodyhands: Those Autozone pads sound like a perfect solution - except that they don't have them for the 05 C230SS. If you go on the website and enter my car, they have no results for brake pads, but if you enter the 2003, then they do have those. VERY ANNOYING.

I guess the brake system on this car was changed, as Buellwinkle pointed out, in this post and many others.

bloodyhands

that sucks

ctC230K

When you change the pads for the first time do you need to change the rotors also? My car has about 30k miles.

BadAssC230k

I can't stand my OEM pads. They are so dusty. Thank gawd I'm going to black rims... But I'll still have a chrome lip. Its just embarrassing. Thing is, I NEVER ride my brakes and I'm not hard on them at all. Yet my front rims get so dirty so quick. Everytime I wash my car and get to teh rims, its like "oh yeah, I forgot what they looked like." Argh!

ctC230K

welcome to german cars