I picked up a new (to me ) 2006 c230 sport and after driving a few days noticed the wear on the front rotors was in the middle 1/3. No idication of pad contact on the outer and inner 1/3's. The previous owner said the brakes and rotors had just been replaced. Whats up?

 

if the rotors and pads just been replaced, then they have not bedded in yet, the caliper mounts in relation to the rotor is an approximation, they are never 100% parallel, close but not perfect, in time the pad will wear in and will have contact across the whole face. An analogy is new shoes, the sole is flat but really not aligned to the way you stand or walk, eventually the out edges on the heel (for me) will wear first and eventually they will have equal pressure across the sole..

 

Sounds reasonable. I was just wondering why the mid 1/3. If it is an alignment issue wouldn't the pad contact the outer or inner portion of the rotor? I have changed rotors and pads on many cars an have never seen this. since the pad baically floats in the caliper, I think it would contact 100% regardless.

 

yes you are right the pads do float, I was thinking that you had a single piston sliding caliper and that is usually the case but later looked at your tag and you have the sport so you either have the 2pot or 4 pot depending on what year. The new pads could be slightly convex. You could pull one out and match it up to a straight edge or your rotters could be slightly dished

 

Do you have a photo? I had defective pads that did this. That said, the outer edge will never look the same as section that is drilled.

 

Thanks,

I stopped by where I bought the car and they said to bring it in and their mech and I could pull the wheel and pads to see what or if there is a problem. I'll let you know when I know.

 

Also do a proper pad break in per the STOPTECH website. See the Wiki for the link.

 

Is this actually necessary? Last I tried this - and I did it absolutely exactly as instructed, no variation - I ended up with ruined brakes. I'm not doubting you but I'll never do that again.

 

When you buy a new car such as a mercedes nowhere in the manual does it say to use a method like Stoptech to break in the pads, it says to use the brakes gently for the first 500Km and don't hammer them unless you need to do a panic stop

 

Right, and based on my experience you'll do more harm than good.