jay

So, now that I have these beautiful new AMG's, will the brake dusk ever subside? I have owned many car's in my 30+ years, and have NEVER had one emit so much dust.... Any comments? Any cleaning, or "keep clean" tips?

kenny

The best solution would be to get some aftermarket low dust pads like porterfields. You should be able to find a place that carries it for your car. I know Jerry at myroadster.net has them for the SLK, but he might be able to get ones for your C.

If you don't want to get aftermarket pads, get the California Dash duster (its a smaller version of the California Duster) and use it to wipe off the dust off your wheels. The thing is a brake dust magnet. To make it even easier to wipe off or rinse off, whenever you wax your car, wax your wheels as well.

awiner

I hate this to be a shameless plug, but here goes:

I noticed that after apply a couple coats of Zaino Polish to my wheels that the brake dust accumulating went down approx. 30-40% ..

Try coating your wheels when clean with some Wax. This should help to at least repel some of the brake dust.

jay

Shameless Plugs? I welcome them - if they work..... It's the daily grime that I can't stand. Thanks...

Vic55

Brake and dust and MBZ's, it's a way of life. I heard Porterfields are good and EBC's (Green and Red) tear up your rotors.

Big E

how do you get the break dust out from under your fingernails!! man i have to wipe them down daily!

Buellwinkle

Brake dust is just a gentle reminder that it's time to bring the car into the dealer for another free car wash. It's cheaper for me to have them to wash the car 1-2 times a week than it is for me to put decent brake pads on.

The folks that have the Porterfield pads seem to like them. One person had 50k miles on the set and still going. MB pads usually last less than half that number. When mine wear out I'll probably get the Porterfields since they're a local So Cal company.

On my previous benzes I used wheel dust covers like the ones at www.beverlyhillsmotoring.com and it worked great and no rotor warpage or premature brake wear like some people say (you know, the "some people" that never tried it). You take your wheel off, put the dust cover on and then put your wheel back on. Besides washing your wheels daily, dust covers are the cheapest easiest thing to do.

greg230

good news:

if you get a wheel wax, or use some clear coat protection on the wheels, the dust will be easier to remove.

myroadster is an great website, and the folks over there are real nice

bad news:

porterfield does not yet make a break pad for the coupe.

the only easy way to remove the dust is to whipe em down continuoulsy, ie every week, with a soft brush (paintbrush works well with the bristles cut short) and soapy water.

greg

CunningLinguist

I've been using a wallpaper sponge. It's big -- keeps hands away from brake dust -- and it's curved to point into the spokes. Don't forget to wear gloves it helps save the manicure.

Chris

vadim

Use single-use latex gloves. Can be found at Home Depot, Track Auto etc. Dirt cheap, very efficient.

vadim

What do you mean - decent? Are you saying that the ones MB engineers decided to put on are NOT??? C'mon, this is not a Hyundai or Yugo or some other 'budget' brand!
Brake dust can hardly be considered an attribute of luxuriousness, yet ALL top European brands use dusty pads. If dustless aftermarket pads are so good compared to those dusty stock ones - why don't the automakers use them as OEM in the first place?

Common sense should tell us, even those completely non-technically oriented, that there must be a really good reason behind that. "Cutting production costs" - sounds rather silly: brake pads, however expensive, cost a tiny fraction of a $30k-$150k automobile.

This is all about performance, and, taking into account the purpose of brake pads - safety. They drive fast in Europe, and they have long figured out how to make cars stop, too.

To summarize - if you are too lazy to clean the dust off to the point of sacrificing your own safety in favor of clean look, then fine; otherwise give it a second thought

awiner

Europe has to make these brake pads to comply with Euro TUV laws and specifications.

In order to meet the TUV specs, the brake pads are formulated differently than those made here in the United States.

That is why all Germand made cars OEM pads emit more dust.

Now as Vadim points out, do these TUV standards make a better brake pad with more dust ?

That is a question I'd like to know the answer to. Many people have told me that non Euro pads made here in the US emit less dust and actually reduce stopping distances.

Anyone have any info/stats to back this up ?

Buellwinkle

I don't know where you got the idea that if an MB marketing and engineering got together to select a certain part for a car then that's what's best for the car and no compromises where made as to cost or otherwise. So what you are telling me is that you can't buy a better tire, better wheel, better wiper blade, better spark plugs, better oil, better leather seats, better sounding radio, better speakers, better ECU chip because the people at MB know what's best. I've had many problems with MB cars to the point that one was taken back under the lemon law. The reason, use of plastic in the throttle linkage that was too close to the exhaust that caused it to warp and break. So I'm not impressed by the geniuses in Stuttgart.

You can leave the factory dusty pads on and use dust shields. I've used them for years without problems. If they overheat the rotors then I've never seen that and I drive in the heat of the desert at high speeds as well as hours of stop and go LA traffic as well as going up and down mountain roads that kill pads in 10k miles and I've never warped an MB rotor.

vadim

Now, this raises another question: since DaimlerChrysler is now a trans-national company - just as much American as it is German, why can't they install dustless pads of the same quality on their vehicles sold outside Europe? [ The same applies to Volvo (Ford), Saab (GM) ]

Buellwinkle

Consider two DaimlerChrysler vehicles that are of similar weight and size, the MB C240 and Chrysler Sebring. The C240 with automatic trans has a 60-0 stopping distance of 154 feet and produces mucho dust. The Sebring 3.0 with automatic trans has a stopping distance of 135 feet and produces no measurable amount of dust. These numbers are from the Carpoint.msn.com website. Actually the MB cars have some of the poorest stopping distances in the industry. I wonder if the Chrysler pads fit on the Benz.

I think it's some German law written during WWII by a mad **** scientist that has a formula that they must follow - all German brake pads must produce a certain amount of dust per stop to prove that the brake pads are still there and working.

vadim

No, I'm ONLY referring to brake pads here. Things like wiper blades etc. do not directly affect your survival chance in case of emergency. You wouldn't mess with the stock airbags, would you?

Performance mods that make your car go FASTER are not to be discussed here: not all MB owners need/want a rocket, after all. However, 100% of them need to be able to stop to avoid an accident, should the need occur.

In this day and age all automakers without exception work extremely hard to make their vehicles safe; safer than competitors'. That's one of the areas where engineering meets marketing and they walk hand in hand.

And I wasn't talking about MB only - read my post. You are not saying that none of the top Euro automakers knows anything about auto engineering, are you?

awiner

I have thought this many times. Also, why do they use trunks for certain models (Like the CL and S Class) that are euro spec with the extra space for a Euro plate. Then they add a US Spec filler piece on the trunk to accomodate a US Spec Plate.

They obviously know what cars are being sent to the US. They could put US Spec Pads, parts, etc on them if they wanted to. Maybe it would be too much of a hassle.

Funny thing is that other Class vehicles get a US Spec trunk in the first place.. I know a little of topic, but it runs in the same though process.

See the picture below... You can see the License Plate US Spec Filler piece...

vadim

Sh..t, they DID screw up brakes on the C-class! However, according to the same source:
BMW 3 series has 60-0 at 124ft
VW Passat = 125-131ft
Volvo S60 = 125ft
E-Class=128ft

vadim

BTW, according to Edmunds, the C coupe has a 60-0 braking distance of 124 ft. I guess Carpoint got it wrong (typo?), since it seems way out of line...

vadim

Maybe this has something to do with sales volumes of this particular model?

Flashman

I'm taking a guess here...

But if the brake's job is to stop the car through friction with the rotor, then would not the ideal brake pad be one that dissipates heat as quickly as possible? Would a brake pad that wears down quicker contribute to faster dissipation of heat? Would it contribute to lesser 'fade' braking losses?

Since German cars are designed for 'theorical' harder driving, maybe this is the better brake pad for that reason?

When I upgraded my old Miata's brakes to expensive metallic brake pads, I entered dust central. I always assumed it was the price for braking pads that stayed effective over long periods (it takes over half an hour of heavy heavy autocrossing to even hint at brake fade... OEM pads did it in 15 minutes).

I would hesitate to put 'dustless' brake pads without first finding out how much they add or detract from the OEM braking ability.

Rick

MB-BOB

All of the reviews I have read about the C-Class sedan quote stopping distances 60-0 from 134 ft (worst) to 115 ft (best). I think Carpoint has a typo problem... 154 vs. 134?

I've wondered why the range in distances (20 ft from best to worst). Could it be the variety of tire brands that MB slaps on the cars? The 01 sedans had either Contis, Goodyear RSA, or Pirelli P6, or God only knows what others. And I suppose tire width makes a difference, too: the Sport Package tires are 225's vs standard widths of 205mm. The stopping distances quoted in the mags are average (120ft) to long(134ft) in my view.

As for the dust, it comes off very easy with water and a big sponge... no elbow grease or solvents required. By the time it needs it, the rest of the car needs a bath anyway. So the dust is no biggie to me. If it were hard to get off, I'd ***** like the rest of you.

I would be interested in switching to Porterfields (or other) when the OEM pads wear out, IF it can be documented that aftermarket pads stop the car in less distance, and have no adverse effects on the rotors. Dusty pads are cheap compared to rotors.

CLK 320

Regarding the cleaning part of your inquiry, I have been using P21S wheel cleaner for many years and never had a problem. There are two formulations, regular and gel, the gel being a bit stronger. Despite the fact that it is imported from Germany, it seems relatively easy to obtain.

Buellwinkle

I asked the service writer about aftermarket pads and he says the MB pads throw a lot of dust but they don't squeal. Also he said that typically a C's brakes will last 15k miles. So at around 12k miles I'll order the Porterfields and give them a try. I asked about the Porterfield pads in the brakes forum and nobody that had them complained about them and one guy had 50k miles on the pads and rotor. If I can get 3 times the wear, better stopping and no dust then it's a no brainer. I just hope Porterfield has them available for the C by then (they don't now).

SoCal240/6

Excessive brake dust on german cars is nothing new.

My 1980 320i had the same thing. Those "turbine" wheels were a bear to clean, too!

I have used aftermarket "dustless" pads for over 20 years now, on ALL my German cars (mostly Porsches and BMWs). I usually use Repco/Axxis Metalmaster or Deluxe pads. The Metalmasters I've also used for light track and autocross use on Porsches.

These pads work very well, great stopping power, easy on the rotors (believe it or not, 100,000+ on rotors), quiet and no dust.

Therefore, I firmly believe, proven through personal experience, that stock, dusty pads are not necessary.

I am such a firm believer that I currently have the world's only set of Porterfields on my '01 C240. They are a test set, I am seeing how they work and if they work well, they will be made available to the public at some time. They will need a little bit of tweaking for public sale, but on my car so far, they have been great. Very little dust, stop just as well as the stock pads, and make no noise (they did at first, a little tiny bit, but some antisqueal on their backs have stopped it).

As far as ultimate stopping power, I don't think pads really would make much of a difference, unless they were really, really bad. As long as they could lock up the wheels (on a non-ABS car) or activate the ABS, you should get maximum stopping distance. Tires, suspension, weight, street friction, etc. all would contribute to increasing or decreasing stopping distance, which is why the tests always get different results.