scottonfire

Crazy amounts of brake dust so def. gonna get a low dust brake pad replacement BUT I had a mechanic look at em before I bought this ride a month ago and he said pads would need to be replaced soon BUT not yet AND never mentioned needed new rotors (I think they look f-d up) AND the wear sensor hasn't gone off AND I don't hear em squeeking.

So should I just clean the rims like every other day and wait for the sensor to come on??? Maybe the sensor needed to be replaced but last owner never did it?

jkowtko

The last time an indy did my front brakes, he did not replace the rotors, and they looked more grooved than yours. I cringed at the idea of vastly reduced contact area until the pads wore in, but I really didn't notice a big difference in stopping power.

Still, now that I do my own brakes I will always replace the rotors along with the pads. That's maybe more my preference than necessity, and I justify it by the savings in labor cost.

Here's another thread for reference: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...thickness.html

Moviela

Many W203 cars have no rear pad sensor.

Mercedes does not allow workshop refinishing of rotors because no shop can maintain the precision of the factory Blanchard lapping.

For safety never use a rotor that is below the min. Thk. stamped on the disc. To properly measure the existing rotor you need a brake rotor micrometer and a dial indicator with mounting fixture. Without those tools, you should replace the rotors. OE quality rotors can be had cheaply from places like Pelicanparts.

Rule of thumb is that a rotor will be good for two sets of factory pads. The use of low dust pads may cause the rotors to wear out faster.

scottonfire

Excellent info! thx fellas.

chazman

On my 2006 C230 the front pads wear warning light came on the dash at about 45,000 miles. Not knowing how easy it is to replace brake pads on C230, I took it to a INDY shop and they said it would cost me about $800 using oem MB parts (front pads and rotors) and inc. their labor. They said MB requires rotors to be replaced on every pads change (didn't believe that). I asked how much would cost if they use aftermarket quality pads only - shop said $200 inc. a new sensor, way better than $800. So, I said OK and got that done and that was a few years back. Now my C230 has about 120,000 miles and the front pads still have enough meat left, and amazingly still running on the factory original rotors with no problem whatsoever. The rotors got some grooves but braking performance is still fine and not warped at all, no pulsation when braking. In 10-20K miles, the front pads should be replaced and I will replace rotors then. Of course, I will do it this time. I did the rear brake pads at 80,000 by myself and it was the easiest brake pads replacement ever!

corkshoppe

so are the fronts

chazman

Yep, already bought new pads and rotors for the front, just waiting for the front pads to wear out. Actually, I took the pads out and measured the thickness while doing tire rotation (removing wheel takes more time than removing pads!). The old pads still looked pretty good, about 6 mm of meat left. I think I can go another 10-20,000 miles at least. The new pad that I bought is 11 mm thick.