Brake pads rubbing only in one spot. New pagid rotors and Ake bono pads. My driver’s side drags a little. I swapped rotors from side to side, same result. I can feel more resistance in one spot.... Do these type of calipers have sliding pins???

 

Are you talking front or back?

Front pads are on rails. Back packs have guides but also have pins.

Is there rust or something on your hub (the surface that makes contact with the disc)? Might want to try taking a wire wheel to that surface.

 

Front brakes and no rust on hub.....

 

Can you physically see the brake disc wobbling as you spin it?

I'm starting to think your hub might be damaged.

 

How to rule out bent spindle vs bearings?? I have a small vibration on that wheel. Front driver wheel...

 

Open up the hub and take a look. If you're not sure what to look for, your indie will. Something isn't centred for sure.

MB sells bearing kits that include the seals, bearings, and grease for a nominal cost. Can't go wrong with a bit of maintenance on these parts.

The spindles are attached to the hub and I don't think they can be replaced separately. Hubs are quite expensive. I would look at a local wrecker.

 

The absolute best pads for the GL, GLS are made by Hawk Performance. their ceramic pads are extremely low dust , don't eat into the rotor, and stop slightly better than factory. I once worked for the company that owns the Hawk Manufacturer. They are good people and do plenty of research and they are made in USA Strongly recommend them over everything else. I put front pads on my GL450 at ~38,000 miles in 2017. They are about half done, and I am at 100,205 miles today.

 

I had some overheating problems with Akebono pads on my Ford. They overheated the disks on some spots. It looks like gray stains on the rotor. These stains were harder than the rest of the disk and lead to drag and pulsations. I grinded the gray spots with a dremel and changed the pads to EBC. No further problem.