milan187

Hi everyone so we got a brand new C300 4Matic, around 500kms on it.

There is so much brake dust even after a day of driving this car the wheels are all covered and even the body around the wheels and some on doors. Come right off easily though with a dry paper towel?

Is this normal? Is it because the brakes are new and will it slow down?

I've had new VWs and never had this much brake dust.

Thank you.

05 MB Komp

Go with Akebono ceramic brake pads. I have little to no dust on my rims.

xXHotelCrazyXx

Unfortunately this is normal for Mercs, you can buy aftermarket Hawk pads that produce very little brake dust. And do not use a dry paper towel, it will just scratch the paint, i recommend using a California car duster.

milan187

Well I don't think I will be replacing the brakes just yet. They are brand new. I guess I was hoping it would slow down a bit since they are still new.

Thank you for the recommendations, I will look into those pads in the future.

Scat01

Use "Armor All Wheel Protectant" amazing product I use it after every wash - slightly pricey around 8 bucks a can but you can get 2-3 applications out of it - trust me, you will be very satisfied...

Ron Jr

Akebono is the way to go.

Sportstick

You'll be scrubbing wheels as long as you delay switching to Akebono EUR pads!

Domm

Strangely my OEM pads are hardly dusting. I do have Akebono pads in another car and they're amazingly good in terms of stopping power with low dusting.

Scat01

Well, I agree with about 99% of everything you post Sports....but, this is not a true statement - I am a huge fan of this Armor All Wheel Protectant - At most I wipe my wheels with spray detailer and a micro fiber cloth between washes and that is it - works as advertised....

Sportstick

You make a good point, and I would like to modify my earlier inadequate statement. I should have prefaced my comment with, "Unless you take some other effective countermeasure...." . I was thinking too narrowly about preventing the dust in the first place as the only solution. I have no experience with Armor All, but can see how a good protectant coating that stops the dust particles from bonding can make clean up easy. Thanks!

The other point is that MB did reformulate pads somewhere along the line and some folks had pads swapped out with improved results. The only condition we have not heard about is someone starting with high-dust producing pads and having them improve over time. It seems, once a duster, always a duster!

milan187

I will try the Armor All.

Brake Pads are brand new so I don't want to change them yet.

Thank you for all the suggestions guys.

kevink2

That happened to us. The 2008 C300 was belching out rear brake dust like an old diesel-semi would pump out black soot, going up hills.

MB was very uninformed about the problem .. no recall, etc, but there was a decree somewhere that if customer complained about rear brake dust being bad or noisy (actually dirtier than the fronts) , then new rear pads with new part numbers would be installed, and problem would completely stop.

Bottom line is try old fashion complaint to the service rep about excessive brake dust on the wheels. Also try the parts person.

About dust, based on advice here, I bought WheelWax, and went to the max by pulling wheels to apply it. Seems to help @ wash day.

.

Joearch

I have a 2010 C300 (wife now drives) and i was shocked at how little brake dust there is on all 4 wheels. I now am driving a 2012 Audi S4 and the brake dust is very plentiful. I heard about the Armour All product and tried it. I must admit it works real well. I wash car once a week and use the Armour All each week with great results. Find it on sale for $5.49 and but 8 cans at a time.

2012c350

I must be lucky. I have very little brake dust on my C350. Maybe it has different pads than the C300?

xXHotelCrazyXx

Whats weird is the rears make more than the front

rh71

is this only on newer C-classes because our 2010 has little to no brake dust build up and it does all local roads. I had heard back then the rears were notoriously bad but I guess we were in the "good batch".

You want brake dust, check out BMW. I have to clean the front wheels once a week.

kevink2

Just wonder if MB has a couple of subs that make their pads, resulting in erratic dusting performance.

.

hyperion667

you could always powder coat your wheels black haha......
I cleaned mine yesterday and they looked the same

xXHotelCrazyXx

I keep them real clean but when they do get a little brake dust on them, you can't tell! Matte titanium finish!

Scat01

Or, they always look like they are covered in brake dust even when clean...





....just messing with ya, your car is beautiful...

xXHotelCrazyXx

Thanks Scat!

mikefili

My wife's C 300 was one of the cars that had the crazy rear brake dust thing, rears had about 300 times dust than the fronts. Mercedes came out with a new formula pad material to fix the problem. They changed ours and no more rear dust. It was so bad you thought I took a spray can of greasy black dust and sprayed them. Crazy thing is the dealer told me he never heard of such a thing, and would not acknowledge the existence of the new rear pads until I showed them the info I found on this forum.