NYCSoiL

Couldn't find any info on this..
I'm having problem with brake pads dust. It's just horrible! 10 miles on a highway after hand car wash and my wheels look like I didn't wash my car for a month! Has anyone replaced their brake pads with something better?

Btw I can't access the secret(engineering) menu on C450..

Mike5215

Akebono makes dustless pads for MB, at least for the 221.

cenzo86

Mine make quite a mess too. Wash the car, and 2 miles later the gloss black wheels are more flat black.

NYCSoiL

Thanks! I messaged them…

z28lt1

Just to be clear, these likely dust because they are good at their primary job - stopping. They are not "low quality" as best as I can tell with my limited testing and seem to grip very well when cold (haven't tried to get them super hot yet, still in brake-in period). It is very common for high performance pads to dust.

That said, they do dust a lot, and you can probably get 90% of their effectiveness for 10% of the dust. Lower dust pads tend to be a little harder on rotors though, FWIW.

I'm not sure anyone has figured out exactly what pads we need yet. Can't find OEM or aftermarket part numbers anywhere. I think they will be pretty common and available (particularly the rears) but we need to figure out what they are.

Carbotech will custom make pads (or tell you what they are if they are readily available) if someone has time to pull a pad and send them the pad or a template.

NYCSoiL

Not sure if thats true, but i have had my Genesis Coupe with OEM Brembo brakes and OEM pads and rotors with little dust, then i upgraded them to R1 Concept rotors and HAWK pads - same little to no dust. And oh yeah, they were MUCH better than C450 brakes.. Friend of mine has a Tesla Model S D85 performance brakes (Brembo i believe) also no dust. Another friend has a GLA and as you can guess already - no dust. So I'm still considering brake pads on C450 as a low quality product.

Shadwell

Ate also have their ceramic pads and Ate make alot of OEM brake kit for mercedes..


In case Akebono sourcing is tricky..


Same issues here.. gives you the ****s eh..


At least it washes off easily after the wheels are waxed / coated..

lbowroom

yeah, I hosed mine off in the driveway and I thought I may have to call the EPA with the amount of black powder it left in my driveway. Low quality, no. High dust, yes. The sign of an organic pad that won't wear the rotor as much and does great in stopping. Lower dust usually means higher metal quantity in the pad which chews up rotors. I have searched for replacements but have found none to date. If you find an alternative, please let us know.

z28lt1

Again, you can get very good performance without dust for a street car that won't be fighting high heat brake fad from a track environment. I have no idea what is on the C450, but I'm guessing similar compound to the C63, and I imagine it will hold up well for an OEM pad. I have several high performance cars with dusty OEM pads, some I've changed out, some I've left for performance.

For comparison sake:

60-0 stopping distance all from Motor Trend

C450 106 FT
Genesis Coupe 111 FT (and 400 pounds lighter)
Tesla D85 113 FT (and way heavier)
GLA 110 FT (and 250 pounds lighter)
C300 - RWD 131 FT (and 300 pounds lighter)
W204 C63 105 FT (same weight)
W205 C63S (with the $$ big carboon ceramic rotors) 101 Ft (100 pounds heavier)
BMW M3 104 FT (300 pounds lighter)


Obviously there rotor and pad area play a huge role in stopping distance, but any way you look at it, the C450 brakes are excellent, despite the dust. It out-brakes ever car you mentioned despite being heavier than the GLA and Genesis Coupe, and comes close to some of the best in the business. Give Tesla some credit for stopping that big heavy thing....

Xtrema

FYI OEM pads for S4 is also dusty. They stop great and last at least 30k miles for the fronts which isn't not bad for daily semi-aggressive driving.

Dkinsley

Well, at least one thing about the screeching C400 breaks isn't bad...

Mike5215

The amount of dust a brake system generates isn't generally considered a barometer of quality. Stopping distance would be.

Mercedes uses a combination of very soft rotors that are essentially sacrificial parts, and pads that by design and composition shed particles and throw off a lot of dust. (Which is why Mercedes rotors need to be replaced rather than turned.) But they're good brakes in that they can take a lot of heat without fading like a conventional pad/rotor combo might.

MB has always been focused on safety and brakes are obviously a big deal. They're building $200,000 Autobahn cruisers using the same soft rotor/pad set up. Apparently they feel like some dust is a small price to pay.

You can make clean up easier by applying Rejex to the wheels. Dust rinses off cleanly without a lot of scrubbing. A quick hit with a pressure washer does it.

NYCSoiL

Thank you for the input, i think its time to change a topic I wasn't correct about quality. But my question stays open as i want to replace my brake pads with something not that dusty. You're right, dust can be easily washed, but i don't have time to do this every day...

Mike5215

I know the 221 guys using Akebonos rave about how clean they are, but they may not make a pad yet for the C450.

z28lt1

Until something is released by someone, the simple thing to do is to pull a pad off and send it (or a cardboard template of it) to one of the brake vendors. As I said, I strongly suspect we will find it is a standard pad already available on the market (particularly the rears).

Here's a starter -- the SL65 rear brakes used 14.2 inch rotors with 4 piston calipers, just like the C450's fronts. That's no guarantee they take the same pad, but it would be unusual to reinvent the wheel - or brake in this case. Someone can get a set of those pads and see if they match as well.

I use Akebono Proact for many of our daily drivers. Good results with low dust, and fine for ordinary street use, but there are others that will work great as well.

Thefiverivers

I had a similar problem with my BMW, and I had the OEM pads replaced with ceramic pads, which limited the brake dust considerably with no change in performance. I am sure they make an OEM spec pad for MB as well.

lbowroom

Yes, I'm sure they make several pads that fit several models of MB. However, doesn't appear that they make one for the C450.

Glyn M Ruck

The MB OE Pads are made by Pagid. They have always been dusty but are unbeatable for initial bite, progressiveness & lack of fade. They are an engineered component of the car. There are low dust options but don't expect the same feel/performance.

z28lt1

OK, this helps. Pagid is made by TMD which also makes Textar (and I believe these may be some MB OEMs). The Pagid site doesn't help, but the Textar site has pad details, and since the parent company makes them, this should be a good starting point.

According to the Textar site, the pads are the same as the C400/C300 sports package. I have no idea if this is accurate. The rotors are different size and the calipers are clearly a different part, but they could use the same pad. The nice thing is, Textar has measurements on their sites.

According to them, here are the front brakes:
http://textar.brakebook.com/bb/texta...atasheet.xhtml

And the rears:
http://textar.brakebook.com/bb/texta...atasheet.xhtml

So now instead of sending in your pads or a template to someone, if someone wants new pads, take measurements to confirm what textar says, and we have some part numbers to cross reference and look for. If the Textar information is wrong, they'll probably help get the right information since they should know how it is made.

Glyn M Ruck

Yep! The TMD Pagid ~ OE Benz partnership goes back a very long way & includes Commercial vehicles.

BTW ~ to a great degree the dust problem came about at the removal of asbestos from friction materials & trying to match performance cold/wet without it. Hot/dry performance matches are easier but not ideal for passenger vehicles. Consistency in all conditions is required. Giving wheels a good polish with a polymer sealant every couple of years reduces dust adhesion & makes cleaning easy.

skullboy

Can you post a link (Amazon?) for Rejex and how it is applied ?

z28lt1

It's a sealant (like a wax) and is applied like one. Great to use on the entire car, including glass and lights instead of a final step wax.

I use it on the wheels always.

That said, the Armor all Wheel Protectant is amazing stuff and works really well, much better than REJEX for brake dust but does not last nearly as long

Glyn M Ruck

Sorry ~ we are all posting over one another while I was editing. My bad. I use Auto Armor in SA. It lasts 5 years on the car's paint & about 2 years on the wheels as long as you keep strong alkali or acidic wheel cleaners away from it. They are bad news anyway & damage centre caps etc. Just fitted a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4's to the CLK and about to give the wheels another polish. I don't want to change pads.

topsider

that's interesting, the pads on my 300 create zero dust - I thought manufacturers had figured out how to prevent excess dust by now

skullboy

Thanks for the link, I am using the Armour All and it does work, except it does not seems to last long as you mentioned.