Viper98912

I think many of us are dissatisfied with the look of the rear brakes that come on the W203's. Nice setup up front, cheap looking rear (even though if you do the calculations it's actually a well balanced setup and has been used across many different models). I've searched far and wide for other MB rear brake setups that might work on our C55's, aside from the hard to find (but best looking) 6/4 setup.

I finally randomly stumbled across this one (as how many great things are found), and right now it's looking pretty good. Still need to figure out a few more things to see if everything (including the ebrake) will work. This would definitely be a slightly expensive upgrade for a small amount of visual appeal, but not as expensive as the 4 piston upgrade. Works for some, not for others.

But the basics are a slightly larger caliper body, slightly larger rotor, same piston bore diameter, and the possibility to grind down the cast writing on the front piston face to have a "flat" area.

And in case you're curious, front caliper length is 9-1/4", rear caliper 5-3/4", and this new one is 7-1/4".

If it all works out, I'll let you guys know the info....

TemjinX2

cool...good luck man.

Viper98912

Got the new rotor and drum shoes yesterday (315mm/12.4", up from the stock 300mm/11.8", not as big as the 4 pot 330mm/13.0") so I'll do some mockups on Saturday. Hopefully everything will bolt up, I really hope I don't have to change out the backing plate since that would require taking off the axle nut and hub....

97W202

sick

FrankW

good luck.

the 4-piston rear is only about $1500. not that much for bbk upgrade.

Viper98912

This is true, except I personally don't like the look of the 4 piston rear with the stock 4 piston front. Which means that then I'd need to do the 6 piston front (which would look oh so sweet), and that's where it gets expensive and hard to find. And my main goal is just to have a small amount of better look in the rear, not a full blown upgrade. With this small change, I probably won't even hit $500, and that's not discounting if I were to spend money on replacement rotors and pads for the stock setup. Keeping the car as stock and nice as possible is one of my main goals this time around too.

FrankW

yes, but with this you are running a rear disc that have a slightly bigger hub which needs to be modified to get it to work with our parking brake. interested to see how you tackle that issue.

unless they are from the rear of the 209 or a 171.

from you holding up the new caliper in that one pic above btw. it looks like you will need to cut the shield at the end to clear the caliper.

clemson_tiger

I think the upgrade that would work for me would just be to replace the stock rotors with drilled one to match the front. Although this wouldn't be a big upgrade in performance, the appearence is what I would be after. I know NAPA used to have a line of drilled rotors but their website doesn't show a set for our car...anyone else know where to get these as a stock replacement?

Viper98912

The setup is from an 01/02 215 AMG. The drum is 180mm, up from the stock 165. Surprising though is that the shoe end is actually angles inwards, as if it was meant to ride closer in than the rest of the diameter. The hardware are the same part numbers and the locations of the holes also look very close. There is a slight depth difference which I will look at this weekend, and I need to see if I will need to change out the backing plates (there is a possibility the 203 plates might work). Definitely an interesting setup indeed regarding the close similarities between the two frames.

Clemson, if you google there is a company that offers those (but I think they are just taking Centric plain rotors and milling them).

Viper98912

Other thing to note is that the caliper hole width and height looks spot on, but the bolts on the 215 are larger. Nothing though that some precision collars inside the holes cant fix to use the stock bolts instead of having to redrill and tap the spindle (want no mods there).