sinister55

Hey guys, I recently looked at my front rotors today (getting brakes changed) and they are really worn.

Any one suggest new rotors and from where.

I also want to get carbon ceramic rotors, but cant find anyone that sells them.
Any help and suggestions are more then appreciated

320 dreamer

carbon ceramics way overkill for the car. the rotrs alone cost almost half as much as the whole car. racing brake 2 piece rotors or evosports would be the way to go with hawk hps pads

sinister55

Are carbon ceramics about 4K?

Where can I get two piece rotors?

kent426

There are very few options out there for our car, Summit Racing sells StopTech but I couldn't get much info so I got a deal on the stock rotors from my local MB dealer for $110 each.

Pad selection will make a bigger difference. I switched to EBC Yellowstuff for track and street.

Viper98912

OEM

320 dreamer

racing brake rotors makes liteweight 2 piece rotors for the c55

91RS

If you're considering spending that much, just buy the 6/4 piston CLK63 brake setup.

kent426

Why even bother with the fancy rotors and calipers, for 99% of the people that own the car, there will be no difference as your tires are the limiting factor for stopping ability. Only road racers abuse their brakes enough through long stints.

91RS

I highly disagree. The CLK63 brake setup is probably the best modification I've done to my car at this point (and I haven't even been to the track yet). There's this snazzy new thing called ABS that fixes the tires being the limiting factor of the braking.

Quicktwinturbo

If you don't planning on tracking the car, your OEM brakes are good enough for your needs.

Carbon ceramic brakes are very expensive and I'm not even sure they make one for C32/c55.

If you want to upgrade your brakes, Stoptech, brembo, slk55, clk63 brakes are ways to go..

Snakedr

Limiting factor in braking is and always will be the coefficient of friction of the TIRE. The ABS fixes you, the driver. If you can lock the wheels upgrading to bigger brakes won’t make your car stop in a shorter distance. Bigger brakes will absorb more heat and delay brake fade over the course of multiple heavy application of brakes during a track or racing event, but daily driving measurable difference. I believe Stoptech.com has some good info on this subject.

kent426

I will try to respond without being to condescending, but it review some physics books and race-car dynamics, you will find that cohesion is a factor of the coefficient of friction of the tire (stickiness) and the cars weights applying pressure and the contact patch of the tire. ABS does not change that but it helps to maximize that cohesion by prevent the tires from stopping rotating which breaks all cohesion down.

If you want to spend your own money and claim that your seat of pants meter that it work wonders, then you should also sell snake oil.

mgiannetto

StopTech big brake kits are the brake of choice of Dave Zeckhausen (of Zeckhausen Racing). For those not from the North East, he is one of the most respected after market brake guys in the NE.

That said, StopTech brake kits are "very" pricey.

I personally use Centric brake products for my cars. Centric is owned by StopTech and has a solid reputation in the after market brake arena.

I use their posi-quiet ceramic pads and their premium rotors in all my cars. In fact, I had the Range Rover dealer install them in my wife's '09 RRS just this past month. Most dealers won't touch after market brakes, but this dealer did after seeing the quality of the pads and rotors. Also had a local Saab mechanic install on my 9-3 Aero. He too was impressed with the quality of the product.

Not only are they quality brakes, but the pads are "low dust" pads - much easier to keep the rims looking clean and new.

I do not track or race my C55 so my comments are limited to normal street driving. When I bought my C55 (new) the very first thing I did was swap out all the OEM brake pads with Centric's Posi-Quiet pads. I noticed absolutely no change in the "grabbiness" of the brakes when I made that change. That's unusual for ceramic pads as you usually give up some grab for the benefit of low dust.

I buy mine from Rock Auto as their prices (as delivered) are the best I've found and shipping is very quick.

91RS

Uh huh. If big brakes don't make a difference, then why would anyone even make them? Why not just put C230 brakes on the SLS to save money?

According to Car and Driver, the C55 stops from 70mph to 0 in 165 feet and a CLK63 Cabrio stops in 155 feet. The C55 weighs 3540lbs and the CLK63 weighs 3960lbs but still stops faster. Must not be the brakes though since big brakes make no difference.

kent426

I know this might be hard to understand but MB has changed their pads compounds and suppliers numerous times. Pad compounds make a huge difference in stopping power otherwise they would make street pads or race pads, it would all be one pad.
Oh, did I also mention we had the crappy Pirelli PZero tires and the newer cars have the Conti's or Michelins? There is your difference.

xxaarraa

You seem to be entirely neglecting the concepts of brake feel and brake fade. Stopping distance is but one factor in braking. Bigger brakes or upgraded brakes will have an entirely different "feel" and for some people that's worth the money. Besides, I live 20 miles from many canyons where you can easily trash the car around for a couple hours and notice a lot of brake fade.

Don't need to track your car to warrant a brake upgrade.

PC Valkyrie

Interesting discussion. I tend to agree more with Kent426. In my opinion, the stock brakes system is quite adequate for everyday driving where there isn't repeated hard braking from high speeds over and over again without adequate cooling in between. Brake fade happens when the braking system's components overheats due to inadequate cooling between braking events.

The main advantage of big brake kits is that the components (like rotors) don't over heat as easily and can take more braking abuse because it is essentially a larger heat sink. As such, the pads, the calipers, and brake fluid do not get has hot as easily when subjected to repeated instances of heavy braking, which happens most commonly on the track (road courses). I guess if you happen to do these "canyon" or "mountain" runs on the streets, then it may also apply.

A change in brake pads probably offers the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to stopping power and less brake fade for most people on the street and on the track. Other cheap upgrades include changing to higher temperature brake fluid and upgrading to stainless steel brake lines. The advantage of bigger components for a car primarily driven on the street is questionable, unless you drive and brake like a maniac on everyday roads.

And yes, tires can make a big difference in stopping distances too.


Of course, there can be other reasons to upgrade the brake components: cosmetic purposes, and decreasing unsprung weight if you can get lighter rotors.

91RS

Sure they're "adequate," but for some people that isn't enough. And saying bigger brakes don't stop any better is ridiculous. More clamping force and more friction area = better braking. If bigger brakes didn't make any difference then no one would use them. Sure gripper tires will help stop better too, but that isn't the only thing that contributes to stopping. If that were the case, why not just go back to simple and cheap 4 wheel drums and throw some Michelins on?

PC Valkyrie

Maybe you should read my post again. Where do I say that bigger brakes don't stop any better than stock?

My point is that the MAIN advantage of big brake kits is less brake fade when subjected to repeated heavy abuse. If better stopping power is all you're after on the street, then a change in brake pad material is the most direct and effective way.

I do track my cars, and my bias is that it is impossible to replicate that level of speed/braking regularly on everyday streets to induce signficant fade (unless you really do drive like a maniac).

I'm willing to bet that many people who do upgrade their brake components do it mainly for cosmetic purposes, and that the side benefit of "better braking" and reduced unsprung weight are nice side justifications.

91RS

Sorry, I was talking about Kent saying big brake kits don't increase stopping, not you. He is saying that the stopping power is all in the tires, which isn't true. The tires are the ultimate limiting factor of braking, yes. However, there are systems like ABS and ESP to increase the braking ability by preventing the tires from completely locking. Stock brakes in any car have the ability to lock up the tires without ABS regardless of the tires. There's more to stopping power than just the tires. He can say whatever about my "seat of pants meter," but I also had big brakes on my old Camaro too and they damn sure do make a difference in stopping power.

kent426

Ok, now you are comparing two different technologies in drum brakes to discs, but again large semitrucks use drums and not discs. Swept area is important, clamping force on the pads is important, weight of the car has is important for overheating etc. What I am telling you is the stock rotor size and caliper are plenty sufficient for 99% of the C55 owners. Spending $4K on upgraded big brake package is just like getting a boob job, looks good but doesn't really change that much in performance. More bang for the dollar is pad selection. I am sorry but canyon carving unless you drive like a complete moron and hit over a 100mph, your brakes will never see if even close to capacity.

Look at my pics below from track sessions, you can see from the heat distortion on the caliper that I punish my system, flush it out with Blue Dot fluid which prevents boiling and a spongy pedal, upgraded to a HP pads and have not had issues, for that matter, the stock brakes lasted one session of 2 hrs of driving without fade.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...low-stuff.html

320 dreamer

i think the big point everyone is missing is the op didnt ak for opinions on bigger brakes or if a tractor trailer has drum (btw big rigs have huge brakes and use air not fluid and take 6 football fields to stop from 60 mph . not even apples to apples) he simply wants to know were and what to buy. the carbon ceramics i would guess sounded kool to him thus he wanted to know if he could get them

thtguy

Carbon Ceramic don't work well in regular real world driving, they actually work better as they get heated up. They have gotten better for street usage but for everyday driving they don't perform as well as regular cast iron rotors. If you could find a set and plan to track the car more than you drive on the street I would say go for it. Their biggest draw for the street is how much weight savings you get but you can get some of that by using 2 piece rotors. If you are upgrading for the look, I would say go with the CLK63 big brake package with 2 piece rotors.

sinister55

Thank you guys for all the info and suggestions.
I have to see how much each company costs for brakes and rotors and on top of that that pads i would need to get.
I might be going to clk63 route, but I was wondering if i would need to change anything on my c55, I saw that one member did that and I would like a response from him, which is always greatly appreciated.

sinister55

There are many things that influence stopping power, I actually had to make a program that involves stopping distances in cars, and all factors (my major is mechanical engineering, but it was a computer course)
materials, ceramics and composites, cross sectional area, weight of the car, unsprung included, tire wear on the tires, outside temp, temp of the materials, angle of the road, the area of the tire on the ground, ground type weather wet sandy sandy wet and of course braking pressure.
Under certain conditions tires play a major part, such as snow and ice, but the majority comes from the coefficient of friction BETWEEN the brake pad material and rotors, for example put some soapy water on your rear brakes and see if you initially can tell the car having a stopping issue, after the soap dries out and it cleaned, better stopping will occur.
The rotors