SLK55 Caliper question C43K
 

Ok so I hear all different stories about what you can upgrade with. So what is the truth? I know C32 calipers work and w211 e55 works with welding involved which I'm cool off. So does the SLK55 6 piston and 4 piston just bolts up? I ask because I'm getting so new rims like ADV.1 or HRE and I what the calipers to look good (red) and I need more stopping power.

why not just get stock c36 brakes, theyd be cheaper. and HOLY CRAP do they stop well.

the 97's brakes are from a SL600 if i remember correctly?

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...b/IMG_0266.jpg

C43 brakes are definitely better than C36 brakes in terms of stopping power

c43 are the same as my slk32 calipers. the slk55 setup is a bolt on with the trimming of the dust shield. question is what size wheels do you want to run ? 17" needs the 340mm rotor and caliper brackets , 18" can use 360mm rotor amd caliper bracket

the C36 brakes are a four piston caliper while the C43 is a two piston.

12.6 inch rotors in fron and 10.4 in back.

But they are heavier? otherwise i cant seem to tell how the c36 would stop slower, not to mention some c43's we're outfitted with the stonger brakes if i remember correctly.:nix:

I don't remember quite figuring out which calipers and rotors Money One had on the front of his. They were six piston AMG calipers but I haven't had the opportunity to figure out if the CLK BS brakes were any different from the normal CLK63 and SLK55. Either way, he had to mod up his front sway bar mounting to get them to fit as well I believe. I'll try to dig up the thread this evening if I have a chance or you can search for it.

C43 have 13.2 front and 11.8 rear

The C36 brakes are to small for the power I have.

Ok, Here we go
1. I did try the slk 55 front and rear, front need s a 340mm disc rear needs a 330mm disc.
2. Rear will be a direct bolt on just cut backing plate to make room for the larger calipers.
3 Front can also fit but seems to be that if you do not want a hack job like me, I also bought the slk 55 front calipers and if you are not going to do a hack job then forget it .
Here is the thing ,I went through all this and spend a lot of cash and in the end it was still out by 5mm and weighed a ton.
SLK 55 calipers I bought and ordered a slk55 front disc 360mm 35lbs ,I made custom brackets because I did not want to cut the sway bar but I wanted better braking than the current calipers and disc. In the end all the custom brackets and disc going AMG IS NOT WORTH IT.
I got so mad trying to get this to work. I put the entire project on hold and ordered a COMPLETE BREMBO BBK
When it all arrived I looked at everything and BREmBO makes both calipers YES one is more commercial AMG and Brembo race,
or competition.

CALIPER DIFFERENCE SLK55 AMG CALIPER 5MM SHORTER IN LENGTH AND 5MMM TALLER DISC PAD IS ALSO 5MM TALLER AND 5MM SHORTER IN LENGTH
AMG 2 PIECE 360MM DISC 36LBS

BREMBO 355MM 2 PIECE DISC 12LBS
CALIPERS ARE BOTH AROUND 10 LBS.

So I decided Hey, I can make a bracket like Brembo did and fit my amg Calipers and I did I was so happy bolted up everything Hey it fits and I figured I can use the AMG calpiers with the brembo 355mm disc, Now I will keep it AMG and use the Brembo disc, I was so proud I got it all to work AND THEN when I looked closer the pad was sitting 7mm outside the disc so, I figured HAH that's so easy I machined 6mm of the caliper bracket to lower it now the bottom has no where to go it cannot go any lower that was the reason for AMG to make their disc 360mm.
I could have used the AMG 360mm disc but the problem was they are 36mm wide calipers are designed to work with 34mm and weighed a ton, the entire Idea started with PERFORMANCE UPGRADE I did all of that work just to prove it could be done properly
IT CANNOT. THE COST OF A REPLACEMENT DISC FROM AMG IS 600-1100 and still weighs a ton Brembo outer ring is 325.00 and only weigh 10lbs.
IN THE END I INSTALL ALL ORIGINAL BREMBO 6 PISTON WITH 355MM DISC AND IT FIT LIKE A DREAM the best thing is I can still run 18'' rims.
The rear is a no brainer you can use the amg slk 55 or go Brembo.

THIS UPGRADE WAS EXPENSIVE BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY, NOW I CAN DO ANY AMOUNT OF HP UPGRADE AND THE BRAKE CAN HANDLE IT.
Best thing is I can stay on the gas way longer, and brake way later,and still slow down faster than the other guy.

Stoptech makes a couple of kits, both front and rear fitments. You can download caliper templates too, to check for clearance on your wheels. Might be a tad cheaper than Brembo too, being they are made in the US, as opposed to European aftermarket mark-up.

And here is Money-One's thread for is OE caliper and rotor upgrade:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...small-car.html

Oh wow what a pain in ass, thanks for the info. So I guess I could go C32 in front and slk 55 rear which would look good still with brembo rotors or evosport rotors. So you you went with original brembo huh what did you do with the slk55 calipers?

Thanks for the link.

amgmaster4343 i know my car and yours use the same calipers. cant say if the suspension is the same but on my slk32 all i had to do was trim the backing plate for the slk55 340mm calipers. direct bolt on. for the rears try a search for any of these calipers, s600,cl600,cl55. they are identical to the slk55 rear calipers , use the same rotor size and all thats needed is a 12mm od x 10mm id x19mm tall sleeve for the bolt mount holes. mine cost 50$ to fab. they are easier to find and actually cheaper to buy than the slk55 rears. the only diff is the s600 calipers have a 12mm mount bolt and the slk55 is 10mm. other than that they are the same.
now for weight issues. the oem rotors are 800+$ each for the front. i used the c32 racing brake rotor and it was 460$ each and shaved 9 lbs off the front each side. for now i have oem rear rotors but evosport will make rears if you want them. the front 6 piston caliper was 7 LBS LIGHTER!! than the oem 2 piston caliper. aluminium vs cast iron!! so in the froint i shaved 16 lbs off each side by the upgrade and added 10mm rotor height.
in the rear i added 5 lbs to each side but also added 2 more pistons and a huge 30mm rotor height. hope this helps

by the way if you want the c32 front setup try the cl600 same caliper and you can run the 4 piston rears as well cheaper without the amg decal!! all thats needed is a 5mm washer to space the caliper to the rotor

If you did decide to use Evosport rotor make sure they are 34mm not sure about the size I ordered from them but I had to send them back they were too wide trust me, I tried all of the things to get those calipers to work and fit as they should. I also had a complete Brembo 332mm 4piston original kit but I wanted to go all out and did the 6 and 4 system instead.

If cash is what you are trying to save get the 32 calipers and order the Brembo rotors with ebc pads the 2 piece rotor from Brembo or Stoptech will cost more up front but later down the road will cost less cause all you will need to replace are the outer rings not the hats. If you use Brembo you can replace the rings with Stoptech rings but not the other way around weight saving is huge with these two piece rotors.
When I had my 99 c43 I even tried the AMG 8 piston on the front but they were too much work.
Think about this if the pistons are so much larger in the front on the C43 than the rear. 70-30 braking
If installing SLK 4 piston caliper on the rear which is much more stopping force at the back. what caliper will make that much difference in the front . c32 4 piston caliper maybe not.

Most braking system is 70-30. SLK rear caliper is almost the same size as c32 front caliper.
Spend lots of time to do as much research as you can so you down time and installation will be hassle free.
I don't drive my car a lot maybe 3000km per year so I usually do not worry about down time plus I have access to a full machine and race shop so most of what I do I do not have to pay for it that is why I can try things.
good luck.

Thank you for the info