die4mebenz

So i have a 2010 c63 amg with 34,000 miles and its cost me alot owning it these past 4 years cause i always went to the stealership to get everything done. Well my fuel pump went right after warranty expired and was $2000 to fix so after i got a aftermarket warranty for $4500 canadian for 3 years and they inspected my car first and told me i had 35% brakes left. Well its been 4 months and they are starting to feel a little off so i think i need to replace them.

Last time i did it was $2000 to get front and back and rotors i believe at mercedes. Well im selling my car in a few months and dont wanna pay such a crazy amount but in Vancouver Canada we are limited on what we can do compared to America. I was thinking maybe i could buy brakes online and have a normal brake shop do them? but i been reading up about sensors and stuff in brakes and im also a bit worried doing them like this cause i always went to mercedes for even windshield wipers lol.
What brake pads can i order that will work and are really good? can any mechanic that works on euro do it? or should i be safe and get robbed by mercedes?

SGT-PillzBury

roadkillrob

They are just brakes, any competent independent mercedes shop can do them, the sensors are common on a a lot of european cars and just clip into the brakes and plug into the harness, nothing complicated and really only tell you when the pads are getting worn down, quite simple and no different than brakes have been for 30 years - no risk with safety not having the dealer do it. Find a good euro independent mechanic and either have them get the parts or buy them online and save a few bucks.

gtracer

I really liked the OEM pads but when I learnt the price, I was not so thrilled. $500+ for the front pads only... So I looked at aftermarket options and got EBC Yellow Stuff (was not a big fan of this product but choices were super limited). Basically got front & rear pads for less than OEM front pads. Braking is a bit stronger with the EBC, modulation is a tad more difficult when braking very smoothly. They can squeal at times but thats a trade off Im ready to make considering the savings.

Sensors are about $20 at the dealer - you can also get aftermarket ones for cheaper. Any qualified mechanic can do the job, its a piece of cake on these cars because of our calipers. Dont be alarmed by the sensors, that's also very easy to replace. I would have suggested to do it yourself, but since you mentioned you go to the dealer for wipers... maybe not. Find a good shop (ask what their hourly rate is - compare it to stealership) and they can do it for sure.

Edit: I did not see you mentioning discs/rotors. Same applied here. Get a good quality aftermarket disc and save huge. Zimmerman, Brembo, Textar; all good brands.

JimGnitecki

I have found that even though I have the genuine MB brake pads, they squeal when they get DIRTY. I have found that when washing the car wheels, aiming the water hose downward through the caliper stops the squealing for a few days until they get dirty again.

Jim G

gtracer

I'm not sure I can fully agree with rinsing brakes to remove the dirtiness. If it works for you, then all the better!!
Perhaps its the same results as braking hard after a few highway runs, cleans off the deposits.

It gets worse when I do a lot of downtown city driving with very slow stops... And its the very last few meters before coming to a stop that they start to squeal, not before. So its manageable!

zcct04

[QUOTE=die4mebenz;7334922]So i have a 2010 c63 amg with 34,000 miles and its cost me alot owning it these past 4 years cause i always went to the stealership to get everything done. Well my fuel pump went right after warranty expired and was $2000 to fix so after i got a aftermarket warranty for $4500 canadian for 3 years and they inspected my car first and told me i had 35% brakes left. Well its been 4 months and they are starting to feel a little off so i think i need to replace them.

Last time i did it was $2000 to get front and back and rotors i believe at mercedes. /QUOTE]

A couple thoughts:

It's not clear if your prior $2,000 front & rear rotor job was on this car. If it was, it's highly unlikely that you'll need them again on a car with only 34k miles.

If you had 35% of brake pads just 4 months ago, it's unlikely that they're suddenly in need of replacement - especially on a car that seems to be driven so infrequently.

"Starting to feel a little off" is pretty subjective. What are the symptoms you're noticing? Are you getting a brake wear indicator light? If not, I'd get someone to look at them again before I dropped two grand on something that probably won't help your resale value at all.

Nando_514

From what I understand in your post, you replaced the rotors already. The rotors on our cars should last you years... Unless you're tracking the car. Under normal driving conditions, your rear pads shouldn't be ANYWHERE near as low as your front pads. I say, find a good online deal for front pads, buy the sensor and take em to any independent shop... Brakes are brakes... Whether it's a Toyota or a Mercedes... Replacing our front pads are mind-numbingly easy/boring lol. By and large, shouldn't cost you more than a couple hundred bucks.

MBNRG

Hi there! Check your private messages for an affordable brake option

AMG6.3

In your rant you mentioned in a few months you are getting rid of your car, why change brakes at all?

Is your brake sensor light on, if not don't bother. Your car does not increase in value with new brakes keep your money.

Diabolis

And how exactly is $2K for a brake job on a C63 even steep, let alone a robbery? The only thing wrong here is your expectation to be able to get them for Toyota Yaris money.

QWKSNKE

Well, unless its a 2 piece rotor car, 2k is ridiculous. FCP Euro sells the pads and rotors for less than 1k front and rear combined

Alex.currie44

They ain't dirty Jimbo. They are glazed from too much start stop driving around town.
Take it out on the TCH through Parksville, push it out to 120-140K and then drag the brakes for half a klick or so. It will reface the pad. Advice from Jon I find works

Alex.currie44

Your car is older and you want to sell it but it has to be safe. Buy after market pads and rotors if you need rotors and get an indy to do the work if you cannot do it yourself. You don't need rotors. Pads will bed in. You can find out how much rotor is left by measuring the thickness. Unless you tracked your car or are hard on brakes your rotors should be OK. I have over 46000km on mine,.

Diabolis

First of all, the OP is in Canada so he's talking about Canadian $, and second, that $2K includes installation - not to mention things like new spring clips and wear sensors. If $2K is ridiculous for that, perhaps you can find him even cheaper parts from China and install everything for him for free.

JimGnitecki

The squeaking doesn't bother me enough anymore to justify any special measures . . .

Jim G

QWKSNKE

WOW. Ok..
A) Didn't realize we were talking Canadian
B) Even with sensors and springs (never heard of a dealer or shop replacing the springs) we are still under 1300 canadian. So that leaves 700 for labor which seems outrageous to me since most indy shops do brakes at 100 bucks US per axle in my area.
C) not sure where the chinese comment came from. I was referring to OEM parts in my original post. Most expensive parts are the pads. The rotors are cheap on base C63

Diabolis

From the moment a mechanic drives the car through the shop door until it is ready for pick up by the customer it takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to do rotors and pads, take it for a test drive / bed-in and get the car washed. At $150/hr which is what any self-respecting and half-decent shop charges around here, the labour is $300-375.

I don't have exact prices, but one-piece OEM rotors are probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of $350 each for the fronts and $250 each for the rears, with pads adding another $350 and $250 for the fronts and rears respectively. That's $1800 in parts.

So - unless you either cheap out on the parts or the labour, you're looking at $2K+. What am I missing?

QWKSNKE

ok. Now this is making sense.
I paid $125.00 ea for front rotors (Zimmerman) the exact same rotor in a mercedes box is 191. Rears were a little cheaper if i recall. (Zimmerman is the Mercedes supplier)

In regards to labor, its a location thing. In my area, ( 2 hrs west of Atlanta) labor rate is $65 hr with one euro specialist charging $85 . Unless you are still referring to Canadian, not even the dealerships here charge 150 an hour.
So we can chalk part of this debate up to large city labor rates vs small city labor rate.
Lol, thank god I live in a smaller city. What few things I do hire out, 65-85 dollar labor hour makes it a lot more bearable.

Alex.currie44

What ever Jim. What ever!

Alex.currie44

B Service labour cost me $277 CDN. How does that compare for a B service in Atlanta?

Alex.currie44

On eBay you will find a set of 4 one piece for about $765US. Brembo front only $640. In Canada Brembo at the dealer are about $850+.CDN

JimGnitecki

Remember too that the Canadian dollar has been running through most of 2017 in the $0.77US to $0.80US range, so the $850CDN = about $667US. So if Alex's data is correct, the Canadian "dealer price" is about the same as the US eBay price.

Jim G

Alex.currie44

Gee Jim, I didn't know that. Thanks of the lesson on international exchange rates. I must have made money on the US dollars I bought as a hedge against currency devaluation of the Canadian Dollar to pay my 7 weeks rent in Barbados which I pay in US$$.

JimGnitecki

Alex, thanks for the uncalled for sarcasm. While I follow Canadian - U.S. exchange rates closely, and perhaps you do too, many others do not. My point was that the Canadian "dealer" price appears to be the same as the U.S. "eBay" price (not dealer price) when converted to U.S. currency, which would appear to make the Canadian dealer price pretty "good".

This appears to support an observation I've made before: Brand new Mercedes cars are, relatively, a "good deal" in Canada compared to The U.S., as are Alfa Romeos. BMWs on the other hand are not. Different marketing philosophies I guess.

Jim G