drmaster

'Break Lining Wear' is on..
I guess my front brake pad is due.
Last time when in for a service, it was 25% front 50% rear.

I think I'm just gonig to take it to a pepboys.
Can they do it? or should I be taking it to the indy shop?
Do I also need to change brake sensor?

Thank you very much for your input.

ApproachingZero

Pepboys? no offense but i would not take a chevy there. Take it too an indy...preferably a german shop.

DropTop208

Your sensors are worn out, thats why the brake warning comes on. So yeah, you would have to replace the sensors as well.

chem1441

Honestly, probably any ASE shop can do the labor, because the brakes are nothing special....just dont use their (pepboys) parts!!!

Buy some quality OEM pads like Pagid or Textar. You can buy sensors from the dealer for cheap!!

viguera

+1

I got my pads from the same guy that I get the rest of my brake stuff from. Got some PBR ceramic pads for $85 shipped. I think the sensors were $5-10 or something like that.

drmaster

That's exactly what I thought. Just a brake pad nothing special.

BTW, Mercedes special Indy quoted me $160 for just front brake pad. Of course OEM pad. If I need rotor then rotor cost $79 each. Is this okay deal? The guy look honest. I will probably be there tomorrow to get this job done.

fju2112

do you guys usually always change rotors w/ pads, or re-use? i used to re-use honda rotors and have them shaved down, but i do know this car is not a honda & i'd rather have better braking and spend the extra $$. Going to call BMA for a price quote on a nice disc & pad set; my brake lining light is on too & last time it was in the shop it was 30% pad life left all around.

bm1984

what is the best brand brake pad for our car?? i replaced pads and rotors all the way around with oem and they will not stop squeeking at all!!! i am willing to go all out here and get the best, somebody mentioned kevlar pads - is this possible ?!?!

da_guitarist

I had a ML320 for 130k miles and I only changed the rotors once. There's no way I would ever change the rotors unless they were warped or ruined (or i was having to change pads every 5k miles).

BTW, This is easy to do on your own also. You just jack the car up a little, unbolt the wheel and sit it away, and undo 2 hex screws on the back of the caliper and pry off the clip on the outside of the caliper. then you slip the caliper off and slip the pad out and put the new one in and reinstall. The only hard part is forcing the clip back in because it's aggravating. It's probably less than a 2 hr job for a newbie. Maybe an hour.

fju2112

you sure a benz dealership didn't do it for you when you took it in for a checkup? i find it hard to believe you went 130K without new rotors, once. they wear down (esp on a 4-wheel drive car) and need to be replaced at some point well before 100K.

chem1441

I just got mine replaced with OEM rotors and pads, and everything is smooth as glass, and no noises whatsoever. Im not sure the parts are the problem here... MB would not have squeeky brake parts manufactured in their name...MB brakes are notoriously strong and high quality.

benzover

You do not simply wedge a screwdriver between the pad and the piston and squeeze the piston back. If you do it this way, you may backflush any crap in the brake line into the ABS computer, then your screwed!!! You need to open the bleeder, compress piston, close bleeder, then unbolt caliper. If you just throw a set of pads on it, and there is any runout on rotor, you will get a pulsation when you apply brakes. At bare min have the rotors turned(either on the car or take'em off and send out to be done) There is a min thickness that a rotor can be machined, the thinner the rotor the faster they heat up when you jump on the binders. Stock are vented(FRONT ONLY) and stock pads are metalic, great for stopping but crappy for dust and rotor wear. tirerack has ceramic pads, ultra quiet, low ,if any dust and excellant. Most cheap rotors are made in China with **** steel, wear fast,warp fast. After you've installed new brakes you have to pump pedal several times before you drive off . If you screw around with the engine and you don't know what your doing , the worst thing that can happen is, it's going to be expensive.. If you screw around with brakes and don't know what your doing, you can kill yourself, or somebody else. Marc

deltasonik

Hey thanks for he info. I have not done my breaks yet but I thought that the pistons on our front calipers are threaded so you could not simply compress the pistons in order to fit the new pad. Can you just use a C-clap and compress them?

MarcusF

Here are some notes regarding brake care from someone who does their own brakes:

If you change the brake fluid every 24 months you can safely compress the calipers without worry.

Never, ever, turn the rotors on a Mercedes-Benz. Ever. If they’re scored (which typically happens if the brake light is ignored), throw them away. During a brake job, I use a micrometer and check the thickness of the rotors. If they are below spec, throw them away. Rotor wear is highly dependant on pad material. On my car, using factory pads (which is all I use) allows the rotors to last two brake jobs. Basically, every other time I need rotors.

It's your car, so use whatever pads and rotors you want. I use factory parts because it takes a bone stock 2002 CLK430 two feet further to stop from 60 MPH than it does a 2004 911 GT3. For that kind of stopping power, I'll put up with the dust.

I always replace the sensors. They cost $3 to $4 at the dealer and you have 3 of them.

Lastly, Pep Boys "may" do a fine job. Of course, they "may" do a horrible job. It depends on which transitional employee happens to work on the car. This may be an opportunity to find a *good* independent.

benzover

Where is the third pad wear sensor? I am aware of one on each front caliper but where is the third?

MarcusF

If your rear pads have dual pins, it plugs right into the top of the pad, just like the front.

bluemoon07

thanks for the info. Are there any DIY's for the brake job on our cars??


and can anybody recommend a dust-less or low dust pad plus a good place to get oem rotors