AJChenMPH

Anyone know of a relatively inexpensive brake upgrade for E430s that utilizes the stock caliper but maybe a different carrier and larger rotors? Something similar to this upgrade for Audi A4/A6's:

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel1.shtml

TIA...

Hank

X-drilled replacement rotors will cost you close to $400. What is your budget? I'd say if you have $750 to spare on brakes, go raid the the MB parts bin and get yourself the C32 AMG brake kit.

AJChenMPH

C32 brakes, huh? A few questions, then:
- What exactly would I need? I'm assuming calipers, carriers, pads and rotors.
- What's the difference in rotor size?
- What's the difference in the C32 caliper vs. the stock caliper?
- Front only, right?

Thanks.

E55 KEV

Power Slots at TireRack:



Hank, is that C32 Brake Upgrade for front & rear? Thanks.

Hank

For the lower-level 210s, the C32 brakes would be a significant upgrade. from ~12.8" to 13.4", and from a 2-pot caliper to a 4-pot Brembo. Only drawback is that it's gonna be reverse fitment. Not too big of an issue if you're not gonna track your car. The rear brakes can also be swapped out for its ///amg counterparts.

E55 KEV

Hank, can you explain 'reverse fitment' for us non-mechanics? Thanks.

AJChenMPH

I suspect it means the right C32 caliper goes on the left of a W210, and the left C32 caliper goes on the right of a W210. If I can't track it that way, that kind of defeats the purpose...thanks anyways.

Mach430

Not a right/left issue, but a leading/trailing issue. This is the reason why we won't sell the C32 upgrade to other chassis, even though people ask several times a month. The C32 caliper is a trailing caliper, and thus is placed behind the rotor. The w210/w208 both have leading calipers. The only way to fit the C32 caliper on those cars would be to make the trailing caliper be used as a leading caliper. There are only a couple calipers that can do this correctly, and the C32 caliper is most likely not one of them.

You can fit w210/w208 AMG brakes from the 55's on your car.

AJChenMPH

Ah, so...thanks for the clarification.
Cool. So, I'd need to source the same parts, right? Calipers, rotors, pads and carriers?

Mach430

and pad sensors... You may want to check the E/CLK board for any AMG owners who have/will upgrade their brakes, and are selling their stock brakes.

Fanatic

So it's rotor, caliper, pads, sensor and carrier. Is this all plug and play or does it require any special brackets?

How much larger/better are the 55's brakes than a stock W210?

E55 KEV

1999-2002 E55 Brakes:

13.1 Ventilated Front
11.8 Ventilated Rear

scorchie

Not "most likely" but "most definitely". It has sequentially sized bores.

Agreed. The W202 C43 AMG brakes also fit. Hey, they're the same as the E50/E55/CLK55. What do you know. And despite the slight increase in weight, they are FAR FAR FAR superior to the C32 brakes.


-s-

tpliquid

i put E55 brakes on my C280 wow big difference.

Turbo][

Does Zimmerman make x-drilled rotors for the E55? I guess that would be a good alternative to the super expensive dealer rotors.

scorchie

Nope. The reason is the OEM rotors are multipiece design, using stainless steel pins to separate rotor disc from hat. It's extremely unlikely, despite the popularity of the W202/W208/W210/R170 AMG series, that a third party will make the replacement rotors.

This construction method also causes the high price.

A lower price replacement can be found in SLK32 rotors, which are single-piece.

-s-

E55 KEV

Hey scorchie, are you saying that the SLK32 rotor will fit on the W210 E55? Thanks.

pocholin

What about S55 rotors? Will they work on the E55?

Reason I ask is because it is time for me to replace rotors

Turbo][

Same here, I need a brake job...I want to get some performance brake without braking the bank

Since we are on the subject of brakes, and rotors. Are the benz' rotors consider "throw away, one time use" rotors?

tpliquid

S55 will NOT work. grauntee or i give ur post # back.

scorchie

Yes, that's what I am saying

However, keep in mind... AMG used solid rotors on the SLK32 because the cost and complexity of the E55 rotors was not warranted on a much lighter vehicle. The primary reason for using a multipiece rotor is to reduce heat transfer to the hub, and help cooling of the disc surface. The SLK32, being much lighter, does not generate as much heat during braking, so it was determined that cheaper rotors could be used to achieve performance similar to the heavier cars.

Anyhow, all of us with AMG cars knew what we were getting into when we bought them, so we shouldn't try and cut corners to save a few bucks. Now, for the $800 for new rotors and $300 for new pads, we should just drop the rest of the money and go for a Brembo setup. That makes more sense.

-s-

scorchie

S55 for what year?

Anyhow, I believe the S55 up to 2002 was 13.6" diameter rotor (similar to C32), and the 2003 S55 rotor is 14.1" diameter.

Do you see the problem? 13.2" rotor/caliper combination does not work well when replaced with a larger rotor.

Regardless, the Brembo 13.6" rotor of the C32/S500 and 14.2" rotor of the 2003 SL55/CL55/S55 is far inferior in desigh to the Ate-manufactured AMG rotors found on W202/W208/W210. First of all, note that all the newest cross-drilled rotors are drilled AFTER casting, thus are prone to cracking (unlike the rotors that come with the Brembo GT kits... those holes are cast in).

To me, the biggest problem with the new AMG cross-drilled rotors is that THERE IS NO RIGHT HAND APPLICATION... all the rotors are LEFT HAND APPLICATION. So when you're driving, your left hand rotor is getting a nice cooling effect from the directional vanes in the rotor. But your right side rotor, it's fighting the brake ducting, trying to force air through the brake ducting while the "ram" effect of moving forward is forcing air the other direction. So your rotor is not cooling as effectively.

Is there a solution? Well... I believe the cross-drilling in the new AMG setups is for cosmetics, not performance. So if you're after cosmetics, that's the system to go with.

You want performance? The older AMG setups are superior. But they are expensive... at that price, the Brembo kits really do become attractive.

What the world needs is a truly high-performance, lower-cost alternative, one that uses the same offset as the stock (older) AMG system. Or even a lower-cost alternative to AMG stock rotors, so that people can upgrade incrementally. And it should look good cosmetically, so that people who want it just for cosmetics have an alternative.

Stay tuned.

-s-