sbarsap

Hi All,

I am a new member to this awesome and informational site. I just bought a MB Certified 01 E430 Sport Blk/Blk with 26K miles. I live in Houston but bought the car from a MB dealer in IL. The dealer told me that for the certification process MB replaces the brake pads if they are not 90%. I do not know much about auto mechanics but feel that my front brakes are acting funny. When the car is coming to a complete stop I hear a slight noise from the front brakes and feel a little vibration on the brake pedal. Also there is alot of brake dust on the front two rims, everytime I wash the car, it takes about two days for the front rims to gather enough dust to make them almost black. Is this noise and dust normal?


I appreciate any help,

Sheldon

electric blue

I live in Houston as well and surprised you went out of the city to buy your car. I know going to Mercedes Benz of Houston on Greenway or Mercedes Benz of Sugarland would cost you high retail but they do have choice cars. Anyway as far as your brakes go you cant really do much for the brake dust in the sense that it's going to show up. If your wheels are turning totally black after a few days I would change them, Also I would change your front rotors and sensors if it were my car. I suggest you buy Textar brand brake pads and ATE brand rotors. You cant go wrong using those brands. Both company's make OEM parts for mercedes. If you get quoted over 400.00 for this brake job your paying to much.

sosh

Vibration in the pedal is usually caused by a slightly warped rotor. My suggestion unlike the previous respondent is to stay with MB parts.

sbarsap

The reason I got my car froman MB dealer in IL is I could not find an 01 E430 with the Sports Pkg in Black at an MB dealer in Houston. I went to Greenway and Sugarland MB's but all they had were the E430's without the sports pkg.

Anyways please let me know where you get your brakes replaced, do you do it at a MB dealer or an independent here in Houston. I was also interested in getting the following like MikeyE430.

did 4 Brembo drilled rotors, 4 StopTech braided lines, 4 Axxis Deluxe PLUS pads, and labor for $900 on my 2000 E430.


Do you know a good place in Houston that would do it for a reasonable price. Also would that void any warramty that I have on my car.

Again I appreciate the help.

Mach430

FYI Textar and ATE are some of the suppliers of Mercedes brand parts.

stemags

I agree,the rotor is likely warped.I feel you get better great stopping,plus the 90 % reduction in dust is great,with Porterfields.They wear slowly,and dont hurt the rotors. Little more cash tho

electric blue

Hiiii!!!!! I do brake work at a shop here in Houston. Let me see what kind of price i could give you on your brake work. I have done over 500 brake jobs in the last 5 years and know your car very well. To give you a brake job below retail i would have to do your car on a weekend or after hours. Do you think you need brakes all around and if so are you wanting the Brembo's and braided lines plus the Axxis pads, let me know.

stemags

Another happy customer,,,

sbarsap

Thanks to all for your help.

Electric Blue, I will surely send you an email when Ia m ready to do the brakes, I am currently looking at my different options for a brake upgrade.

Little

bro if the brakes are chattering, give them some time, like a week or two and it will go completely away. Mine did the same exact thing when i first got my E430, dealer tech said just drive it and it will go away, it did on mine and brakes have felt great ever since.

electric blue

Sbarsap......Sure hope I didnt make you feel uncomfortable when telling you I could perform your brake service, just trying to be helpful. You say you live in Houston and being that I do as well I thought I could give you another option. Like I tell most people if you have a shop you like and trust the people working on your car then you should stay with that shop. Living in Houston you know as well as I do this city has many shops one can go to. Actually today I completed a full brake job on a 1999 CLK430. Everything went very smooth. I used ATE rotors and Textar brake pads. The car stops like new again, very smooth and quiet.

sbarsap

Hi Electric Blue,

You did not make me feel uncomfortable, I am glad that I there is a member of this board in Houston to help if needed. I actually found the maintanance receipts from the previous owner in the glove compartment and it said that the front brake pads were replaced at 22K miles the car currently has 26K miles hence they should be almost new. I also looked at the pads from in between the gap in the rims and they lokk like they have alot of padding left, I may be wron though since I do not know much about car mechanics. It could be that the rotor is the isse like one of the replies I got. I may ask a dealer to check it out when I take the car for service after the next 4K miles. I am going to make the best of my remaining warranty and free scheduled maint till 5/30/05 when the factory warranty expires. I also bought an extended 2 yr /100K mile warranty apart from the 1 yr MB certified warranty that they give you with a certified car just to be on the safe side.

I was reading past posts about brake upgrades and they say that a wheel upgrade to 18" might be needed depending on the rotors that are selected. I guess I will stick to the MB OEM parts I already have installed for now since all this would add alot of costs to my limited budget with Christmas gifts, etc.

I will surely keep you in mind if I need to make any mods to my car, if my wife would let me, LOL.

Anyways thanks again to al who replied and have a Happy Holiday Season.

MBZ12

The "it'll go away if I ignore it" part doesn't sound quite right. You best be in good shape, otherwise, you're in for a nice surprise when it comes time to change out pads and rotors. Just my .02