clkcadet

hey, tried out the michelin brake dust repellent AFTER waxing the wheels, after the weekend there is a very little shade of brake dust, but this from driivng only about 50 miles, since i applied wax i do not notice the difference but i am assuming the wax is doing all the work (also does a great job of the brake dust just sliding off with a quick wipe of a towel)

c2jones

I used the Porterfield Brake Pads in the past with great results. Not only did I have far less dusting, but had better breaking results and less squeal as well. For the price, the combination is hard to beat. My pads lasted longer than OEM and kept my wheels bright for weeks, even under heavier breaking and stop-and-go conditions.

The approach of preventing as much of the black dusting from getting on the wheel in the first place (which some state actually causes corrosive damage to wheels) is preferred over finding ways to simply clean the dusting off easier thereafter. At least the Michelin product attempts to do this.

There have been countless threads on this topic with interesting reviews.

For those whom are not yet aware of the Porterfield option:

www.myroadster.net

CE750

Jones, are the Porterfields OEM approved? Do you know if they take a toll on the rotor? I've tried low dust pads before on my '97 Volvo 960, and the ate up the rotor and diminished my braking. I was told by Volvo after complaining to them that the problem was the pads, which were to "hard" for the rotors. It was their hardness that lead to them being less prone to send off dust.

Do you know if the Porterfield ones are of a new design? I would love to try this idea again, but I'm afraid of ruining my rotors.



As for wax, Cadet, I am a strong believer in "Wax everything"..

As soon as I got the car, a had no less than 3 layers (with 24 hour rest period) of Wolfgang synthetic polymer wax applied to the entire car, rims, glass, chrome, all but the rubber. I then will follow up with a coat evey month. In past cars, and in my present Volvo I even applied it to the wood trim on the inside, however the MB manual specifically says not to do this, so I will refrain in the case of the MB. However, this technique as kept every car I've owned/leased in mint condition (exterior wise) over as long as 5 years.

The Michelin spray went over my wax, and for all I know it may have inhibited it's chemical process, but I wasn't about to forego my wax on the wheels in the hopes that this stuff would work well.

c2jones

If the question is whether MB would "approve" the use of non MB pads, I would guess not. Auto manufacturing is very proprietary in nature, especially MB, and this carries onto even the most common aspect of marketing techniques and instructions to their dealership service personnel. MB wants everything MB. As far as approved for OEM in some non MB terminology, I would have to defer this to others. (There are several Porterfield customers in this forum.)

We had our car inspected prior to trade-in and the receiving dealership said the rotors were in perfect condition (despite the fact that they took the still good Porterfield pads off to put OEM back on for resale of the car).

Times have changed. These Porterfields are not just a low dust replacement pads designed to replace OEM. In actuality, they are racing pads that just happen to offer low dust and perform better without an ill-effect on the supporting braking equipment.

Did you get a chance to review the linked website? In the case of the Porterfields, it is not a matter of hardness; its a matter of the material used (Carbon/Kevlar with a ceramic insulator - a high friction material with a .485 friction coefficient).

Not sure what you mean by "new," other than different from typical low dusting pads (which are simple aftermarket ceramic pads (i.e. "Raybestos "Quiet-Stop," etc.) that are produced by a few manufacturers today and can even be bought at Pep-Boys, etc.). The Porterfield pads are actual racing engineered pads that cannot be bought nearly as common on the market.

I can tell you that from my own reviewing of the comments from numerous Porterfield users in this MB forum (and others) that I have yet to witness a single complaint or a single user that would not opt for these pads over and over again. If these pads contributed to prematurely "ruining rotors" or were a factor in any real drawback, these things would be well known and would thus be evident in these forums.

Hope this helps.

CE750

Sold! I will look into them asap.

clkcadet

as far as im concerned, mb doesnt cover any brake pads or rotors under warranty, so why not try out the porterfields? is it possible for them to void out the entire warranty?

jack500

Dust free break pads should fix most of your problem.

CE750

I spoke to the owner of the myroadster.net and he said that for the 2003- E class the cost of the brakes is prohibitively expensive. He said they had to be custom made and would cost about $600 a pair... Ouch!

dpath

I received the same reply from myroadster.net but their website lists Porterfield pads for the 2003-2004 E320 for $119 for front or rear pads. Does anyone know if the 2005 E320 pads are the same as ones for 2003-2004?

BudC

The Internet parts outlets show the same part numbers for '04 and '05.