So, with 21,000 miles on my car, the brake wear indicator comes on and the brake pads must be changed at a cost of 320 bucks for the front pads alone. Just wanted to know at what mileage everyone is getting their first pad change and what you're paying for it??? thanks.

 

Brake wear is related to how/where you drive. I've seen people on this and other MB forums who are also getting around 21Kmi for front/rear pads. I'm surprised that you were quoted $320 considering something will have to be done to the rotors -- dropping new pads into existing rotors without resurfacing them or replacing them is only asking for noisy brakes and diminished pad life. Even if the rotors are in excellent condition, the surface will still need to be touched up (like with 120 grit sandpaper) to remove the "glaze".

By the way, I have an '03 E320 with ~53Kmi and the original brakes -- my driving is 85% highway and 15% city and I never go above 80 mph.

If you feel ambitious, you can change the brakes yourself -- there are a lot of posts here and elsewhere with advice and how to get around the SBC issue.

Good luck.

 

Labor $ 385, Parts $ 195.00 = $ 580.00 + $50.00NYS Sales Tx= $ 630.00

Done at 21,500 Miles

Parts Front:
Brake Pads
Brake Cleaner
Brake Paste
TS Brake Sho ??
Sender Unit

Parts Rear:
Brake Shoe
Brake Cleaner
Brake Paste

 

If you have experience in doing brake work, then it is not difficult as there is a thread that covered the topic extensively. Otherwise, you can ask a good independent shop to quote you the work.

 

That's insane. There's no way I would pay even half that to have my brakes changed. And thid didn't include the rotors?

 

just picked up the car from the dealer. the total came out to 272.00. Had a coupon from a mailer and ended up paying 236.00 for the front brake job.

 

How can it be insane when the guys having 2 wheel brake jobs are paying half of what I paid for a four wheel brake job?

And aren't MB rotors not supposed to be resurfaced/lathed due to their OE thinness ?

...Labor is close to $100/Hr, and the car "aint a Taurus".

 

That's what I've heard, but I've always measured my rotors before I decided to resuface/replaced. Although, the rotors can be turned and still be within legal limits, this doesn't guarantee the rotors will still perform well.

When I replace the pads (probably within the next 5K miles), I will also replace all 4 rotors -- they're not THAT expensive even though "it ain't a Taurus".

I've also been tossing around the idea of having the rotors cryogenically treated -- there's a place close to my work who will do this for $30/rotor.

Regards,
paul...

 

Hey Barry,
I just noticed that the rear brake parts you mentioned says "Brake shoe". The brake shoes in the rear are for the parking brake -- pads are used for regular braking. Which is it?

Regards,
Paul...

 

This is a first for me, what are the advantages of doing this? Is it like tempering metal?

Also, when my 1991 300E warped the rear rotors at 95,000 miles, I saw that the pads were still at about 40% so I decided to go to a friend of mine's shop and turn them. After turning the rotors they were still well above minimum thickness. I put new OEM pads on and the rotors warped within 1000 miles!

It was worth a try, but I bought two new rear rotors and they never warped. If there is not a huge lip on the edge of a MB rotor and they are not warped, you could always get away with just changing the pad. It was recommended to scuff them up a bit and then installing the new pads.

I always got about 45k to 55k miles out of pads on my other MBs and I usually changed rotors every two sets of pads. On my Audi I have always changed the rotors and pads together, same as with the Porsche. The verdict is out on my W211.

I have 14,500 miles on it and I have about 90% of my pads left all around.

Steve

 

Copied it off the bill. I was surprised to see the word "shoe" on the bill too. Maybe I missed a line, but I know that the pads were replaced for a fact.

 

here is the listing off the my bill:

Brake shoe: 89.00
anti squeak: 22.35
dust mask: 2.95
sender unit: 6.75
brake paste: 1.90
total parts: 122.95
total labor: 144.00

total cost of job plus tax: 276.48
minus 15% coupon: 236.44

on the description is said that my front rotors were ok at 26.3mm
and that my rear pads are at 50% and the rotors are ok at 9.5 mm

 

It doesn't matter if people are paying it. It's an insane amount. You could get it done for half the price. You could do it yourself for for even less.

Not sure about the thickness, but I believe it's not worth it financially for MB service stations to resurface them. The amount it costs in labor, plus the cost of the vehicle occupying a "stall" while the resurfacing is being done would most likely cost more per corner than a new rotor. Front OEM rotors cost about $57 at retail, and the rears cost $45.

No, it "aint a Taurus" but that doesn't mean it takes more time to do a break job.

By the way, Pads for a W211 cost $83 for fronts and $56 for rears (OEM) at reatail, so for you to purchase the pads yourself would set you back $139. So $139 for parts and $491 for labor is what you would be paying (based on your $630 price) That would be almost 5 hours of labor (at $100 per hour) just to change the pads!

As I said, that's insane.

 

The price of these cars is what's insane when you compare what a Lexus comparably equipped costs. (No, they are not the same car, but are lumped together by people in the "Luxury Class" of Automobiles.) Its just the price of admission. Its a low volume car, and the dealers cost of being in business is higher than a Ford Dealer's (only partially due to that low volume compared to Ford), thats why it costs what it does. A leading MB dealership, no matter how well run simply can not look like a Ford dealership, its customers will not stand in line in a dirty dimly lit service advisors counter, with bulbs burnt out and grimy floors. At an MB dealership, even the hardest working mechanic is not supposed to be covered in dirty oily clothes, must be painfully aware of the car's interior and DOOR SILLS, and be willing to come out and talk to a picky car owner about all kinds of nonsensical concerns, cutting into his ability to make more money finishing a job faster.

How much do you think a replacement Heart Valve costs? How much would you have to pay to have it installed? What does an accountant pay for his 1 time purchase of his laptop, some pencils, erasers and free tax forms at the Post Office? How much does he charge you for your taxes EVERY YEAR? (Now THAT'S INSANE!) Of course I could do it myself for less... Its just that I am busy buying my raw materials & marking them up to cover my costs of doing business, taking crap from perfectionists, listening to people say their glasses just fell apart when all they did was put them on their face, and they have been wearing glasses their whole life and nothing like this has EVER happened to them before... paying salaries & benefits & making a profit so I can be in the MB club too.

Yeah its high, but nothing about these cars says "inexpensive"... nothing. So the term "insane" and what it costs to do brakes must be taken with a grain of salt, or at least "Graded On A Curve", relative to a Taurus.

Doing a Brake Job yourself is an option maybe 5% of the MB owners do. (The general MB Population, not us obsessive MB Freaks.)

A Rolex isn't worth 7+ Grand either. The $300+ they charge you for an all too frequent "cleaning and adjustment", if you'd care to have your Rolex display the correct time more than twice in every 24 hours is insane too! That's just the price of admission into that club.

:v

 

I disagree about the price of the car being insane, although value in this respect is subjective. Personally, I enjoy the styling, ride, and features of my Mercedes over that of a Lexus, and feel that they were worth the difference in price. But service on an automobile is different. The value in changing the brake pads is not subjective. Comparing a brake job from a reputable private mechanic to a break job from Mercedes is comparing apples to apples. Comparing Mercedes to Lexus is of course, apples and oranges.

I also disagree with your opinion on service departments. I also have a Chevy Suburban and the customer service at the local dealer is outstanding! In fact, it's much better than my local Mercedes Dealer.

Regardless of which service department is better, I don't expect to pay more for service in order to subsidize a more costly dealership.

I disagree that you should expect to pay more for something of equal value because you "own a Mercedes".

You are probably correct about the percent of Mercedes owners who do their own brake jobs. Although I have changed my brakes myself, as a habit, I normally pay someone else to do it. But there are PLENTY of shops out there that can handle a simple brake job for much much less than the Mercedes service department. And again, it's apples to apples (assuming OEM parts are used). There is no greater value in getting it done at the dealer vs Joe's Auto Repair, as long as "Joe" has the knowledge to do the job.

Some may disagree with this statement. Of course, as I said earlier, value of an individual item is subjective. On an un-subjective comparison, who would buy a real Rolex for 7 grand, if they could buy the same watch for 3.5 grand (half the price)? Why would you pay $600 for a brake job when you can pay $300 for the same brake job?

 

Steve,
The process does something similar. I'm not a metalurgist, so I'm not going to try and explain it. There's some info from Diversified Cryogenics (http://www.frozenrotors.com ) and other places on the web. The process basically extends the wear life of the rotor (and the pads to some degree, but can't process pads) by some molecular lattice re-arrangement -- claims have been made of 100-300% increased rotor life.

After you see the prices for the rotors at Frozen Rotors, you'll understand why I'm thinking about going to the other place -- buying new rotors and having them treated elsewhere is still cheaper.

Check out http://www.metal-wear.com -- the Boston facility is close to where I am so this is handy. My motivation is that if I can get extra life from brakes, then that's one less Saturday dedicated to working on the car!

Regards,
Paul...

 

Wow, Frozen rotors are expensive! $152 each? I have seen front rotors for as little as $57. Now will they last that much longer?

 

Jim,
You ain't kidding they're expensive -- that's why I'm going to use that place that's close to me. As far as rotor life is concerned, the literature I've seen advertises at least double life which is good enough for me. Another place you can check out is Leading Edge Cryogenics http://www.lecryo.com -- they seem to do a lot with cryo treating brake pads but it seems to me that the pads would have to be metallic or semi-metallic. I don't know if I'll go with the pads as I wanted to use Porterfield (non-metallic) pads.

Regards,
paul...