mbserb

hey guys ???? about brakes i took my 03 w211 in for service and the service guy said i need new brakes within a couple of mons. i asked how much he said 850.00 i was like no ill hold on. i not paying them 850 forthem to change my brake any help is great.....

my ???? to you is what brake pads should i buy and is it possible to change them urself??????

paulv

mbserb,

Do some searches on this forum as many people have done their own brakes witht the SBC system. I just replaced my rear rotors/pads last month -- $300 for Porterfield pads & Brembo rotors.

Regards,
Paul...

SushDawg

Which brakes is it. Front or back. I just had my rear brakes pads replaced for about $350 at the dealership.

There a lots of people who have replaced it by themsleves at great savings- I've not done it yet as my car is under warranty and not ready to screw anything up.

TS

paulv

Interesting, I didn't know that brake pads were under warranty...... or do you have some kind of "extended" warrranty?

Regards,

paul...

SushDawg

Hey Paul,

They are not covered. What I meant is that with the car under waranty, I am reluctant to do that kind of work myself in case I mess something else up, e.g. SBC.

TS

paulv

OK, I misunderstood you earlier, and you've made a good point here.

Regards,
paul...

ATS

Do you have a link to the rotors?

paulv

I called Brembo in California and they linked me up with *** Imports in Florida who had my rotors drop-shipped from the Brembo warehouse in New Jersey. Many retailers of Brembo rotors for the later year MB's don't have them listed as being available, so that's why I called Brembo.

I suggest you call Brembo first to make sure they have the rotors (1-800-325-3994, Aftermarket group) then you can call *** Imports (1-800-470-6511, ask for Matt) to order them. Brembo could also recommend a retailer closer to you.

I'm assuming that the new rotors would be for your 04 E500? If so, the Brembo part numbers are Front: 25774, Rear: 25775.

The part numbers for the 01 C240 are Front: 25770, Rear 25924. These part numbers are from the Brembo catalog which you can download from their site.

For the E500, both the front & rear rotors are vented discs so I'm sure they'll cost more than my single disc read rotor.

Regards,
paul...

jclemen

I'm in the middle of a rear brake job on an 03 e320. I pulled the sbc switch, locked the doors and jacked up the car. Alarm went off, I pressed the button on the remote to turn it off, I then noticed the RED warning light on the dash.
I had instructions from previous posts, but discovered they're for the front so there were no pins but Torx head bolts. I don't own any so i'm off at lunch to pick up a set. The car is at home on stands, HOPEFULLY I can continue the job this evening and haven't disabled my car...

paulv

Jeff,

All those same things happened to me on my 03 E320. Be careful with those Torx bolt/pins -- one of mine was corroded and it stripped while trying to loosen it. Before you attempt to unscrew these, you may want to spray some penetrating fluid where these bolts go into the mounting bracket (the caliper's mounting bracket that needs to be removed if you want to change the rotor) and slightly tap the area with a flat drift and small hammer. I did all this and then used vise grips to twist the bolt to remove. I didn't care that the bolt had teeth marks from the vise grips because I wanted to replace them anyway because they were corroded where the caliper slides on them.

Good luck!

Regards,
paul....

jclemen

Thanks Paul for the feedback. I'll post with an udpate.

I assume the rears are screw-in type pistons and not like the front compressable pistons, any other hints/tips for the rears?

Thanks again...

paulv

The rear pistons are compressable. I don't have the MB tool to compress the pistons as I have always used a big C-clamp to do this on other cars. I also just loosened the cap on the brake fluid resevoir and constantly checked the fluid level as I compressed the piston. I managed to do this twice (both wheels) without overflowing the fluid. Are you replacing the rotors also? If so, you will need to backoff the parking brake shoes in order to get the rotors off. Hopefully, you don't have the parking brake set -- if so, make sure the caliper is still on the bracket and release the parking brake and lock the car, etc (for the SBC disable). make sure that both rear wheels are off the floor. You can access the "star" wheel adjusting nut to the brake shoes by looking into a lugbolt hole positioned at the approx 2:00 postion using a screwdriver. When re-adjusting the shoes back, adjust the star wheel until the rotor doesn't move anymore, then back off about 10 teeth -- the rotor should move freely then. After I did this, I saw that Sears has this very thin flashlight which would have helped out alot by shoving it in another lugbolt hole to illuminate the inside. I also put some brake grease on the hub that mated with the rotor "hat".

Wire brush the caliper mounting bracket where the pads slide on and coat with brake grease as well as the guide bolts. When this bracket starts getting crap on it (rust, dirt, etc), the pads don't slide well and you end up wearing out one pad faster than the other. You can re-install this bracket after you've mounted the new rotors.

Put the brake sensor on the pad first before installing in the caliper. The rear pads are obviously different with the one going into the caliper piston having a large clip on it. Put that pad on the caliper first and then place the other pad on the bracket (the outboard pad), then slide the caliper back over the rotor and re-install the guide bolts.

I don't know how much you know, so I just threw out everything I could think of. I'm sure I could think of more if I waited a couple of hours!!

Regards,
paul....

jclemen

Paul, great info, thanks much for the help. (What a great forum!)

Finished, all service lights are out, car is back on the road. I didn't do rotors, just pads as I wasnt experiencing any brake issues, just the service light. I hit the bolts with the spray and bumped them loose. That is really the only 'risky' part of the process, the rest is just standard pad replacement. I drove it tonight on an errand, zero vibration, same pedal feel.

I explained to my wife that the joy is found in 'beating' the system rather than the actual work. I saved roughly $350 and didn't disable the vehicle during the process.

paulv

Excellent!!!


Regards,
paul...

LNL

Have you gone to a quality independent shop and gotten a quote? Independent mmechanics are often a lot less than the dealers, and finding a good one who can keep your car in tip-top condition is good for both your car and your wallet. If you feel uncomfortable with having a "non-dealer" mechanic touch your car, note that some dealers will match the independent shops' pricing (via a "discount" on their noormal service business) just to keep you as a service customer.

Don't wait too long to replace them.

Lou

patrick_y

Mercedes E320 brakes will cost about $1000 to change, both pads and rotors on all four corners.

Make sure they give you new rotors too, I've heard of someone at a Missouri dealership getting their old rotors back resurfaced when the work order clearly stated she paid for a new set of rotors.

paulv

That's the number one reason why I changed them my self!!!

Regards,
paul....

monstaloc

yeah, the dealer quoted me somewhere close to 650, can't remember the exact estimate, just for the front rotors and pads.

With help from PaulV and other posts, I bought some zimmerman sport cross drilled rotors and poterfield r4s pads and going to put em on myself.

I'll post how it went with pictures when finished.

got the rotors from importrp.com and the pads from myroadster.net

Total for everything was like 330 bucks. I probably overpaid by alot but it's way cheaper than the stealer price, and with less dust.

ATS

Thanks for the info Paul.

paulv

I don't think you overpaid. The Porterfield pads are $120 no matter who you buy them from, and to get drilled vented disc rotors is a big cost driver. Just my rear, single disc Brembo rotors were $75 each. The bottomline is that you installed the parts you wanted and still saved money.

By the way, I've received good advice from people on this forum in the past, so I'm glad that I can contribute my experiences to help others.

Regards,
Paul...

ElDiabloJoe

I'll give you $500 to do mine, all four corners are in need. South OC, I can come to you.

EDJ

paulv

EDJ,

If you lived in the Boston area, I could help you do your brakes !!

Regards,
Paul....

ElDiabloJoe

Any So Cal takers?

EDJ

KarlBenz

Ok for all you people whowant to do brake work the 211 is equipped with SBC so if you don't want to lose any pinkies open hood and in right front disconnect large plug connector to pump(one with all the metal brake lines) because if you don't and CAN wakes up in car ie opening door,lights on , remote activated 60 bars of pressure is applied to the pistons and this happens without key in ignition Red warning light will disappear after replugging unit back with no ill effects

ctouhey

I had new pads & sensors all around at ~18K miles. (I have ~35K miles on the car now.) Charge was $229.30 for the rear and $254.00 for the front.