I'm back- 2012 E550 squealing brakes
 

I started a thread on this subject a few months ago. I received many suggestions about bedding the brakes etc which I've done with no results. The brakes squeal when slowly coming to a stop. It's the front driver wheel I think which seems to be the culprit or could be both. The service manager said I have to step hard on the brakes in order for the squealing to stop. HUH?

I have had a face to face meeting with the regional technical manager who is the one who calls the shots on warranty. He told me they could change the rotors and pads but I would have the same problem. He said they didn't have a fix for it and BMW/Audi all have the same problems. He said the E550 has high speed front brake brake pads and rotors and are meant to run at high speed and are made to repel heat. The pads will get a glaze on them with regular city driving and will eventually start to squeal. Really!

I was outraged and told them you mean Mercedes is putting out a car which should be running at 200MPH on the autobaun every day. He kept saying the brake are high performance brakes.

He then said in Canada there is a 2 year warranty on the brakes. He said he has to write a report on this situation and hopefully they will come up with a fix. He said they have reported this in my file. The car is in storage right now for a few months so he said to contact the dealer again this spring again and he's there every month. I said, maybe I should go to the Canadian head office about this and he said it will be sent back to him to deal with.

End of story.

I'm one frustrated owner who has a $90,000.00 car with squealing brakes.


Toban

I feel your pain, only 8% of W212 made from 2009 upto today are E550s.. as the salesperson at my local dealer told me. The service department dismiss the defective brake problems such as vibration, shakes and squealing inherit in the E550s because they don't get complains from other W212 owners, majority of W212 are mainly E350s, which have no such issues. The service department admitted Brake rotor warped, but will not admit they are defective or substandard for stopping the extra weight and power of the E550s in comparison to E350s.

In 2012, Mb changed the rotors and brake pads to larger and more substantial units to prevent the warping etc. Our tech person for the region told me they have had problems with the 350 brakes squealing also. So, who knows.

I'm not going to lay down and eat this. I'm going to go after them. I told the rep, if they don't fix it, this will be the last MB I will ever buy and I'll go to the media/papers or whatever it takes to make sure as many people know about his problem. He said he hoped I wouldn't do this and said he would look into what might be able to be a fix.

We will see.

Toban

To make everyone's life easier tell them to order third party ceramic brake pads and install in your car. Tell them not to tell MB because MB would not allow for this.

If the noisy brakes is your only issue (not warped rotors, which is different issue) it will very likely be fixed by ceramic pads (that MB does not offer).

Arrie's a good point may be Akebono would cure this . Also, I believe E63 AMG's brakes should be squeak free and they should be ceramic but not to mention they should be very costly to get them adapted in your car :nix:

There are E500s in Germany and possibly driven in speedy autobahns and I think their owners could prove whether service manage is wrong or not about high speed brakes but I take it with grain of salt and have not heard of anything like this before .I mean high speed brakes could squeak if you are easy on them :crazy: lol

I'm starting to dislike my driving experience now becuz of this vibrating/warping problem. Drove a POS the other day, and the brakes felt lovely. Tomorrow my car will be in for service. Praying that they will give me a break on the rotors/pads.

My cure for this problem was to take to my indy.

He installed aftermarket rotors (zinc coated = do not rust) and pads for current S class. The original E550 brake pad he explained was a ceramic pad, which damaged the rotor and caused the vibration. The S class pads have 2 D shaped indentations in back which act to quell any squealing when brakes are applied.

My advice is to spend $400 and have an indy fix your brakes.

I can't go into great detail but after 4 brake jobs on my 2011 E550 I am now driving a new 2013 E550.

Most likely I will take this route if they charge me. :y

One question, was it considered lemon or something? lease/trade in?

The service department admitted Brake rotor warped

I have the same problem with pretty much every MB i've owned. Have it on both of my MBs in the current line up (GLK and C63 AMG). MB tech did replace a set of brake pads due to excessive squeeking but nonetheless the issue comes back every so often.

it definitely is frustrating!

Since they upgraded the pads and rotors for 2012, warping is not the issue but the squealing is. I appreciate your input.

Since the car has a 4 year warranty, I don't want to change the pads to something else because then there will be no warranty on those parts which did not come as part of the original car. The car is 6 months old with 1900 miles on it. Apparently, the squealing is even worse when the temperatures get cold.

What is one to do! I guess I have to put up with the squealing when coming to a stop. It seems the brake pads ahve to get hot before they will stop squealing. I guess it burns off the glazing.



Toban

Strange I don't hear the brakes on the 2012 E550 4matic squeal but the pads on my 2007 997 turbo do make noise every now and then.

It's odd yes, but the dealer told me BMW and Audi have the same problem with squealing brakes.

So. I wonder why your brakes don't squeal? Mine squealed to day I bought the car and had 100 miles on it.

So, you can slow down to stop at a red light and your brake pads don't squeal at all?

Toban

Pretty sure there was a guy on here filing a class action against MB because of this brake issue on the 550. My rotars warped and were vibrating and had to be replaced.

This is not true. I've owned many BMW's and none of them have squeeled. In fact the BMW brakes blow the MB ones out of the water. Much better pedal feel and far stronger.

I have the same problem recently. It squeals only almost to a complete stop and the MB service guy told me to try hard braking to clean out the dust??

Did you solve your problem by now?

Just get ceramic pads and be trouble free including no brake dust.

Yes, the dealer replaced the brake pads with different ones. The original pads were too hard and met for the autobahn they said. Since I've had the brake pad change to different ones, the noise has gone away. I can't tell you what they were but probably ceramic pads. There is a fix for these in the dealer's notes for this situation.


toban

I've owned many BMW's (3/5/7 and some M versions) and a also few Mercs (AMG and regular). I think that statement really depends on the year and model comparisons.

Finally a solution, enjoy your ride. If you do a lot of slow in town stop and go glazing does occur. I used to rinse my brake rotors off with a hose(to get rid of dust) wait about a hour for rust to form on the rotors and then drive it hard and give the brakes a very hard forced abs stop. A really good way to shorten brake life but it worked until the next traffic jam.I like you solution a lot better.

delete

Sorry to hear that.

What bedding process did you use?
I find that most drivers who perform the bedding process are not nearly aggressive enough. Those pads and rotors should be very very hot to get the proper chemical transfer onto the rotors.

Mine squeal now and again. I'll survive......
The car is a beast :zoom:

It seems mine squeal whenever there are lots of pedestrians around like near a shopping mall. Also seems to get unwanted glances. I can live with it until time to replace but I don't plan on getting OEM pads.