Indeed. I think the owners manual is far too vaque on the issue. Benz is hoping that "normal" mixed driving will do slowly what Stoptech et al are trying to achieve quickly & in maybe 80 ~ 90% of cases it works for them. Then you have the 10% where it does not work. You only need one bad stop & you are in trouble. Nice imprint on the disc face.

In racing situations with Cast Iron brakes (not Carbon) the bed in is achieved on the sighting or warm up lap.

I would welcome better instructions & better educated dealers.

Clutch & brake warranties vary by market. The OP should check.

 

Yes. In the greater Los Angeles area the 'condition' that is usually the culprit is rush hour (which really lasts all day and into the night) traffic on the freeways. Accelerate up to 50 mph+ and jam on the brakes. Over and over. Happened to all my cars until I started bedding in the pads and tempering my driving habits (or aging ). And...no surprise here....all vehicles don't react the same for drivers and conditions so result vary.

Being told you are a more aggressive than normal driver may hurt someone's feelings but we all have seen them and know the exist. Poor customer relations no doubt. My theory as to why dealers don't push bedding is the consequences it could cause. A good brake man could spend more time bedding them in than changing them so for them it's all $$. Giving instructions to the customer and asking them to do it on all brake jobs when only a portion require it could be bad press for the manufacturer regardless of how "right" it would be.

+1 Sometimes you can actually see the outline of the pad on the rotor. Also sometimes to can see an outline and not have problem if the transfer isn't severe enough.

 

This thread just came to my attention. Your frustration is well understood. It's a matter of whether or not a car manufacturer (including MB) can supply a brake system that is decent enough to handle the job, at least to deal with daily drivings w/o having to get into those "bedding" etc. which I do'nt believe a consumer is responsible.

At RacingBrake we deal with brake issues and provide solutions that OEM can not fix, from the fastest & heaviest track car like Nissan GT-R or Corvette Z06 to small race car like Honda S2000., not mention street performance vehicles like MB.

RacingBrake offers a complete light weight two piece replacement rotors for those high performance AMG (C63/E63 ML63, SL65).

You don't need a larger brake, nor have to bring your E550 back to dealer again. We are expert in proving well built, light weight, cost effective two piece rotors to replace OE's heavy, bulky and non performing rotors.

One of the obvious benefit is the weight saving:

OE= 28 lbs, RB=~18.5 lbs, so you can save about 10 lbs per rotor.

Reviews:

RB two piece rotors on E63: https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...cingbrake.html

RB two piece rotors on ML63: https://mbworld.org/forums/ml55-amg-...ke-rotors.html

We like to invite those frustrated E550 owners to join the discussion here so together we can work out a solution for you with a guarantee result.

Thanks

Warren-RB

 

Anyone else?

 

2011 E550 here and my rotors were replaced for this exact issue at 6k miles so this definitely was not corrected by Mercedes post 2010 model year. I'm also in agreement that bedding is not required to prevent such an issue. 350 owners need not apply because your brakes are completely different and do not experience the OP's frustration.

I do know the brakes are all new part numbers for 2012+ model years so I'm surprised to hear the original poster is having this issue. Do not recall any others with 2012 or 2013 550s experiencing rotor problems.

 

My 2012 E550 sedan now has 23,000 miles and has never had a brake issue.

 

I have a history of this issue with a 2011 E550. All four rotors and pad sets replaced at 9,000 miles. Horrible pulsating! Documented by MBZ techs, runout was WAY out of spec.

I'm now at 30,000 miles and hoping for the best.

If it happens again, and they try to charge me for rotor replacement, my lawyer will write the check. All we need is the history of this car dug up properly.

Brakes now squeal like crazy, LOUD, forward and back. People in our community now say, "Are Mercedes brakes really that bad?" It's embarrassing to have paid $70,000 for a car that sounds like a 1963 Ford in 1983.

Techs wrote up that "owner rides brakes," which is complete BS --- my left foot never leaves the floor, and hasn't for 50 years except when I had a stick shift. They just needed to say ~something~ to explain these terrible brakes. What an insult!!!

Owner must bed in brakes??? You gotta be kidding!! More Internet BS!!!

 

+1

Bedding brakes is the most hilarious thing I have ever read about brakes. So many idiots take bedding as fact when they do not know better and the all knowing car dealer tells about this "very important" procedure that should have been done to avoid brake vibration.

My advice to MB ovners with his issue is to get MB to replace the brake components until the issue is fixed. This may prove to be "impossible" so a low cost way to get around this (compared to all headache and visits to the dealer around this issue) is to order third party brake disks and ceramic pads and have them put on by an indy garage and enjoy the othervise so very nice car.

 

Idiots you say? Watch your manners and if there's any idiots involved in this it's those that would rather complain about a problem that is easy to fix than take the simple extra effort to fix it. Dealers have never told me to bed in brakes BTW. Do a search on bedding in brakes and you'll be surprised at the number of hits you get and the number of brake experts that recommend it. I love the "experts" that have no background but "just know" when something isn't right. You deserve to have brake shudder.

 

I just had the same experience and here is my rant:

Vehicle: 2011 E550 (purchases Jul '11)
Mileage: 7kmi

My brakes vibrate during freeway braking or harder braking in street driving. Regular stop light driving seems normal. The freeway braking is horrible when at high speeds. I just took the car down to socal recently and braking downhill on the grapevine was full of vibration and noise as if I was transmission braking at 80mph.

I took my car into the dealer and they promptly told me the brakes are not covered by warranty even though my car is low miles and not too old.

Funny thing is after a little over a year of ownership and 7k miles this $70k car will have gone through Service A and B at total cost of around $750 and still be driving around town with gimped brakes.

 

I call BS on your dealer. Take it back. The only thing that's not covered with brakes under warranty is wear. You have a malfunction.

 

Aren't brakes cover for 12 months?

 

Not sure if this is the cause of all the consternation over E550 brakes, but I noted a sort of pulsing sensation on another car when I replaced the stock rotors with cross-drilled ones. Since my E550 came with cross-drilled rotors, I wasn't surprised by the sensation of a slight pulsation in the brakes. It's possible someone who's never driven a car with cross-drilled or slotted rotors would mistake the sensation for the feel one gets with slightly warped rotors.

 

If it's really "slight" pulsation (define "slight"), maybe, just maybe it's not an issue.

HOWEVER, the defects related in this and other threads are not "slight." Any pulsation, beyond the almost imperceptible, is not just a brake performance nuance, is is a SEVERE SAFETY HAZARD. The braking system doesn't know what the hell is going on when there is pulsating of the kind described here. THIS IS JUST NOT AN IRRITATION!

I will guarantee, that if properly investigated, pulsating of the kind expressed here is A SAFETY HAZARD.

The poster, above, should carefully document every time he/she has squawked brake pulsing to the dealer. And then go back down there one more time and demand a fix to an intrinsic safety problem, and record that discussion word for word. Then, let the dealer know that he is responsible for anything that happens related to brake performance. Then, seek a lawyer who will discuss this issue without charge for at least an initial discussion.

And right, this is not "wear," it's a warranty issue, even though MBZ claims a 9,000 or 10,000 or 12,000 mile, or 12 months, limit (depending on which dealer you talk to) on brake "wear and tear."

As for the Mercedes apologists who say, in essence, "Well!! Any Mercedes purchaser should immediately 'bed in' his brakes per the instructions of a third party tire dealer or expect serious problems" I say SSSPPPPLLLLLAAAAHHHHTTT! That is total BS. Mercedes, ultimately responsible for safe brake performance, has never, ever, said anything like that, not even close.

Mercedes is the responsible party --- they are just too scared to properly address the issue re: E550 brakes of the 2010, 2011, 2012? era, 'cause it might cause a huge, expensive, recall, or worse, a lawsuit for accidents that could be deemed caused by insufficient brake performance. They will remain silent, totally, on this issue until it it thrown directly in their faces by a court. I'll bet anything there are Daimler lawyers and engineers agonizing about this issue right now.

 

I love how the "experts"on brakes insist that bedding of the brakes is the problem but haven't shown any proper or proven proof. If they actually knew what they were talking about, they would have mentioned seasoning your rotors and bedding your brake pads. Two different things, but the rotors are what is giving the problems on the E550's, not the pads. Either way, both of these procedures just help make your brakes perform at maximum performance, not prevent the rotors from being warped... If You don't know what you are talking about, stop commenting. This is a forum to try and help people with their problems, not to get everyone to believe what you think is correct.

 

Idiots indeed I say.

For the brakes to start vibrating because of warped rotors or uneven thickness of the rotors or uneven pad deposit on the rotor (what a pile of crap) the only reason can be faulty brake components. So called "bedding" has nothing to do with this.

But for you, it is what you want to believe. In engineering world there is no other explanation for warped rotors than a bad product, period.

 

I just purchased a 2011 E550 CPO and test drove 5 of them ... 4 of them had the vibrating brake issue (I got the only one that didn't have the issue). One of them just had the brakes replaced twice from service record within 12k miles (I test drove it only 4k miles from last change and had the issue). None the dealers would admit there was an issue and one even tried to tell me that it was rust build up due to sitting out too long ... I'm amazed that a MB dealer would lie so blatantly. Not sure what the issue is, but I doubt it was a coincidence!

 

Wow. A collection of people who know more than the manufacturer and disregard any help to their problem. That would make you whiners. Correct...you shouldn't have to do anything special to enjoy your car. And yes the problem seems to show up more in 550s. Fact is 'most people' don't have your problem and MB just tries to keep the whiners in check. If everyone had your problem with brakes MB wouldn't sell cars. The problem is well known and here's some reading for you but since you already know more than people/businesses on the internet you'll probably just skip this reading and keep whining.

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/....jsp?techid=85

http://zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm


http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...ake-pad-bed-in

http://www.essexparts.com/learning-c...rs/post/Bed-in

http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/h...-in-brake-pads

http://www.wilwood.com/TechTip/TechPadBedTip.aspx

http://www.braketechnology.com/brakepadbedding.html

 

My 2012 E550 was bought back by MB due to the rotor issue. Needless to say this us a systemic issue known to MB. I feel for the person who bought my beautiful car as a CPO believing they purchased a pristine preowned vehicle.

 

I chuckle at the bedding of brakes theories. Do you hear the squeal only when braking or is it constant and reduces on braking? It took the dealer 3 visits to figure mine out but we discovered the clip that goes on the caliper had lost tension and would shift and rub against the rotors. Happened on both front wheels.

 

The squeal is on light braking, forward or reverse, as in a parking lot.

 

Okay, that is different from what you'd hear with the clip issue. Mine was constant and would stop squealing when I applied the brakes. Hope you figure it out, sorry wasnt much help.

 

I don't think it is me here whining. I just giving my opinion on the BS of bedding brakes fixing the problem. Correctly made parts fixes it.

 

Do what you want. I was just offering a fact that's well known in the industry and supported by knowledgeable people.

 

SG - Nice to see you are in the W212 owner's club. I had my front rotors replaced at 16K miles. I'm at 27K now, and all is well. Still, I feel that the rotors should last longer than what we have been experiencing. MBZ should step up to the plate. E550 owners unite!