Can my rotors be turned?
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Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2015
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From: New Orleans, LA
2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 Premium 1 w/ AMG Sport Package Arctic White
Can my rotors be turned?
I have a 2011 E350 with the sport package. The front rotors are drilled. The car has roughly 60,000 miles on it and the front rotors feel warped. I called a local shop to ask if they can turn them for me and they told me "no, because those rotors are composite rotors". Is this true? These rotors cannot be turned and they have to be replaced when they warp?
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Joined: Jun 2012
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From: Portsmouth, VA
2010 E350, Sold 1998 C230
I have a 2011 E350 with the sport package. The front rotors are drilled. The car has roughly 60,000 miles on it and the front rotors feel warped. I called a local shop to ask if they can turn them for me and they told me "no, because those rotors are composite rotors". Is this true? These rotors cannot be turned and they have to be replaced when they warp?
Turning rotors should be used to remove surface gouges and defects to make them smooth for new pads. There is only so much that can be turned down before you need new ones anyway.
Spend the money on quality parts, avoid the low dollar stuff that comes from China if you can, those will tend to warp all on their own. And make sure when wheels are mounted that all the lugs are torqued by hand evenly.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2015
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From: New Orleans, LA
2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 Premium 1 w/ AMG Sport Package Arctic White
But is there any truth in his statement about the rotor being a composite which prevents him from being able to turn them?
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From: Toronto, ON
2010 E550 4Matic, P1, P2
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From: Clifton, NJ
96 and 08 911 turbos
no, thats a load of bull****.
But nevertheless, oe MB rotors are dirt cheap, just get new ones.
Btw, your rotors probably aren't warped. You probably have uneven pad deposits on the rotors. Try rebedding to see if that smooths them out.
But nevertheless, oe MB rotors are dirt cheap, just get new ones.
Btw, your rotors probably aren't warped. You probably have uneven pad deposits on the rotors. Try rebedding to see if that smooths them out.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2015
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From: New Orleans, LA
2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 Premium 1 w/ AMG Sport Package Arctic White
Any suggestions on where to purchase them? Does this forum have any sort of special pricing with a wholesale parts website?
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2012
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From: Portsmouth, VA
2010 E350, Sold 1998 C230
MBWorld Fanatic!
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From: Southern US
2010 E550, 273 Engine: 2012 S550, 278 Engine
I have a 2011 E350 with the sport package. The front rotors are drilled. The car has roughly 60,000 miles on it and the front rotors feel warped. I called a local shop to ask if they can turn them for me and they told me "no, because those rotors are composite rotors". Is this true? These rotors cannot be turned and they have to be replaced when they warp?
What comes to turning them depends on how much material you need to remove to get them flat again. Usually this is not much at all as it does not take much warping at all to have a problem with the rotors.
Another thing is that, against some other opinion posted in this thread, warped rotor most likely will not happen again after it has happened once. Material heat stresses usually release only once so turning rotors may not be that bad idea if material thickness allows for that.
If you go and replace the rotors with new ones I recommend to stay away from Mercedes original parts.
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2013 E350 Sport
Not entirely true. It depends on how much "runout" the rotor has, which is the distance between the highest spot and the lowest spot on the rotor surface; measured with a runout gauge. If the runout is low enough to still leave the rotor thickness in spec after turning, then it's fine. But yes, the rotors will tend to warp even faster next time just because they are thinner and do not dissipate the heat as well as when it was thicker. So while you can turn them as long as they remain higher than the minimum thickness spec, it's always best to just replace them.
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Joined: May 2015
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From: Minneapolis, MN/Breckenridge, CO
2010 E550 4Matic Sport P2
I cut the rotors on my 2010 e550 with 25k miles on it due to warped rotors. I didn't have any issue resolving the issue. That said, the material of one of the rotors did not cut quite as smoothly as others I have worked with on the same lathe in the past. These rotors are a common problem. If you have to pay to have them cut, depending on the cost, I would personally just buy a good aftermarket option and be done with the problem for good!
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2013 E350 Sport
I cut the rotors on my 2010 e550 with 25k miles on it due to warped rotors. I didn't have any issue resolving the issue. That said, the material of one of the rotors did not cut quite as smoothly as others I have worked with on the same lathe in the past. These rotors are a common problem. If you have to pay to have them cut, depending on the cost, I would personally just buy a good aftermarket option and be done with the problem for good!
I also currently have a 2012 Durango R/T. Just over 30,000 miles, the rotors warped. So I had them cut in May and put new pads on it. They warped again within 2,000 miles, and they were cut within spec. Only reason I even cut them instead of replacing them is because it's a lease and I'm not keeping it (too many electrical problems with it).
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S350 BT 4MATIC
http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...nd-other-myths. Seems that Pad induced rotor distortion is the closest thing being "warped"
Last edited by Nuru; Aug 9, 2015 at 07:49 AM.
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From: Southern US
2010 E550, 273 Engine: 2012 S550, 278 Engine
http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...nd-other-myths. Seems that Pad induced rotor distortion is the closest thing being "warped"
WOW!
I want the "adherent friction" brake system for my car. Based on this writing this system will never wear the rotors out!
Most of this is BS.
Warped rotors have been measured to be warped. If this writer has never seen one then he is not doing what he says he is doing.
Unevenly stuck pad material on the rotor surface is obviously an issue with the pad material being over heated, which should never happen. Quite no-brainer to diagnose this and fix, i.e. get pads that do not "melt" to the rotor surface.
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2013 E350 Sport
I don't wanna read all of that but regardless of what it says, the "warping" is caused by excess parallel runout, which is the distance between the highest and lowest spot on the rotor. It's referred to as "warping" because the rotor does not appear to be completely flat, as is evident when it's thrown on a lathe. "Warping" is just the term used to explain this. No one says to a customer "your rotors have excessive parallel runout". Lmao. You simply say warped, here's the bill.
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2010 E550 4M P2 Distronic, CLK550 Cab P2
