MaMaChup

Background: Bought CPO '13 e550 with 29k miles in 9-2015. When purchased I was told it had new front brakes... Haven't been able to locate paperwork yet- but I suspect it was just pads and not rotors. I am a mid-forties female with limited auto knowledge but also not one to be taken for a ride with BS.

Issue: Current mileage is 36k with a vibration/shudder (in front) when braking above 50 mph- occurred within 2k miles of purchase. Why am I just now addressing the problem? We had a family tragedy in October and ... It is what it is.

Current situation: service advisor stated my rotors are warped but pads are okay. States rotors aren't covered because it's "wear and tear." I questioned him on that and he said it could be due to my driving habits. While I love my car, I am mid-forties and an ER nurse. So, no, I do not drive her like a 16 year old!

Questions:
1.Is it possible to have warped rotors and the pads are okay?
Would you recommend MB reaching the rotors or somewhere else (less $).
2. I told service advisor that front brakes were "new" when I bought the car. He said he would have to call the dealer I purchased it from to ask (is this info not available from his desktop?)... He was able to tell me that a brake sensor had been replaced prior to my purchase.
3. Provided these rotors are original- is it reasonable to replace them at 36k miles?

***thanks in advance***



I know my letting the ball drop with regards to the length of this issue going on without attention is my bad... So save your finger stokes from commenting on that.

beejAMG

first, sorry to read about your family tragedy.

to answer your questions...
1. it is, if the pads were replaced and the rotors were not. cheaper to get it fixed from an indy.
2. cant replace sensors without replacing pads. (well technically you can but theres no point). availability of info from the other dealers desk, not sure.
3. it all depends on how the previous owner drove the car, if its warped then yeah.

my 2 cents, contact R1 Concepts (vendor here) and mention youre a forum member to get a discount. get a quote for 4 rotors, pads and sensors. then contact a local indy and get a quote for labor then compare pricing with dealer.

txjeep

In your situation, I would follow beejAMG's advice. Get some good rotors and pads, and find a reasonable independent shop to install them. Might only need front rotors and pads, but might go ahead and do all four.

Another option that will buy you some time is to have the rotors resurfaced. This shouldn't be too expensive and might buy you another 8-10k miles. This will only work if the rotors have sufficient thickness, as they basically lathe off the high spots.

Rotors can definitely pulsate after that many miles. In general, my understanding is that brake rotors don't actually warp, they get material buildup from the pads in certain spots, creating high spots, which cause the pedal/steering wheel pulsation. Resurfacing works for a while, but it will come back, since you didn't really solve the problem. The pro-active solution I have used to avoid this is to break-in the rotors and pads properly (bedding-in). You might see if you can get the shop to do this for you, as it requires some back-to-back hard braking sessions and you can't stop the car until everything cools down.

Best of luck to you!

550x2

Sadly, the brake rotors on E550s are notoriously prone to warping. It is very common for the front rotors to vibrate the car under braking. I had mine replaced under warrantee at 2000 miles and the warped again at 8k! This time I went with Stopteck rotors that we one third the price of factory unit and better made. Have a local Indy shop install them with new pads. It will run under $400 versus $1000 for the dealer to put in warp prone rotors. Good luck!