terefpat

Ok, I'm going to be as detailed as possible with this post, and I hope most will read it in its entirety. I purchased a CPO 2011 E550 with P1, P2, AMG package back in 2014. Purchased with 27000 mi, currently has 40000mi. After I purchased the vehicle, I realized the brakes were warped, returned to the dealer, and they replaced the front brakes at no cost. About a year and 5000mi later (car isn't a daily driver) I observed symptoms indicating the rotors were warped again (lots of vibration and shuttering feedback through the steering column and brake pedal when braking). I had my indy mechanic take a look at it and he said all four corners had warped rotors. I had everything replaced by my indy mechanic. Now here we are about 6 months and about 5000mi later and I'm experiencing the same issues with vibration during braking. Now let me go into further detail about the vehicle operating habits. I travel for work so the car is garage kept and "rarely" driven. Even when I am home, it's driven a few days per month because I have other vehicles. I drive VERY aggressively. Normal speeds of about 80mph when driven, and I usually get the vehicle up above 100mph at least once when I drive it. My indy mechanic explained that driving that fast and pumping the brakes (If I have to abruptly slow down because of traffic) causes the rotors to heat up too quickly which causes warpage. I wouldn't expect for a vehicle of this caliber to have "performance" issues as he explained. Ok, now for the tough questions. Has anyone ever experienced this? Either with a MB or any other vehicle make? Does that make sense to have warped rotors from hard braking at high speeds? If so, how can it be avoided? Better quality rotors (cross drilled & ventilated)? Ceramic pads? Drive like a granny? I don't know, but what I do know is that I've driven every car I've ever owned the same way, and I've never had these types of issues with brakes. Any help, guidance, or info on the issue would be greatly appreciated. If possible, I'd like focus to be placed on what could cause brakes to warp. Could it be because I don't drive the car often? Thank you all for reading this far!

BlownS4

BTDT search the forums for all the brake threads. Racing Brake offers a rotor replacement package.

mo11

As far as your driving habits, I don't find anything wrong with how you are driving your car. I pretty much drive the same. Although, when coming off the freeway, I usually use the engine brake and apply the brakes towards the end when the speed has slowed down. I don't ride on the brakes. I guess its a habit I've carried on from learning to drive with a stick shift. All my cars have reached close to 30K mi. before i had to replace pads, and just pads no rotors.
one thing i don't do, is wash the car or take it to the carwash AFTER running errands or drive over pools of water. Specially the water that pools on the side of the road... i avoid driving over those. More often than not, this is actually the main cause of people having warped rotors. Every time i go to the carwash i see these cars that have obviously run some errands like people taking their kids to school. Once the pressure washer is sprayed to clean the wheels, steam comes fuming out of the wheels and fenders. Thats really bad for the rotors. High heat and cold water, bad! So, as a safe practice, if i want the car washed i usually take it first thing in the morning and drive slow and lightly on the brakes to the carwash or if i do it myself i make sure the car has cooled down enough that I could touch the rotors with my bare hands.
Of course i'm no expert. But, this is one common thing i've noticed with people who have warped rotors. Some even find it cool when they see the steam rising out of their fenders... until they see the "uncool" bill...
i hope this helps eliminate one of the causes of your rotor issue.

cetialpha5

Search the old threads, this seems to be a very common problem with the E550. It uses different rotors than the E350 and even the E63 using something else. I guess you should try some aftermarket parts, not sure exactly what the problem with OEM is but they don't seem to last long.

terefpat

Thanks mo11. I've been known to wash my car multiple times per week because it's black and attracts dirt. I never took that into consideration.

belarus27

they had revised rotors later on
so my guess is that the dealer and indy shop both got you old rotors with old part numbers, might not be the updated part.
search the threads for more info.
i personally went aftermarket after having same exact issue

mo11

You're welcome. Yeah, a lot of people actually don't... but, you can look at the bright side. Since you'll have to replace the rotors, you can now choose from aftermarket parts that are better than stock. If you intend to keep the car longer go for a two piece rotor. If you're planning to let it go then just keep it stock.
Good luck!

thefisch

+1. Consensus seems to be to go with aftermarket. A plus with aftermarket pads if you change those too will be less brake dust. The wheels get dirty before the car can.

RacingBrake

RB front two piece rotors will never warp on you, the best value and most durable rotors ever built for MB 550.

http://www.racingbrake.com/Two-piece...ONT-p/2255.htm

XT910 brake pads available as option adder.

In stock.

Munich77

Has anyone gone after market for their E550? Mine is due for brakes soon.

VegasE

What most mechanics call "warped" is actually brake pad and road debris deposits built up on areas of the rotor. It starts with high heat and the foreign material being fused to the metal when the pad is applied. Once it starts as a small deposit, it grows over time as additional material is deposited on the "bump". It can be solved by turning the rotors. If the build up is a chronic problem on a particular class of cars, it indicates a design issue with the OEM equipment, usually the pads, and is solved by replacing with aftermarket high performance brake parts.

RacingBrake

Warp in a proper term is:

"a twist or distortion in the shape or form of something"

To a brake rotor the warp was caused from the result of heat cycles during expansion (hot) and contraction (cold), that the rotor can no longer restore to its original form due to the nature of metallurgical structure, some rotor can be more resistant to warpage than the other.

Brake deposit on rotor surface is a substance emitted from the brake pads when the brake pad exceeds it's temperature limit, same as rotor some higher quality compound is more resistant than the other.

If the vibration is caused by the pad deposit, it's correctable but you don't need to turn the rotor. Just try to clean the surface with some brake cleanser with sand paper or steel wool.

The thread created more than 10 years ago in RB brake forum still is the most referenced article in the brake performance circle today.

Abnormal brake pad transfer (deposit)
http://forums.racingbrake.com/showthread.php?t=73

Pad deposit is correctable as suggested in the thread. However if the rotor is warped usually it's helpless to turn it because you only fix the surface but not the inside metallurgical structure, and it will warp again even sooner than before (because the rotor is now thinner), so replacement is a better solution.

550x2

I went with Centric rotors and have been very happy. My OEM rotors looked like potato chips when placed on a flat surface. Go to the Centric web site and get the part number and the do a search on Amazon.

Ken B

Same here, though I've only put ~2K miles on them in the past year. How many miles on yours, so far?