TEAsE550

Same here.......I got to where I could chuck - up rotors in my sleep! I still hear the cutting stone squeal.....lol I used to go thru a set of FoMoCo pads and a set of rotors each season of racing, Try shutting down from 143 mph with warped rotors.....it'll shake the fillings out of your teeth! It actually vibrated the rear window out of the car once.

S. Madman

Ok let me put my 2 cents, or 20 at this point since I had the most experience testing with different brands of brakes for this platform.

First if you don't have the same Brembo calipers (sedan 2012-2014/2016 Rotw) please stay out of the conversation as what applies to us more than likely does not apply to your car.

2011 Brakes are as different in performance to 2012 E550, as they are to E63's. OEM Zimmerman, and OEM Brembo, for MY driving style are junk.

They hate stop and go traffic, hate being hit with cold water when they are hot, and rust hard.

I put 160 mph+ stops on my brakes, and the Zimmermans hate it with a passion. Fade hard after one hard stop.

The problems with the Zimmermans is that hard stops stick pad material on the rotor, and it causes the pad to skip that portion after some time, which is the warped feeling that almost everyone that has the problem gets.

The Brembos I have have been formulated to avoid that, the bite is not as aggressive (say about 95%) as stock OEM, but fade is not there, and they take temp changes a lot better (think touchless car wash or rain).

Also Brake hold is a no-no after hard stops on any brakes. The Brake clamps hard in case of an accident, you are basically gluing those 2 surfaces.

bgconsulsac

Hello,
Yes I had horrible brake pulsing and shuddering problems on my 2011 E550. Started after replacement of original rotors and pads at 50,000 miles approx. MB dealer replacements started warping and shuddering after 2K miles, MB could not find solution. Dealer said it was hub problems so they replaced front hubs. No solution Extreme pulsing brakes when hot caused me to replace again with recommended oem rotors and pads at 60K, lasted about 2K miles until pulsing returned again. Lots of $$$ wasted on either defective rotor materials or soft pads .....Drove me crazy. Finally, I researched and found on this site where a review recommended aftermarket Centric Rotors and Akebono pads. I went to a European repair garage Silver Star in Sacramento and they replaced fronts with these parts at my request, even though they said MB oem rotors and pads had no complaints from other owners . I am at 3K miles and smooth as silk with no hint of warp or pulsing even in downhill braking mountain braking from Sierras. Finally!!!. Thanks to the reader who recommended this solution. It has to be specific to this E model design.

bmwpowere36m3

Akebono doesn't make ceramic pads for the 2010-2011 E550... so I'm curious what was installed? As far as the OE pads, which have been made by Akebono... they say their made in France and are a low-metallic composition for the OE and not ceramic.

jonUF02

I believe I posted in one of the many other E550 brake threads. I bought Centric Premium rotors and ceramic pads for the front. Same part number as their StopTech brand, but I found the Centric branded ones cheaper. I haven't had any issues with them, been riding them for a few years now. The rears I just got Advance Auto top level stuff.

Other considerations:
- make sure the pins are greased and sliding well in the calipers
- make sure to clean the mounting surface between the rotor and hub, as well as the wheel and rotor/hub. Any corrosion or dirt left here will cause vibration because everything is not seated 100% true and square. I like to coat those surfaces with some grease to prevent future corrosion.
-sometimes a bent rim can feel like a pulsation in braking. Have your tire shop check that your wheels are all straight and true. They are very easy to bend and not be noticeable to the eye.

KEY08

...and make sure you torque the lug bolts in the proper order and bring them all up to proper torque evenly. I have never had a pulsating front brake scenario and I'm on completely stock rotors and pads.

Fliplegend

I've experienced pulsating brakes on other cars and warped rotors will definitely cause that. I did however have droning when applying the brakes due to the stock MB rotors failing. Replaced with Zimmerman rotors and issue resolved.

nc211

A couple of months ago while chasing a noise in mine, I replaced the front rotors for the Ackerambo (however you spell that damn brand) from FCP Euro and matched them with the ceramic pads from the same maker (acmerambowhacker). I ditched the drilled and went with blanks as well. Then took it on a 2,500 mile road trip partially up/down the Appalachians towards Naples FL. They performed perfectly. And still performing perfectly today after another thousand or two miles of stop/go traffic. Completely silent, no groaning noise under any stopping condition, unlike the MB’s would do under moderate stopping pressure. Totally happy with them. Car will definitely come to a stop extremely quickly.

the rear brakes are still MB on pad/rotor. Have about 25k on them. They’re fine, but now the brake dust shows up on the rear wheels while the front stays mostly clean.

never again will I have drilled rotors.

KillBillz

I suffering wrapped rotors for over 2 years with my 2014 E550 4matic. Ive tried a few combinations. The only thing that is working for me is Brembo rotors. I started (9 month) with Brembo low-Met pads which are great but VERY dusty. I then switched to Ceramic TRW pads (3 months) from FCP Euro. These things surprised me on how good they are for ceramic pads. But they are not as low dust as I thought they would be. Braking is perfectly smooth with both pads I used with the Brembo rotors.

BTW I am not a fan of Akebono or EBC (red stuff) pads if you brake from high speeds. I definitely use Akebono on my ladies car.

S. Madman

The keys is not using zimmermanns rotors on the E550/E500.

cleanerPA

Has anyone here actually measured runout on the rotors that they are saying have warped? I'm a bit surprised that people are warping 360x36mm rotors on the street.

If you're talking about pad material deposition, then that is entirely dependent on the pad. As for those that are saying you don't need to bed in pads, it really depends on the pad- a lot of high performance brake pads require bedding in. I've never seen a bedding-in procedure specified for OE pads, but look at Hawk, Performance Friction, Porterfield, Pagid, Ferodo- they all have a bedding-in procedure printed in the box with the pads.

I'm very familiar with the issue, as it is a constant source of squealing with my old car, Volvo V70R with the largish Brembo calipers on all four corners. Drive it like I stole it all the time and get about 18 months out of a set of front pads. Bedding-in procedures work if you follow them. No high performance car works well with low performance brake pads- gotta make sure the pads don't overheat, as that causes all sorts of pad deposition and even pad material breakdown.

Left Coast Geek

Yeah, brake rotors almost never actually WARP, rather, they get material deposition, then wear unevenly this causes hard braking to pulse, which is commonly referred to as warped rotors.my old Volvo 740T wagon did it pretty badly, too, until I switched to premium rotors and pads, *AND* followed a bedding procedure that involved heat cycling the brakes a few times, once I did this, they'd wear evenly til it was replacement time.

FrankSemar

Hi guys,
I have been living this pulsing brake issue for a number of years with my 2010 E550 4matic; love the car, hate the brakes. The dealer replaced my rotors and pads number of times with OEM parts only to have the problem come back. I replaced them as well and even went with racebrake rotors and had the same issue. After reading this thread I am wondering if the rotors were not warped, but only have brake pad material stuck to the surface. When my brakes are cold first thing in the morning there is no pulsing, after they heat up the pulsing begins. I am going to pull the rotors and throw them on a brake lathe to see in fact if they are warped or heavily coated with brake pad material. If it is brake pad material stuck on the rotor have you guys tried using a sander to clean them up or some other method? Also, if there is a brake pad material on the rotor can you suggest a brake pad that is less likely to do the same in the future. Thanks for any suggestions.

KillBillz

The only thing that has worked for me is Brembo rotors. I will stay far away from Zimmerman or Racingbrake (long story).

As far as pads. I originally fitted Brembo low-met pads with the Brembo rotors. Although they are great a stopping , they are also extremely dusty and noisy. Also the metallic dust has pitted parts of my wheels because I left the dust too long between washes.

I'm currently running TRW Ultra ceramic pads from FCP Euro. These pads also stop very well. They do not live up to the their low dust claim , but they produce much less dust and noise then the Brembos. Plus the dust is not the corrosive type.

FrankSemar

KillBillz,
Thanks for your reply, I am a Long Island, NY guy, enjoy the cooling weather. I am pretty sure one set of rotors I got from the MB Dealership was Brembo and I had the same issue. I am kicking myself for never throwing these the old rotors on a lathe and checking for runoff. If the rotors are true I am going to try and clean them, if not replace the rotors and go with the pads you suggest.

Any other suggestions are welcome, I am planning on doing this work over the Xmas Break.... should be good and cold by then!

KillBillz

I am also from the NYC area. Grew up in Far Rockaway. Lived and worked in Long Island until recently moving to GA.

Where are you taking the rotors to put them on a lathe? I could not find anyone willing to cut my rotors. But more importantly make sure you check the runout at hubs on the car.

FrankSemar

Not even looking to have them cut, just spun up to see if they are true.

jonUF02

The 2010-2011 model E550 has different brakes (at least calipers) than the 2012-2014 model E550. After putting the Centric rotors and pads on my 2012 in place of the OEM that were shaking I didn't have any further issues. Maybe look into swapping over the calipers from a 2012+ model??? and I recommend those Centric premium rotors with ceramic pads. I believe the calipers on the front of a 2012 E550 are the same as a C63, not sure about rear setup.

oldmots

I hate to start a thread on this but I would like to say here the instances of rotor "warping" are almost 99% pad deposition, not warping.

Cheap pads will leave deposits of sintered metal on the rotor that look like the rotor itself when the cheap pads overheat in hard braking. These metallic lumps are what you feel in the pulsing of the pedal. They can be cut off by turning the rotors but will just come right back. If you buy top quality pads, you can limit this problem. If you have a race car, you can get warped rotors but that's about it. I used to race and rotor damage was a rarity, but it was easy to spot. I use high end street performance (HPS) Hawk pads and never have the issue.

Left Coast Geek

re rotor deposits causing brake pulsing...

when you get new brake pads, with or without new rotors, you should immediately take the vehicle out for a 20 mile or so run on empty back roads where you can repeatedly cycle stopping without ever full stopping on the rotors. goal is to get stuff hot, then let it cool, and do tit about 3 times. every vehicle, from bigass pickup truck, to a light coupe that I've ever had has benefitted from doing this right. and I've done it wrong a few times and overheated the brakes (on a 2001 E150 van) and they still worked great til they wore out.

the basic procedure is...
cruise up to around 35 mph, brake to 5 mph, accelerate back to 35 mph. do this3-5 times.
cruise 20 mins or so for the brakes to totally cool
get up to 55-60 mph, brake moderately hard all the way down to 5 mph, release and cruise back up to 55-60, 2-3 times in a row.
cruise 20 mins or so to let them cool.

ideally you should NEVER have to full stop during this sequence... If you full stop, and sit there with your foot on the brakes, new pads will deposit crap into the steel rotors... if you heat cycle it a couple times, you burn all the volatiles out of the pads, and condition the rotor surface, then they should brake great for the life o the pads and rotors.

rapidoxidation

You pretty much quoted exactly what the brake parts (rotors and pads) instructions for break-in said for my wife's aftermarket upgraded brakes on her Jeep Grand Cherokee. I installed the parts, followed their break-in procedure, and have enjoyed really good brakes since.

S-Prihadi

Finding the empty enough road for me ( in Jakarta ) to do that nice break-in is quite impossible if total stop is to be avoided.
On non paid highway, traffic light stop too PLENTY and some are so short in between.

If on paid highway, I need to do it like at 3AM and very carefully if speed as low as 5-10 MPH is be to the target. Double cry.

By WAGNER
https://www.wagnerbrake.com/technica.../break-in.html

By Power Stop
https://www.powerstop.com/brake-pad-break-in-procedure/

I envy this guy's road for his Brembo GT brake-in...so quiet, so few cars.... no pot holes...smooth tarmac ...I am drooling.

Left Coast Geek

if you have to full stop during the brake heat cycling process, set the parking brake as soon as you come to a full stop and release the regular brake, this way your brake pads aren't pressed into the stationary rotors, as thats what causes the deposits that lead to pulsing brakes.

S-Prihadi

Yep, the only way .. thanks

I so happened is replacing both front rotors and new pads.
What is the best procedure to remove the gray anti corrosion coating, without it being part of the brake pad deposit later on during the rotor during break-in ?


Hand spinning test



Original MB rotors

BillWoeb

So, nobody on here knows me but I was responsible for the Press Preparation of East Coast car magazine vehicles for Mercedes Benz going on 15 years ago.

And yes, a bed in procedure is essential to avoid fade, vibration etc. The procedure we used is more aggressive than recommended here but, knowing what car magazines do to brakes, an aggressive bedding is critical to avoid warped or cracked rotors (as well as cracked pads!)

The bed in procedure (we called it fade and burnish) heats the binding agent up till it vaporizes almost completely for the first 1/4 of the pad and “cooks” the next 1/4. Binding agent is a major culprit in pedal pulsation since it gets transferred to the rotor along with the pad material (which ideally, gets deposited and scraped away each stop) and retains pad material on the rotor, allowing deposition each time the brakes are applied.

The burnish aspect addresses the open “pores” of the friction material due to volatilization of the pad bonding material by forcibly smooshing them closed. That helps avoid stress related cracks in the pad or worse - pad “chunking” - where pad material crumbles off the substrate leaving a spalled braking surface.

Another item which bedding helps (but doesn’t eliminate) is thermo-elastic deformation - where a cold rotor gets *just*enough heat to elastically deform the outer reaches of the rotor, while the hub/hat stays cool. That sets up stresses in the rotor causing it to take on a potato chip shape temporarily.

After the rotor becomes a bit more isothermal, the induced runout disappears. The best recipe for avoiding that (usually high frequency) brake “tremble” is to step harder onto the brake to put more heat into it quickly or back completely off (without crashing!!) and let things cool.

Believe it or not, the same thing applies to a clutch. Judder can be a function of slip rpm vs energy and lightly engaging a clutch can drive elastic deformation of the pressure plate and/or flywheel.