kajtek1

That reminds me old story.
Back in 1980's some batteries were offered with lifetime guarantee.
In those years not too many cars would last over 100k miles, not too many people kept the cars for years, so it was good advertisement to promote more sales.
My friend at the time had classic car, who he kept for years. He was on his 5th replacement, when the battery got stolen.

Left Coast Geek

say huh? Rotors are a wear item on brakes. I've had cars where I needed rotors with every pad replacement, but I drove those cars very hard in the mountains and a lot of miles a year. Even a mellow driver who never brakes hard will probably need rotors around 100K miles.

bmwpowere36m3

I think he doesn't brake, haha. He's mentioning rotor and pad life (100-400k) I've never come close to in ANY car. For the most part, rotors aren't turned as its not economical and many new designs don't allow much wear (reduction in thickness). No to mention often they go with the bath water because of grooving, rust, lip, glazing, etc... even if they might still have meat.

Left Coast Geek

heh, my 89 Jetta GLi that i was putting 40k miles/year on, it was pads, rotors, and tires once a year. tires at beginning of rainy season, rotors and pads mid summer. I bought the stickiest HR or VR tires that would last a full year, my favorites back then were the original Pirelli P6 (IIRC, that car used 185/60R14).

cetialpha5

Yeah, I've burned through brakes and rotors in 2-3 years on other cars. They don't last when you use them all the time in the city. Stop light racing, trying to stick close to the bumper of the guy in front of you so you don't get cut off, all that stuff wears out the brakes much faster.

Left Coast Geek

on that jetta, I was in the habit of hard braking going into a corner, and hard accelerating around and out o the corner, rinse repeat, half my 50 mile each way daily commute was on a twisty mountain road. ahh to be 35 again instead of 65. er 66. err 67 in a couple weeks, eeeek.

/me fades out singing "Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin... into the future..."

MBNUT1

I am getting check brake linings message. I think that the car had a complete brake job at the dealer about 50K miles ago.

What is the thinking regarding rotor replacement?
a) Just replace them
b) Inspect and measure them and replace if below limit.
c) Other

cetialpha5

Well it's pretty standard to check the thickness of the rotors before just replacing them. The message doesn't tell you if it's the front or the backs. I would say that if it's the front, chances are that you need new rotors. I'd just get a set of the Zimmerman from FCPEuro along with the Akebono pads and then you have a lifetime warranty on the parts so they're free next time. For the rears, it's possible you might be able to get away with a pad slap, but you'd have to measure the rotors first to see how thick they are.

strife

Well, the shipping on brake rotors would be brutal for a retail shipping customer to bear, and frankly I would fell pretty small about sending a worn-out consumable. On a bigger ticket/lighter item that really should last, no.

cetialpha5

I looked up the weight of a new rotor. About 26 pounds. On UPS, it's about $23 to ship it ground. A new rotor lists for about $110. On USPS, I think it will fit in a flat rate box and you could fit two in a box and it's $22.65 to ship both in one box. Makes it over 50 pounds for the mailman though.

Left Coast Geek

large flat rate box is 12x12x5.5" inside. I doubt two rotors stacked would fit. I also doubt the box would survive intact.

cetialpha5

Oh yeah, I guess 330mm is almost 13 inches so maybe the Fedex flat rate box. About $32 to ship their extra large box less than 150 miles and they're in that range for me, maybe up to $46 if it's further. Weight limit of 50 pounds so I guess it'll be interesting to see how used rotors weight if new ones are 26 pounds. Maybe knock some of the rust off it to lower the weight...

MBNUT1

Thinking that it is the rears based on the amount of material I can see through the wheel in the front.

Aktash

I had that happen on my first time doing pads, don't know if it was a defective pad or the mechanic not paying attention. On the pad that has spring tabs on the back that goes inside the piston of the caliper, one tab was bent so the pad wasnt spring loaded. Resulting in pad rattle at any kind small bump or cobble road. Bent the tab back a bit and all was good for three years. To check just take a wheel off and rattle the pad with a screwdriver, you'll hear the familiar sound. Just did a full four corners on my car with same R1concept pads and rotors.

Left Coast Geek

the wear limits on rotors are pretty small, not sure you can eyeball the few 100ths of an inch from 'new' to 'worn'. They are specified conservatively, so if you put new pads on a rotor that measures 'good', it will likely stay within the safe wear range until those new pads are shot.

Billyismyname

I’d bet my left kidney you’ve NEVER come close to even 250,000 on pads, let alone 400,000 miles. Not sure who you’re trying to fool. Even with a manual transmission the pads and rotors get eaten 50% or more past 100,000 miles and especially with state inspection who would basically deny you from driving if they’re below a certain point.

my mom drives 5 mph below the speed limit and I’ve never seen her break hard enough to wear out the brakes, and she can’t even make her brakes last 150,000+ miles. Unless your math is way off (which it is because you can’t even tell what tire depth is), your 40% sounds like it’s actually 70%. Which wouldn’t make them last 200,000 miles. Relax with the constant lying.

Billyismyname

ive been using FCP Euro for years and also on all my Mercedes’ vehicles, and never had a problem with their brakes and rotors. Especially buying OEM Mercedes’ disks and pads.

Once they “warp” again, send them back and get new ones. You can do this as many times as you want. It’s amazing.

id stay away from ceramic pads if you live in the cold. Doesn’t brake as well as the OEM non ceramic pads. Good luck!

Taner Kiranbay

It is only common with OEM rotors. I learned my lesson after the third set of originals in a year. Finally I put the Brembo rotors and pads I can't be happier and back in love with my w 212 sedan.

Left Coast Geek

if you properly thermally cycle new rotors and pads, it greatly reduces the amount of uneven deposits they might accumulate, which is what leads to the throbbing often misnamed 'warping'.

ChrisHimself

On particular chassis despite 10 years of experience with Porsche/Audi/MB, they wear down within 5k-8k on the E550. The pads unless I'm mistaken are probably the same semi-metallic compound they've been using with Textar/TRW/Pagid/Jurid for the last 20 years I'm familar with. Porsche 911's that I see often can go 30k on the same compounds, same discs, so it must be the average mph + curb weight of the Mercedes. On average I reckon we're stopping from higher speeds simply because of how easy it is to maintain speed with a 7spd auto and nearly 400hp/tq.

The only fix is going to a ceramic, Brembo NAO, Akebono EURO, Powerstop Z23, DFC 5000 Euro (I install a lot of these). Many E550's were doing annual brake services at the dealer, having completely cooked brakes at 10k. We can stretch the interval to 20-30k with ceramic pads, but the lack of initial bite and the potential of the "emergency SAFE braking system" not being calibrated for ceramic pad pedal effort is there. I haven't had any complaints with the ceramic from normal or spirited driver customers. There was this strange scenario where I put a fresh set of Pagid discs with Brembo Semi-metallic pads that warped in a month and I had Pagid honor their warranty quite easily. I have had my life saved on multiple occasions by Pagid/Textar/TRW so the idea that their parts were out of spec are out of the question, I will defend Zimmerman the same way. I've seen them go 50k on a set of discs pretty routinely and stay straight albeit worn, but on this particular car with the OEM semi metallic pads they might as well be paper plates.

Left Coast Geek

5000-8000 miles per brake job? wow, while I believe driving a E550 on a race track could eat up brakes that fast, I can't imagine normal street driving with an occasional bit of exuberance would eat them that fast.

and any car driven that hard will require a lot more than brakes much more often than normal.

ChrisHimself

Nope, I'm a service advisor in a small start-up shop and I see these on the V8 models. Something is wrong. It's fairly well documented on here as well as at the dealer level. I do have my moments of driving like an idiot sure, but theres only so much time in the day to do it outside of work and realistically all my miles are short and my tire wear would reflect that and my Continentals from the same date are wearing beautifully as if nothing is wrong. The W211 E550 did not have this issue. These were all with Zimmerman, MB, Pagid, Powerstop high carbon discs with the same OEM vane and hole configuration. I would consider any of these OEM quality easily. I don't have experience with the Brembo rotors yet, aside from the ones that go on the AMG models which are OEM which work beautifully. While E550's are a bit rare, I will say that F30 BMW's also suffer similar issues with brake rotors going out almost annually, especially with the M-Performance dimpled and slotted OEM rotor pattern.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...vibration.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...e-warpage.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...bration-4.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...2011-e550.html

atraudes

I've gone through 3 sets now of solid Zimmerman rotors in 3 years. I drive fairly spirited most of the time so I don't mind too much, but at this point I plan on it being a part I replace annually. I'll be trying ATE next time to see how it goes.

I've used FCP for about 10 years now and have used their lifetime warranty many, many times and never had an issue. Their customer service is top notch. That said, there still many parts I've bought from them that I never needed to exchange. The big catch is of course that you do have to mail the parts back so I don't mail things like oil, but for some expensive gear oil, maybe. I saved my rotors last time and went to mail them, but found out the shipping was going to be too steep to bother with. FWIW, I put the rotors back in their boxes, punched holes in the boxes where the lug holes are, then zip-tied the rotors together using those holes. They were pretty hefty zip ties and after doing adding five of them, it was extremely solid. I was confident the boxes would fare fine because the rotors were knocking around loose in them any more.

Even for things I don't plan on returning like rotors, I still use FCP for most purchases. They have great brands and the prices aren't typically too bad. I don't mind giving them the extra business because I appreciate the lifetime warranty and how they've treated me over the years.

ChrisHimself

It's not your fault. I pull off worn OEM MB Zimmerman all day within a year, they were warped within six months and started squealing. My S550 had these issues as well and I hope we can all come together and agree its probably just what the price is. From observation Rolls Royce and Bentley weigh much more and don't need as constant brake service either. There were daily driven Continentals with no issues like these.

Most people will blame ATE/Textar/Pagid for using Chinese manufacturing but they still pass ECE-90 and they're also installed on cars that stop from like 180mph all day. I also have personally used Pagid for close to 10 years now and I don't care where they are made they've been as dependable as Textar/Brembo/ATE for Audi/BMW/Porsche/MB across dozens of cars.

I install the same GEOMET coated rotors from nearly every manufacturer with the same results, I'm not sure why big MB sedans are weird. ATE/Pagid/Powerstop high carbon GEOMET are shown here and the castings and runout are all exactly the same across makes. The manufacturer decides the vane and hole pattern. The only variables were pad material selection and even then I can't really tell the difference between Akebono/DFC/Brembo/ACDelco ceramic. I just get whatever is available with the best margin depending application.

I mean you tell me an E63 wears discs annually and I believe it, but they don't..

S. Madman

What is up with the fake holes, and slots on the rotors for the last pic.