inthezone0282

I’m getting quoted 14-1500 for one front and one rear brake job including brakes, rotors, sensors.

its a base w212 sedan.
Is that a good price- what a decent rate for labour for this work?(thinking of getting parts on my own)

also what makes the w212 brakes different form say the avg jap/ American car- thinking if a mechanic not specializing in German import can handle the job- look forward to your responses and many thanks in advance!
thanks
MS

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

What sensors?

e55aaron

That seems a bit expensive, can you do it yourself?

rapidoxidation

The ones that live in the brake pads and tell the instrument cluster when the brake pads are getting short.
They're cheap, they're easy, they're replaceable.
FCPEuro.com will answer all your questions and probably has a few different kits with everything included.
It's something you can do in your driveway on a lazy afternoon with no specialized tools and a couple of beers, rags, grease, and brake cleaner. Easy peasy.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Actually, if you have an electrical or automatic parking brake, it will need to be deactivated when working on the rear brakes. There are procedures to do that in the engineering menu of the car. Google how to do it.

The sensors are really cheap, less than $10 for Genuine Mercedes, but I would go with OE sensors for half that. If I remember correctly, only one wheel front and rear use the pad wear sensor.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

This may not be your car's generation, but the general procedures are the same. Some scanners, such as LAUNCH Creader Elite BENZ or iCarsoft MB V3.0 also let you put the brakes in service mode.

kajtek1

Rotors are the most common oversold item. They should last for 3-4 sets of pads before wear below minimum, so unless they have other damage, don't pay for putting perfectly good part into garbage.
Sensors can wear out when you drive with light on for some time, but otherwise are fully reusable.

inthezone0282

sensor for when brake pads begin to wear thin

inthezone0282

im just a total noob and crunched for time between ft job during cutbacks, little kids wife, and in school this semester- actually found a specialized mechanic for under $300 for both. yes got the kits from fcp euro for $500 and will actually have spare rotors for next time.

inthezone0282

i believe you- the bougie mechanic told me to buy rotors- the old school specialist only quoted me for pads not rotor

inthezone0282

nice i did get oe for half the price

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

Understand being busy. Also, you need specific knowledge, such as I mentioned above. Is the $300 for labor only and you provide the parts? If so, not bad. A lot of independent shops don't like you bringing your own parts because they lose a little on the sale AND they don't want to warrant the parts or have a cranky customer about parts they didn't provide.

Something you should also consider is a brake fluid flush if one hasn't been done in the last 2-3 years. You can always test the current fluid with a moisture detector before making that decision.

kajtek1

It is not just a little.
Shops profit about 40% on parts markup, or at least 20%.
So on $500 rotor set, it makes $200 instant profit. Time spend to replace rotors during pad job? About 20 minutes? And they still charge you for at least 1 hr.
When I understand that reputable shop will hesitate to use cheap, aftermarket part, they should not refuse to use OEM part and I had my dealer installing my OE sensors I supplied.
Note that MB parts are guaranteed for 2 years, anywhere in the country.

mgiara

If they're a competent mechanic there aren't any crazy special differences.

I can't speak on labor because I do all of my own work but I can tell you I'm thinking about doing the front on my E550 today and you're looking at about $400 in parts for the front. That's $160-170 ish per rotor and $60-70 for pads. The sensors are inexpensive, what like an extra $20?

There's a lot of discussion however on exactly which rotors and pads you'll get the best experience out of. Our car has an issue with "shimmying" or vibration that I associate with warped rotors. Then with the pads. certain brands work fine, but some produce lots of break dust.
There are numerous threads here on what to avoid and what other people are happy with, my recent post history has some of that info but what I'm going to do is order Brembo rotors and Akebono pads.

inthezone0282

nice great advice- yea actually $250 for one front and one rear- I was researching and watched some videos - maybe next time. Great call on the brake fluid testing tool. Getting that as we speak

inthezone0282

yea I mean man make ur money but don’t rape me on the back of a German brand car- f ing todiculous - I will now pay about $750( for oem parts and labor for both) vs shop quoted $1450.
I mean just for one front they quoted $863- insane.

yea f them I got a duty doing labour for $250 and i can get kit for all oem Mercedes parts for $500

Raj1471

Gotta pay to play...that's why I diy for the enjoyment of saving money and learning at the same time. Plenty of YouTube videos that will walk you through most of the procedures that is if you have the proper tools to perform the tasks at hand. It's not rocket science but some basic ability and common sense are required especially working on a critical safety item as brakes.

kajtek1

Good thing on the brakes, they come in pairs.
Meaning even when you take 1 side apart and get lost how to put it back together, you can remove the wheel on other side and compare.
Just make sure you have good jack stands and being old school, I put removed wheel under for extra safety.
Good luck

mgiara

This is really cool, didn't know it was a thing. I've always just estimated on brake fluid, once every few brake jobs or if the pedal feels squishy whatsoever, but out of curiosity,
I assume that the fluid in the reservoir doesn't move much, but that could be an incorrect assumption. I'm also going to assume that while the fluid might breakdown slowly over time, but my assumption (could be completely wrong) is that specifically the fluid inside of the calipers will get exposed to the most heat, and thus that's the fluid that's going to break down the fastest?
Assuming that's all roughly true, wouldn't you have to crack your bleed lines and test that fluid to know if you were due for a change?
Maybe I'm wrong about all of this but very curious nonetheless.

kajtek1

Fluid deteriorate by absorbing the moisture, so it is weather-dependent.
General recommendation is to flush it every 2 years, but living in dry climates I don't rush it before 5 years.
That said the fluid on my 2015 Sprinter become dark and brownish, when I bought it 2 years ago, so I assumed it was still factory fluid. No problems with braking, but you want clear fluid.
When the pump is in pressure mode, it sucks some fluid on vacuum side. When it goes back, the fluid is pushed back to the reservoir, so it is mixing at least at the bottom.
Still per my observations, most of contamination happen at the cylinders and I never push the old fluid back to ABS and brake pump during pads replacement. I open the bleeder and then push the cylinders open, while observing fluid in the reservoir (it has big reserve)
That gives me easy flush. Add sucking fluid from reservoir to replace it with new one, repeat cylinder bleeding couple more times and you have decent fluid flush without much work.