BonitaBeast

Brakes on 2003 G55 vs 2009 G55k. Big Difference?

Hi. Just wanted to get some input about the brakes on our cars. This will help me see if I may have problems with my brakes that I need to look into. Is there really that big a difference in the stopping power between the two cars mentioned above; or the 2003 G55 compared to any G55k for that matter?

Mine is the 2003 G55 and my brother's is the 2009 G55k. Driving the two back to back, I noticed his brakes are much stronger than mine. I just replaced my tires, pads, and rotors a few hundred miles ago with standard MB parts and they are all broken in with the pads properly bedded-in. Brakelines have also been properly bled to ensure no air in the lines. Yet, I feel my brakes are a lot weaker than on the G55k's. For the sake of comparison, we are using the same tires (Pirelli Scorpion) except that he has the 19" AMG rims vs my 18" AMG's.

Is this a common observation by most? Is this normal being that our vehicles weigh a few tons? Sometimes I feel as if the braking power is really not adequate for the speeds the car travels.

Would swapping out rotors and calipers from a G55k into mine improve stopping power? Is this even possible? Or is there more to braking power than this? Is there something else I can look into to improve stopping power?

Thanks in advance.

jimmyg

Major improvements in the braking system were introduced with the G55 Kompressor in 2005. Further upgrades have been done for the 2013 model year with the introduction of the G63 and G65.

BonitaBeast

My next question would be, how difficult would it be to swap out the 2003 brakes and use the 2005-2011/12 bits. Does anyone know if it is as simple as removing the lines and calipers/pads, mounting brackets, and rotors and replacing them with the larger brakes from the G55k? Front and rear?

Thanks.

jimmyg

The electronics (ESP, ABS, etc.) may need modification too. Why not consider the BRABUS brake kit? Should give you the stopping power you want.

BonitaBeast

Aside from trying to keep the cost relatively low, I wanted to go with original AMG/MB where possible; which is why I wanted to find some info about using brakes from a G55k.

Otherwise, the brakes I am considering are Brembo and Kleemann. Brembo because they have been proven reliable and have good customer service. Kleemann because I am looking to get one of their S/C kits sometime this year; so my mods will be from the same company rather than a mix of different companies.

Let's see what kind of additional info I can find...

I'd really like to sort out my brakes before modifying the motor though.