Happy Wednesday!

Hope all is well, as it is here in Sacramento today. About a year ago, I purchased a 2018 Mercedes GLC 43 AMG with about 250 miles on it. Within a year, I've already drove up to 20K miles almost. I know, it's my daily driver and I shouldn't be doing this. Around 16K my brake pad replacement indicator came on and my brake light been on ever since. We're purchased a couple Powerstop brake pads for both front and back brakes (screenshot below) and will be installing them today. There's not much information online or anywhere about what tools or if there's anything special we'll need during the brake replacement process? I look forward to hearing your reposes, it'll help so much! Also, if there's any tips or tricks with brake replacement on this please let me know! Other than that, have a wonderful day and thank you for your help!

 

Front pads should be easy just push the caliper pistons back
Rear pads might pose a problem due to the electric emergency brake.
Hope you bought new sensors for the pads
if the pad kit you bought doesn’t include them.
Let is know how you make out !!!

 

I think that's the way to do the rear
Let us know
I will do mine soon

 

Nice 👍

 

So long story short, we totally forgot about the electric emergency brakes when we took off the rear wheels and the piston extended out too far. So we tried to push it back in still not remembering about the electric emergency brake feature and end up ruining it. Brake fluid started to come out, there was a tiny hole on the piston and the bearings all came out from inside as we tried to push it back down. We also broke the sensor by accident prior to that so I think that's why it extended out so far because the car didn't know what to do. At this point we turned off the parking brakes but not the way in the video below. Very very unfortunate... We missed one step because we didn't think about it nor have we ever worked on a new car like this. The fronts were very easy as you mentioned. The back is also easy, just keep in mind to turn the electric emergency brake feature off before you even put a jack under the car. Mercedes is currently replacing my caliper and I should have my car back today. Learned a valuable lesson.

In my opinion, it was a learning lesson and by the time we started working on this car I didn't see any of the replies on this post till today. I still think it is very easy (now that we know) to replace the 2018 GLC 43 AMG brake pads on both front and rear. Just got to keep in mind to turn off the electric emergency brake system prior to removing the wheels. Other than that, everything is pretty standard when it comes to replacing the pads. Lastly, I learned that Mercedes shows a break pad wear warning very very early. I still had 30-35% of my brake pads left on both front and back and the warning came on a month ago and some change ago. So keep in mind, Mercedes is making so much money because a normal person would just take it straight to the dealership, get their replacement and that's it. They wouldn't know how there was still a bunch of pad left, only Mercedes would. So just a couple tips, I really hope this helps! We messed up but now we know and I still think it's possible to replace these at home by yourself, just got to keep the electric system in mind with these 2015 and up cars.

 

I would not just force the piston back into the caliper, you will backflush any crap in the caliper into the lines and possibly the ABS module. Instead, I would open the bleeder, the compress piston, close bleeder, then proceed to replace pads and finally bleed brakes at this time you could also drain/change all the brake fluid. But that's just me.

 

If you have any crap in your caliper you really
have a problem.
Your brake fluid should be flushed every 2 years as brake fluid is hydroscopic which means it has moisture in it.

 

It takes about twenty more minutes to replace all the fluid, much easier than the ABS module. By crap I was referring to the moisture and old brake fluid that will be in the bottom of the caliper. Compressing the piston was the old way of changing pads before ABS, no longer a good idea. And not wanting to sound pedantic, but there is no word "hydroscopic" it is hygroscopic. I have a rack in my garage so easy for me. If you've got the car on jack stands and using a *** jack might not be as easy. Everytime I change the oil in the E320, I also drain and add fresh trans fluid. These cars are(to me anyway) easier to maintain than repair. I have 150k on the E320 only maintenance items, the CLS has 230k, also only maintenance no real repairs.

 

As to parking brake, could you not, start car, release brake, put in neutral, roll down window, get out and reach in turn off car ? I tried it this morning and car rolls and brake is disengaged. By the way I knew what Joe meant in his post.

 

No special tools needed at all. Make sure to follow steps to get into the service menu and turn off the e-brake. I replaced all front and back, rotors and pads. No problems. On the front's ... make sure to remove the wire clip which holds the pins in place before trying to remove the pins. You can see this looking back behind the calipers. If you break or lose it .. good luck finding a replacement

-Matt

Note .. my rear wear sensor was tripped and they were getting pretty thin on that one side, fronts were actually much better off.