Has anyone done either the front or rear brake pads? Would like to know the actual tools I will need. Also, any tips I should know.

I’d love to hear more on this too.

I have a 2020 GLE350 with the sports package. I had to replace the front pads at 34000 miles. I have 2016 F150 truck with 90000 miles the front pads are still in good shape. Go figure! The front pads are simple change out. No need to go into the computer to release the parking brake. 2 bolts hold the caliper. It will slide out to remove the pads. Push the pistons either using a c clamp or a piston extraction tool, $20 on Ebay. Had to buy the pads from Mercedes $150 includes pads and all the clips. You will need a new sensor $10 if the warning light came on.

To do the job properly requires new caliper bolts. They are single use.

I'm always leery performing work while I'm under warranty, even for something relatively mundane. I mean what are the odds I have a warranty claim on that part later, but doing the work yourself is a surefire excuse for them to deny it.

You do not need to replace the caliper bolts.

Are you saying Mercedes specifies re-use of caliper bolts?

Why would caliper bolts need to be replaced

Single use safety critical fasteners. Like the hub nut. Refer to WIS.

Hi, My 2020 GLE 350 has brake light came up. I am thinkg about make it a DIY project. Any special tools for the job? Thanks.

No special tools other than a brake pad compressor, or c-clamp if you prefer. Lisle 24300 is what I use - great tool.

Rears require electric parking brake to be retracted.

Open the reservoir cap to avoid overpressure, and extract a bit of fluid from the reservoir to avoid overflow when compressing pistons.

I have a 2020 GLE450 and just had my 50,000 miles service. Still on the original brake pads. Sounds impossible, but its true

If you have that many miles you must be doing a lot of highway driving, so it's not unusual.

My 2020 GLE350 has only almost 14k miles (3 years of almost exclusive stop/go city driving... and a wife who hasn't figured out how to gently depress the brakes) and the brake indicator light is on. Dealer recommends replacing front rotor and pads. I plan to just replace pads and use the reuse rotors provided that they have enough thickness.

Do you know where I can find specs with regards to the min and original thickness of the front rotors? Also, what is the torque spec for the caliper bolts?

Thanks!

Front brakes are a breeze. The video below has marginal usefulness - mainly beneficial for the disassembly steps.

The guy in the video makes at least two errors:

1. do NOT grease the pins as he did, rather ensure that the pins slide freely with the remaining factory lube, and
2. DO torque the caliper mounting bracket bolts, he did not do this, and
possibly 3. DO use new caliper mounting bracket bolts, they are single-use fasteners. I did not see him use new bolts, so my assumption is he re-used the old bolts.



This video shows how to put the rear brake pads in service position. Again, caution against following this guy's procedure fully for the three reasons given above.

Couple questions. His rotors didn’t appear that bad…assuming thickness is ok, can’t they be machined back to even surface….is always necessary to replace rotors when doing new pads? 2nd, why shouldn’t you apply lubricant to pins?

No need to add lube if there is enough clean grease and the pins are free. Looks like he used wheel bearing grease when he should be using a caliper/rubber type lube like Sil-Glyde. Also, way too much anti seize on the hub. He could've used half the amount. Silver anti seize makes a mess. I prefer copper paste. The area where the pads sit in the bracket should also be clean and free of rust. I media blast that area if rust is present. Anywhere pads meet metal apply a very thin transparent coating of Sil-Glyde or copper paste.

Rotor replacement is necessary when there is a brake pulsation, parallelism or obvious signs of wear like a large depression at the bottom of the pad contact area or a large lip on the top. Too much material needs to be removed to true German car rotors the way they wear. Even if you stay above the minimum thickness there seems to be enough mass lost that they lose the ability to dissipate heat and warp, resulting in a brake pulsation.

Caliper bracket bolts should be replaced if they are torque to yield, micro encapsulated or if the manufacturer says to do so.

would anyone happen to have the part number for the caliper bolts? And the torque spec for those please!

Make sure them rotor don't have a "Lip" on the edge, otherwise replace them too. In Parts you are talking about pads, rotor and sensor =$600 bucks per axle. The question is if you want to save $400-600 bucks per axle doing it yourself. I would. I've have the tools and have done the brake on all of the Mecedes I've owned. I do the work that I can myself and take it to the dealer for those I can't or be too much of a pain to get into. Caliper bolt spec I found were 70-90 fp/nm

I was quoted in Canada $3000.00 to replace all 4 wheels with rotors and pads.

Toban

USD2200, steep but I guess it's the going rate these days. USD1200 seemed to be the number for quite a while until the past few years.

then I will for sure be doing my own. that jsut seems excessive for basically doing the same procedure I did on my 2011 and 2016 cars. I only paid the dealership once. never again, not at those prices.

It's probably a good idea to get a quote from the dealer, for the services you want, and base your decision on that. Instead of an Internet post.
If I told you it only cost $800 if you have the dealer do it?

You can never be sure how much torque is necessary to remove a bolt that might be seized from corrosion. For the couple dollars they cost, it's not worth risking a snapped bolt when torquing an original bolt to spec on reinstall.

Nope, and you talking to the owner of five Mercedes in the last 25 years. I've always done my own minor maintenance. When it something I can't handle, I take it to the Dealer. Simple as that!.