Duke_on

Some of you might remember that my car was having some break issues in the form of laud squiking under light breaking. MB dealership solved this issue with replacing my breakpads with "softer" C class ones.

Since then I drove the car close to 8k and I start to feel that my break peddle is softer than before. It feels like the travel distance of the peddle increased.

Anyone else experience this? How are your breaks? I can easily say that, compared to my dad's Audi A6, my GLK's break peddle seem pretty soft.

MilesBFree

My breaks are laudable - nothing broken.

My brakes haven't had any squeaking issues, and pedal feel has been good.

It is odd that the dealer would replace the stock brake pads with softer ones to cure a squeak, as this is usually caused by something like leaving the anti-rattle clips off when assembling, grease on the rotors, stuck caliper piston, or something external to the design of the pads, calipers, and rotors. i.e.- unless every other GLK is having the issue, changing to a non-stock part would not normally be the solution.

By replacing with a softer pad, your dealer is essentially saying that the original engineering design was wrong and the engineers should have specified softer pads to begin with. That sounds very fishy.

I would be concerned that the softer pads would have a very short life on a GLK that weighs a lot more than the C. This could be the reason why the pedal is traveling farther - the softer pads wore down very quickly.

I would also think that the softer ones on a heavier car would dust a lot more, due to the faster wear.

A brake pedal that goes soft over time is usually related to the brake fluid, such as when it gets air in the lines (even microscopic bubbles will have that effect) or if the fluid gets low.

Another cause would be the power brake assist module. The MC could also have issues.

In any event, a brake bleed and/or fluid flush and refill would be the first thing to do to try to cure a soft pedal.

Aside: I am mildly surprised that the C-class ones would fit, but since they use much of the same underpinnings I guess that makes sense. I would have thought the GLK would have gotten bigger rotors, calipers, and pads.

Keep us informed as to how they wear over the next year or so.

NYCGLK

12k miles here.

Pedal feel haven't changed (or I can't notice any changes). When I rotated wheels at 10k, brakes looked barely worn. One thing to note is that most of my miles are from long trips, not commuting in traffic.

Brakes seem to work great and haven't heard any brake noises either.

P.S. How can you have C class pads on GLK? GLK's rotors are bigger and my guess that pads are different as well.

MBRedux

Softer pads should have little affect on brake noise.... the noise is caused by the pad metal plate resonating against the armature and piston.... but since they are a softer composition, they should wear out faster. As far as a soft peddle feel goes, our stock pads feel *soft* as well. The problem is not the pad, it's the size of the brakes.... they're too small for the weight of the GLK IMO.

GLKKLG

I am dealing with brake pedal becoming gradually deeper and deeper, also brakes are not as grabby as on other newer cars, they feel bit slippery.
Dealership refuses to acknowledge any brake issues, so I am currently talking MB USA and possibly local lemon law firm. We have our GLK for 2 years now, since new and complained number of times about funny brakes, yet MB chooses to act like their dropping do not smell.

MBRedux

These GLK brakes are indeed kinda funny.... but not enough so to file a lemon law claim IMO... Unless you have an actual brake failure, such as the booster failing or the caliper sticking, then maybe you have a case.

But the fact that the pedal is getting lower and lower (your words are "deeper and deeper", this may signal a real issue. Brake pedal height should never change as the pads wear down. Maybe you mean you need to push the pedal harder (thus making it lower and/or deeper in travel) to get the same braking performance as when new. If this is the case, you may wish to take your GLK to have the brakes inspected by an independent repair shop that works exclusively on Mercedes Benz's. Just have them do an evaluation, no actual repairs or work, just an inspection.

Your rotors may be scorched, or your pad could be glazed etc... this will cause the issues you may be describing. At least try and go to another dealership... good luck!

venchka

There seem to be an increasing number of "odd" brake behavior posts recently. So far they seem to relate to 2010 & 2011 models. Or am I being overly sensitive?

Wayne

GLKKLG

No, it is mostly attributed to nasty dealerships, that only want to sell, but g-d forbid one should ask for warranty some day. MB dropped 45K mile free oil and brake maintenance for a reason, because they want to save every penny they can.
I don't think GLK is a bad car, I think it is sometimes being sold by bad people.

venchka

I hope you are right. I am growing more reluctant to sell my 1999 S70.
Wayne

mikefili

The brakes just plain SUCK in the GLK. My 2012 was back at the dealer with 200 total miles on it, Very low pedal, very high force needed. The car feels like it is not going to stop. Service manager drove it and agreed with the problem. They bled the brakes without any improvement, they then changed the master cylinder, a little better but still horrible. I have had a number of MB cars including an 08 ML, great brakes, my wife's C class has great brakes. I don't know what to do with this car, It is going back on Tuesday for another shot at it. I have found if I lift off the brake pedal for a moment and then step again they work great, nice high firm pedal and the car stops great. Even while sitting at a light the car requires much pedal force to keep it from creeping foward, if I do the double pump thing it stays put as it should. I do think that the car is just too heavy for the brakes they have used.

GLKKLG

I knew it, I am not crazy! Thanks for sharing, same ***** here.

venchka

The weight of the GLK has nothing to do with double pumping the pedel to hold it at idle.
Wayne

GLKKLG

I went ahead and filed official safety complaint with http://www.safercar.gov/
MB is not calling me back, dealership told me that soft and deep pedal is ok, so I have no other choice. Kind of sad, considering that the rest of the car is nothing but stellar.

bop11

Sounds like a defective power brake booster or a bad vacuum line to the power booster. What you are using is the "Fail Safe" design of the master cylinder. Designed to stop the car when the booster fails. The master cylinder center shaft is normally pushed by a big vacuum diaphram in the booster. 6" diaphram will push with 415 pounds of force. When you step on the pedal a shaft activates a valve to apply the vacuum. When the diaphram fails the activating rod continues to move and physically pushes on the master cylinder center shaft. Thus the pedal moves way down and it takkes a lot of pressure to stop, but it does stop.

GLKKLG

I suppose, this is what $45K buys me these days... At least, according to MB.

venchka

Look on the brightside. Ask your dealer to investigate the vacuum booster system. Connections. Hoses. Booster. Etc. If they come up empty, get a second opinion.

GLKKLG

I see you do not own Mercedes yet? It is not like one can tell dealership what to do, it is more like this:
I asked them twice to fix my brakes and both times got "brakes operate per factory specs". At this point it is me against service manager's ego, so I do not get to come back again and ask to address the issue. I will try going to another dealership, just to build up the paperwork, however there is a slight chance they will try to fix it, possibly being good service and such.
Again, it is very sad, that I went ahead, got premium brand car, just to be begging to get something important, like brakes, fixed.

venchka

I hear you. Noted. For something as important as brakes, I would go to another dealer for sure. I wonder if VIN #s are put on a "This person is a P.I.T.A." list?
For the next 1 1/2 years I will have the luxury of being near a reputable dealer in Houston as well as my "home" dealer in Tyler, TX. I hope I don't need to play one against the other.
Good luck!

Wayne

MBRedux

Actually, these ego maniac service reps can easily be put in their place, but as noted, do you wish to be placed on a dealer internal sh*t list? These lists do exist, I have seen them... and yours truly is on such a list. (They hate customers that know as much as they do or more.)

Mercedes sends out a Customer Service rating Survey if you're signed up for e-mail notices every time your Benz goes in for warranty repairs... and you know what, they (meaning MB corporate) really does look at your opinion... so much so that my local dealer had to let the service manager go for having too many complaints.

So why are these surveys so important to fill out? Because if a dealer starts getting too many complaints, they are penalized in a few ways, one being their allotment for the next model run is reduced and sent off to a higher rated dealership even if their sales were high for the previous year.... and that hurts! So much so that they will fire anyone, and I mean anyone who screws around with that! So fill out those surveys... Big Benz is watching that's for sure!

MBNA109

Just like any other big ticket purchase (including health care), one still has to be a bit knowledgeable going in to help the servicer diagnose the problem.

There is a good resource on the Technical thread here to educate someone remotely interested & well BITOG is another great DIY board.

Being indignant just opens one up to being treated in kind & well shows you can be jerked around & put @ the bottom of the que.

& yes, I've been pleasant, show relative knowledge & can get the dealership to do as I ask before & after.
Usually, they call to ask afterwards & in the rare chance I am not 100% satisfy, the manager usually follows up.

Not sure what black cloud some live under but brand usually has nothing to do with it.
Apparently throwing money at it doesn't work either.
Brains & hustling sure does.

bop11

Manufacturers read these bulletin boards too. On the RR board there is a sticky for people to rate their dealers. Because of the use of nick names, most people tell it like it is. Perhaps we could do the same here

MBRedux

Good idea! . Well then... You better get started!

GLKKLG

"Big Benz" never called me back, after we spoke to nice and indecisive lady from their HQ, so I do not think they care enough.
On other hand, my recent purchase of Ford F-150 was an amazing experience, I got $8K off, they fished that truck for me from another state, they called me 3 times from HQ and dealership.... plus this twin turbo truck has amazing brakes Kinda makes me proud and wanna buy American again.
MB is going to run into the same thing that is biting the Japanese, like Toyota and Honda, on their a$$es right now. I understand that MB and BMW have to cut all kinds of corners on US market, this is due to the fact that they sell everything dirt cheap here, compared to German and other markets. US market is hard and profits are slim, plus clientele is a bit spoiled, like your's truly, wanting working brakes I am not surprised when people from Europe praise similar models for amazing reliability and mention options that we never heard of, when we have all kinds of quality issues on same platforms, here in US.

MBNA109

Bad luck. Some have it more than others.
My brakes have worked fine on all my cars.

ble2716

My 2 cents.......Just over 65,000 KM (40,000+ miles???) and the brakes and still OK here.