jeffzou

I've had my MB diesel for less than a year. Lots of highway miles and gets close to 34mpg. Overall I like this car.

However, yesterday, I had to replace the front brake rotors for the second time on this car. I have 17,0oo miles on the car. Dealer indicated they are "warped". Luckily both repairs were warranty issues but now I am concerned about long term issues.

And...the dealer said I needed new pads and those were NOT covered under warranty. They then said no charge though since the rotors were causing some of the wear.

So, any others experiencing front rotor issues on their GLK's?

Jeff

Bob338

Not on mine! But then I don't ride brakes and don't brake hard at stops either. Warping is usually caused by heat.

thabeast

I just purchased a 2014 CPO with 9,400 miles on it last week. Driving off the lot I noticed immediately that the brakes were warped. I have a service scheduled next week to have them replaced.

I hope this won't become an issue going forward.

shawnmichael

Yes, I am having the rotor problem. I have two problems though. First, since my wife drives it, I don't know it's having problems until I get in to drive. Second, we put a lot of miles on so I am well past the 12k mile warranty on the rotors. So, We're at about 45k miles with a known problem and they consider it a consumable. This is our second MB. We had a C300 first, a 2011 I think. We had to replace an entire wheel hub at about 5k miles, then had several other problems including seat stitching coming undone. This GLK had to have timing chain tensioners replaced at around 3k miles. I'm sick of all this. Then today, she takes it in and they tell her she needs a whole bunch flushes, etc. Including flushing brakes. As bad as they act right now on a 2013 vehicle and they have the nerve to recommend a brake flushing? Knowing that the problem is the rotors? The best part, we have a friend to upgraded to an ML350 and says "you have to step up to mid-level or the quality sucks". Uh, no. If the quality sucks, I leave and get something else! I don't pay more. 328i, here I come.

And for the record (as an engineer), I think I see a pattern here. MB puts sub-par parts on these vehicles and then shames you into paying for the maintenance to swap all these (consumable) parts out. Why do you think MB is the ONLY premium that doesn't offer free maintenance?

jeffzou

So, someone told me yesterday that this isue should be written up in exactly the same language, with exactly the same words when I have this issue. The concern is a possible Lemon Law situation down the road.

Does anyone have any suggestions in this regard? How preise do I need to be in the wording of the issue and the problem resolution on MB's end?

Thanks, not looking for a problem here just trying to be prepared.

jrct9454

One of the most common causes of rotor warping is uneven torquing of the wheel bolts. Whenever the wheels have been removed from any of my cars, I retorque the bolts using my torque wrench, usually before driving off the lot / service dept.

Too often, the air guns used to attach the bolts are set to the wrong specs, and/or simply misused by the mechanic.

I've never had warping issues with any Mercedes - but often with Hondas and Fords, which are both notorious for these problems. No such issues with either of our GLKs [knock on wood]...

jeffzou

That's interesting and useful information. In my case, hopefully not an issue though. I am the original owner of my GLK. Never been anywhere except the factory. So, if those bolts were torqued wrong, they were torqued wrong at the factory.

dromesburg

Jeffzou all 4 of my rotors were replaced.. My 2013 GLK 350 has a little over 24,000 miles on it, period. Again the dealership replaced mine as a "courtesy" this time. Something is up and unless someone from MB can tell me otherwise my new MB vehicle, will be the last Benz I buy and it will be traded in before the end of this year. I think MB stood for quality?

shawnmichael

I agree with dromesburg. My C300 and GLK both had AC issues also. When sitting at idle it sounds like water is dripping into a bucket. Not incredibly loud but definitely noticeable. They said there was air in the lines and it needed to be bled (which they did). But it doesn't permanently fix the problem so what happens next time.

And I also have never had my wheels/tires taken off or modified in any way. There is no excuse for the quality problems unless, like I said, it's a revenue stream ploy. I just hope MB realizes the potential to backfire because at least some of the customers will walk away like I'm about to do because they see it for what it is. The rest will make excuses about why it's not MB fault and pay 15k more to move up to an ML or E class. Not me.

I don't know if I mentioned my timing chain tensioner problems also. I had to have both sides replaced when it was brand new. From inside the vehicle you couldn't hear how loud it was upon startup. From outside it sounded like a diesel engine starting (circa 1990s). It was a loud, rattling noise. And of course, they knew about the problem and knew what the fix was. But if that's the case, then why not fix them before you sell them? Why make me have to deal with it? Same with the bearing/hub going out on the C300. I've NEVER had these sort of early problems on any domestic car that I have EVER owned. Heck, I've never had them period. Granted I never keep anything beyond 50-60k miles but still.

dromesburg

Shawn, that is a shame.. Honestly quality is quality and either it is there or its not, there is no 1/2 way point for a company that supposedly has Quality standards. Hopefully or at least I think Mercedes Benz stood for high quality, reputation and a higher standard, or is it simply you pay more the name?

shawnmichael

Agree. I think you're paying for the name. I know when I bought my first one I certainly was because I didn't know what to expect having never owned one (or know anyone who had). Now I have two bad ones and know somebody else to who had "entry level cars". Again, I'm not going to go up to a mid-level and give MB 15k more of my money so that I can get decent quality. I can pay much, much less for good vehicles without that star on them.

And btw, the front rotors are $55-ish on eBay. Not incredibly expensive by any means but that's not the point.

dromesburg

Shawn thanks for the info and thoughts.. Honestly my first, same with me, no one I knew had a Benz.. ALways thought they were top quality, unsurpassed! However just based on this and also knowing you had 2, not 1 but 2 with issues, this is it for me. I know all vehicles have maintenance, etc.. However for 6 yrs with my Acura (no issues), 5 yrs with my Volvo (zero issues) and even going back to owning 2 new Hondas, which I loved and had 1 issue with 1 of my Hondas, this isn't how I plan on starting out with MB. If its the name and logo that they feel is worth the extra $$$$, then I probably should have waited before buying my '13 GLK 350. Certainly not worth knowing what may be down the road, life is too busy as it is.. Again, thank you for the information. I don't want something nickel and dime-ing me and my GLK 350 is only 17 months old.

Rdub

Does anyone know who the sub vendors are for MB GLK 250 B/T rotors and brake pads ?

Of the limited research information I have come across, it would seem the sub vendor for brake PADS is Textar. IF they are, they are a long time sub vendor and normally provides/d very high quality oem and aftermarket pad products.

I hesitate to say this as it has not been confirmed, but Zimmerman would appear to be a sub vendor for the brake ROTORS. Ditto again.

dromesburg

sorry Rdub, I do not.

jeffzou

I hate to say this, but have less than 1300 miles since the second pair of rotors were put on my MB GLK and I can feel the start of the "chatter" in my front end....Crap...............I do not think this is going to end well....for me...

Jeff

mjhawkins2346

I dunno, I wouldn't bag on Mercedes because of the rotors. There are too many variables from the length of time they are used at one application (think long hill or bumper to bumper traffic) personal braking habits as well as wheel torquing irregularities.
I like to replace rotors with drilled and slotted rotors that have a bigger margin for heat.
I've used Brakeperformance.com http://brakeperformance.com/brake-ro...ake-Rotors.php but Autohausaz.com is also excellent for OEM (Zimmerman and Bosch) but they don't have drilled and slotted, only vented. http://www.autohausaz.com/search/pro...0Brake%20Rotor

I have used both of these vendors personally and their service has been excellent.

I'd like to offer a thought on BMW's "free" maintenance. They tend to take all the shortcuts since it's on their nickel. Several mechanics have told me to be very careful purchasing used BMW's because once they go on the market their quality can be very uneven and deserve an extra careful inspection. After all, nothing is ever free. We pay for it somewhere - always.

jeffzou

I appreciate everyone's insights...but this has nothing to do with driving habits, hills, overheating, etc...this has everything to do with MB and my 2013 GLK which has only 18,000 miles on a one owner car and is about to have it's THIRD set of front brake rotors.

I've been driving cars for 40 plus years and never replaced rotors - except on my 1966 Chevcy Impala with drums!!! LOL

This is about a perpetual problem - acknowledged by a couple of other posters - that I just know in my 56 year old view of corporate life, is not going to go well.

Ugh.......much respect to everyone who has posted here and offered any input - I respect it all and your right to offer it. Keep it coming in fact. But this is NOT about how this vehicle is being driven nor about who is doing that driving! LOL

Respect to all.

Jeff

thenew3

Have they checked if one of the calipers was stuck and not fully retracting? I once had a BMW that did the same thing going through rotors like crazy, turned out one of the rotors didn't retract all the way and was causing the pads to constantly rub against the rotor, all that heat caused the rotor to warp within a few thousand miles.
Once they discovered it, they replaced the caliper and the problem went away.

dromesburg

Jeff, thank you for providing even more details.. Honestly that is beyond crazy.. I have my service survey coming up and I guarantee you this will be mentioned in my survey. More than crazy and honestly again everything comes back to a quality product and their reputation. I highly doubt I will wait for my next set of rotors to be replaced. I love the ride of the GLK350, however its not worth dealing with continually nickel and diming from MB.. You pay for quality, quality should be front to back, top to bottom and everything in between, period.

shawnmichael

Mine isn't driving habits either. This is my wife's truck and she's always got the kids with her. We live 20 miles or so off the coast so it's perfectly flat and live in a rural area so there's not much stop and go heavy traffic. This is a common problem that several people have reported and even MB acknowledges. I love how people will try to spin this as a "you just don't know what else it could be" problem.

And for the record on free maintenance. It's not just BMW, Audi also provides free maintenance. And how exactly can they "cut corners" that MB isn't cutting? Or corners that I'm not cutting? By not bleeding the brakes at 40k miles? You mean like I'm not bleeding the brakes at 40k miles? My point is that MB tries to shame you into paying them to perform unnecessary maintenance and repairing parts that should not already be worn out. They actually wanted to grease the sunroof tracks on my C300 at my first service A. I was like "It's got 10k miles and I think I've opened it once. Why the hell would you grease it?". It's BS maintenance that is NOT necessary, but is a revenue stream for the dealerships. If BMW or Audi wants to NOT grease my sunroof or bleed my brakes because it's NOT NECESSARY, sobeit. If they do find that it is all of a sudden required, then it's on their dime.

As far as whether or not one of the calipers is stuck...for me personally, I haven't specifically had them look. They told me that I needed the brakes bled which I assume was their way of trying to diagnose the pulsing. It could very well be a stuck caliper, but they only way I could have gotten there was to pay them to bleed the brakes and then have them say "Oh, sorry, that didn't fix it. Let's see what else it could be."

driver500

Replaced warped front brake rotors and pads under warranty at 10 k service.

Rdub

Has anyone notice if the oem stock numbers are the same/changed for the replacement brake rotors? Another question is given the German standard for replacement of the brake pads AND rotors @ the same time, are the brake pads changed also? Final question, are the stock number for the replacement brake pads the same/changed?

There are element of TMI should some to all of the questions are answered.

Long story short or upshot, given what is happening on my MB GLK 250 B/T, I do not anticipate either premature brake pad wear or premature rotor wear and/or warpage.

miked807

Lol I read that & it made me laugh this early in morning. I can tell you I HAD THE SAME COMMENT @ the MB dealership !@!@!..like WTF - all you guys are worried about is ROOF RAILS NEEDS GREASE... and my car wont stop!@!@! - so when I had the LEASE EXPIRE and walked across the road for that MB DEALER to their AUDI DEALERHIP and drive out with a Brand New R8 + money to spare!!! couldn't believe it how silly I was all these years with all those MB cars (see my signat're)...


BRAKES in MB are NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE..... !!! Now MB Europe where GLK is all of them are put-to-gather -usually come from Repco - BORG WARNER company for the USA/Canada models ONLY so they NOT THE SAME QUALITY GLK EUROPE nor what Audi uses or BMW USE. That's they the BRAMBO option is my preferred option for brakes ( ut not offered in GLK250).


Also - one tip for GLK brakes, (am no expert but am old rallye racer dude) When you start the JOURNEY especially in mornings - do NOT JUMP on the brakes - if at all possible but try to do a GENTLE STOP as possible on the first Stop need after START. (VW;s & Audi have this 'auto-apply brakes' at 30 sec after the start - user hardly gets to notice it.....) This way the BRAKES, Rotors & PADS are warmed up; They will DRY (if wet) and be ready for MAX stopping power.


Most often the Rotors are bent due to sticky pistons casued my braking hard after cold start - at the start of journey or when got wet at car wash etc. so over the years of having endless ROTORS REPLACED after small mileage done .... I kind of found this tip works from an AUDI LEAD TECH while working in Europe.... GENTLE DOES IT @ start of journeys!


Hope this helps .. Cheers

shawnmichael

So I do have a question for people on here. You know my predicament. You know that I'm not happy with the GLK and will likely trade it in soon, but....I don't want to take it in for trade with the brakes acting as bad as they are. I already found out that they (front) are new on eBay for around $55. But...

How do I find the bad rotor(s)?

I've never really had to figure this out so I don't know if there's a good home remedy or if it's a situation where they need to be put on a machine to test. I don't want to buy two new front rotors and find out that it's the back. And I don't want to buy the front and then the back and find out that it is in fact a problem where they need to be bled.

Bob338

Raise the car and spin the wheels one at a time. You'll hear and feel it. It's almost always the front ones though with heat and water splashing on the hot rotors, it could also be the back.