Vrodman

So the wifey's GLK 350 with the AMG 20" wheels has a fairly nasty wobble in the brake pedal when braking at 50mph or higher. The car is only 2 years old with about 20k miles. I know brake parts are not really warranty items.

But it seems a bit crappy if there is a warped rotor or something on a car this new. And before anybody jumps on my wife's driving, I can tell you this is not likely the problem. Now, if it were my ex wife ??? Lol

Anyway, anybody run into this issue?

I can say I never had brake issues in 15 years with my E55 and none so far with my 2011 e63.

Thanks in advance.

andre2p

Having exactly the same problem on my 2012 E350 with only 16k miles.

Vrodman

Interesting to hear and thanks for your reply. If I was in your shoes I would immediately take it to the dealer and raise Holly Hell until they fix it even if it is brake related.

We bought mt wife's a year old but still under warranty. We dont have quite as much leverage. But I will still fight them over this. It is FAR from MB quality that we should expect!

Good luck, keep us posted.

Diabolis

While it may not be your wife's driving per se, the first time you spray cold water (like in a car wash) on a hot brake rotor you'll end up with warping. While I concede that the GLK brakes are somewhat underzized for a 4400 lbs vehicle, they will not warp unless you unevenly heat/cool the rotors (like park the car with hot brakes and the caliper and pads retain more heat than the rest of the rotor, or for example spray water on a hot rotor again resulting in the same effect). The third possibily is through using aftermerket brake pads (like ceramics or semi-metallics for example) which have a different composition and thus temperature conductivity from the OEM organic pads and end up overheating the rotors.

equetefue

so what happens when you been driving for a while and then encounter a rain shower? Brakes warped?

Diabolis

A rain shower does not spray a quart of cold 10C water per second on 3/4 of a stationary brake rotor while the remaining 1/4 of the rotor is kept at 400 C under the pad and caliper. In other words, the entire rotor cools and thus contracts evenly. Even when you drive through a puddle or through snow (after a panic stop on pavement) your rotors are moving and thus the entire rotor will cool at the same rate. It's only when you hot-spot it (i.e. the portion covered by the hot brake pad is unable to cool and thus contract at the same rate as the rest of the metal) that warping can occur.

NYCGLK

It may have nothing to do with brakes. Could be a suspension/alignment issue.
My car was pulling pretty hard to one side just from having new tire one side vs. 50% on the other.

equetefue

bop11

As NYCGLK said it may not be the brakes. Similar conditions have been reported due to a transmission center diff problem .

Diabolis

I very highly doubt that vibration that occurs ONLY DURING BRAKING from higher speeds is related to an alignment or a diff issue. If you had the vibration at all times while moving at 50 mph or higher, then yes, the cause could - and very likely is - somethign else, but if it only happens when you hit the brake pedal then I think it's pretty safe to eliminate alignment, differential, improperly centered aftermarket (non-hubcentric) wheels or out-of-round / worn tires.

NYCGLK

Another likely theory is lack of hard use of brakes and having an uneven wear on the pads that then causes vibrations. Several hard stops that would heat up the pads and rotors should even them out. Of course have to do this on empty road.

Diabolis

Well, it could be pad deposit build-up on the rotors, but that would be noticeable when braking at any speed, not only when you get the rotors up to a certain temperature and they expand unevenly. As you suggested, that's an easy fix that a couple of panic stops ought to clear up.

NYCGLK

Btw, my brakes are 6 years old and have 54k miles on them. Pads still have about 50% left. I do always drive in "Sport" mode, if you can call it that, and tranny does decent amount of engine braking.

Vrodman

As a Guy that put himself through colledge as a mechanic and now a mech engineer, I can say Diabolis is spot on from a probability standpoint. We will see soon.

Vrodman

When I picked up my beast (e63) from dealer today I asked him about the GLK.

He almost immediately concluded warped rotors as I had.

He did say if the car is only at 20,000 miles he thinks we can get warranty coverage. We ARE AT 23,000. Ugh.

Gonna fight for it though. Been doing it since 14,000.

Plus as an AMG customer also they treat me pretty good.

I will update when I find out.

NYCGLK

Of course... so he can replaces them and charge you $1k for $200 of parts and an hour of labor.

Do me a favor, take your GLK for a drive and do 8-10 80mph to 40mph hard braking sessions (of course with nobody around). Nothing to lose if rotors and pads are getting replaced.

Vrodman

Worth a try certainly. I feel where you are coming from. It might just repair itself by doing this. Here is the thing though:

After talking to service adviser, and telling him we had 23,000 miles he told me that the rotors were covered for first 2 years or 20k miles. We are over on both.

But, . . .

He said he can get MB to pick up the majority of the cost still. When we go over 20k miles there is a sort of "pro-rated" assistance with cost. He said we likely would only be on the hook for a couple hundred!

We will take that deal.

NYCGLK

Oh please...yea sure, the dealer still gets paid for the labor whether by you or by MBUSA, just like of any warranty work.

Unless you have truly defective rotors, you are wasting your time and money with all these trips to the dealer even though you feel like you are getting a good deal.

Vrodman

OK man,

You know better than me. I only have 3 Benzes of which two are AMG's and have owned new Benzes since 1998.

I also put myself through college as a Mechanic on my way to becoming a mechanical engineer.

So go ahead and keep trying to tell me what you know better than me.

I gave you a polite response and you replied with ignorant assumptions.

It's OK though. I will forget all about it when I get in my new E63.

Please.

And btw oh wise one, why would I care if the dealer makes money from MB?
You are clearly someone who feels a need to impress upon others how much smarter you think you are.

Enjoy whatever it is you drive.

NYCGLK

I'm not sure why you feel so defensive about my post. If you feel that dealer is your best friend and has your interest...fine. And no I don't have a need to prove I'm smarter, I didn't state what car I own and what cars I'm getting or what I studied. All I was saying is that there is a very good chance you are wasting your time and getting rip off. I'll stop here.

Diabolis

Sorry, but for what it's worth, you certainly do appear to have an "all-MB-dealers-are-thieves" attitude. Rotors do occcasionally warp. Both the initial indications and the service inspection indicated that this is indeed the case. Besides, if it was just pad material deposit on the rotors that could be cleared up by a couple of panic stops, the vibration would have been noticeable when braking at any speed, not only when the rotors heat up past a specific point, and furthermore, I can assure you that at least at the dealership where I take my MBs for service, the mechanics would have done this as one of the first steps in diagnosing the problem.

I have no idea why you (mistakenly) believe that the OP is being ripped off, especially taking into account that although the rotors are technically not under warranty, MB is still willing to pony up for at least part of the cost as a goodwill gesture. I also own two AMGs in addition to the GLK, so maybe our experiences are somewhat different from yours in that both the OP and I understand that driving a premium brand vehicle comes at a cost, and furthermore seeing as we both have three MB vehicles each (and thus deal with Mercedes 3x more frequently than someone who only has one) that MB is certainly not in the rip-off business. I'll vouch for that personally based on my own experiences and on how I have been treated.

Not everythign in the world is a big conspiracy to defaud the ignorant masses. Sometimes if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it actually is a duck. I am sorry if your own experiences have been different, but in this case I don't think anyone is out to steal the OP's hard earned dollars.

NYCGLK

Not just MB dealers...and brakes must be the most profitable job that is very easy to justify. In reality, brake job on GLK is not any different from one on a camry, and parts run about 400 bucks for all 4 corners. And it's ridiculous if you need new rotors after 20k miles.

The OP came for advice. If he is just just going to trust what dealer says, why bother asking. And re-read my posts, I fully accepted that it's possible that rotors are defective. But this vibration is a common occurrence across benzes because many of them are not driven hard enough.

My tone was intended to be sarcastic, but people get all serious on these forums, like I just took an assault on their giant ego by stating what should be pretty obvious. Next time I'll make sure to use smiley faces.

And what's up with AMG owners needing to state that they have AMGs?

ianlp

For whatever its worth, I had bought a certified pre-owned certified 2014 GLK350 with about 15,400 miles at the end of last year. After driving I too observed/felt the vibration when applying the brakes at high speed or at low speed. Did not do much about it. Finally after reading all these posts and about 7000 miles later, I took it in to the dealer yesterday. Sure enough the rotors were warped. Well to cut a long story short and with no hassle they replaced the front rotors and pads as a warranty goodwill gesture. Turns out that they will do so if the car is less than 2 years old and has less than 24,000 miles. I guess I took it in right in time.

Vrodman

NYC,

I also dont really feel a need to escalate this. Perhaps the confusion is revealed where you wrote "the OP came here for advice". No! I did not.

I came here to ask if anyone else had dealt with a similar issue more to determine what I might be up against with the dealer. That was before I had spoken to the dealer.

In all my experience with MB (AMG OR NOT, lol) they have been pretty fair and reasonable.

And of course 20k miles is absurd to replace rotors! That is in part why I originally posted. That together with I have never gotten less than 90k miles out of a set of brakes on my other Benzes. And yes, tiptronic transmissions are a beautiful thing. Never a trans problem, and 90k+ miles per set of brakes!

No hard feelings.

Diabolis

Gents:

I was tryign to make exactly the same points, for the same reasons as Vrod. I have no intent to argue either.

As for the AMG thing, I only meant it as an indication that MB's ability to "fleece" someone with an AMG is several times greater than a person with a GLK if they were so inclined - wich they are not - considering the respective maintenence costs. MB has certainly behaved fairly in all my dealings with them.