My S63 had 13,973 miles on it when I noticed a scraping sound coming from the rear tires. I had just returned from Discount Tire after replacing all 4 tires. I decided to pull over and call a tow truck/flat bed. I had it towed to the Mercedes dealer in our town. I was called by the dealer and told that the rear brakes needed to be replaced... I thought this to be a little soon and I had not received any notification from the vehicle that the brakes were in need of attention. $4630.15 later (invoice attached), I picked up the car from the dealer. When I spoke with the service tech I asked how long, typically, I could expect for this type of work to be performed. He said that the brakes should be replaced around the 15K mark.

I don't drive this car often enough and only have about 15,000 miles on the car now - wondering if I need to be concerned..

Questions for the forum:
1. Is there a notification provided by the vehicle that the brake pads are in need of replacement?
2. Is it to be expected that pads AND rotors should be replaced at the 15,000 mile mark as the technician at Mercedes informed me?


Thank you!

 

everything looks right. You had a pad wearing metal to metal on the disc, so it scared the disc and had to replace pad and disc, and they did both sides because that should be done at the same time. The rears go really fast on these cars, and 15 to 20k mi is about normal. Expect the fronts pads only at about 20 to 24k

 

Normal for a performance car, especially a heavy one like the S63. You should be getting a warning at about 2 mm, though, so for them to wear down to the metal w/o warning shouldn't happen. Not sure you gonna get 20-24k out of the fronts. For reference I have 34k on my C63S coupe, which is quite a bit lighter than the S63 and I'm on my third front and rear set, but I do probably drive it quite a bit harder. I regularly hit up the canyons during the summer and I did European delivery for 2 months with lots of high speed driving and braking on the German Autobahn and a visit to the Nürburgring.

What I am gonna say is that if you get the brakes done at the dealership you get raped. You can get parts at FCP Euro for a fraction of the cost. The rear kit for the S63 is $700 and labor to install it at an indy is maybe $200 tops. FTC Euro also has lifetime replacement. You send the worn parts back and they give you a store credit for the full purchase price. Almost 5 grand for just the rear brakes is pure highway robbery. You are putting somebody's kid through college.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/Mercedes~Benz-parts/S63-AMG/Brake-Kits/?year=2016&m=20&e=5950&t=5&b=9&d=5046&v=

https://www.fcpeuro.com/page/lifetime-guarantee

 

In general you should be able to get through 2 sets of pads for every set of rotors on the AMGs but if you scraped the rotor then it needs to be replaced too. There is a brake pad wear sensor but perhaps it failed.

 

Thank you!