Jessica90

Well, it's time for service B to be done on my 2003 S430.

This will be the first time since my ownership of this car (a bit less than a year) that I will be replacing some stuff.

Most of my concerns are for the pads & rotors.

Which ones do you recommend me getting? Or should I stick with regular MB ones?

I also need an oil change, what brand oil do you recommend, mobil 1? What weight do I need?

Thanks in advance

mcssci

I'll get flamed for this, but unless you have a shimy in your car during braking you almost certainly do not need new rotors.

Get Mobil 1 0w-40. I got an oil extractor to suck it out from the dip stick- that sounds naughty, but how else do I say it?

S5LorinserF1

all you need is the brake pads.


And dont believe the Stealership if they tell you that you need pads and rotors because they are robbing you.


They did this to me since i had my 03 s500 and charged me $1200 for just the front or $1300 just for the back.

Rotors on these cars should last at least 40-50K miles, depending on your driving habits.


On My dads 1989 420 SEL he only needed to replace the rotors once, and that was at 240,000 miles.

Talk about how far mercedes has fallen in quality

my06clk

I got my brakes from Advanced auto.. they have premium bendix pads for the front and rear that work out nicely but you may have to wait a day or so for them to come in.

My rotors came from Autohauz AZ. 270 for all 4 shipped. ( they had a free shippng deal )

Someone just made a thread today about pads and stuff and how much the dealer charges..

As far as Oil, it doen't have to be mobile 1, but it must be synthetic.

THere are a million people who will warn you that you should use X brand because if X spec, and thats fine but I have been using MObile 1 from the auto parts store OR Castrol synthetic in either 0w30 or 10w 30.

IT may be w40 my mind is full so I forget..LOL.. Either way I think you will be fine. the key is to make sure you keep scheduled changes when they need to be. 10+ mile seems a lot but not when you start out with 8.5 quarts compared to 5 in a normal car.

I have found oil filters everywhere. again.. extremist say use fleece.. I say use a filter. and change it everytime with all the included seals.

HTe dealer will charge you a few hundred for the "B" service which amounts to nothing more than an Oil change and a million "Checks" so if you can do it, its better to do your own. You can change the air filters also and still save$$

I was surprised to find that my air filters didn;t get changes as part of the "B" service... In Texas, I'd rather have new Af's than a new Oil filter..IF i had to choose between the two...

Will you be doing the work yourself or going to a shop?

kenstudios

Remove the wheels and inspect the rotors yourself to determine if you need new ones or not. If you have deep grooves on your front rotors my advise is to replace but if they feel relatively even to the tourch then just get the pads. This is a very simple DIY if you know your way around brake components.
As for the oil, my prefered oil is listed in my manual as Mobil 1 and I use 0W40.

AH1W-COBRA

the rotors on MB cant be resurfaced,if you use old school methods of observation your eyes will tell you to replace rotors based upon the grooved irregular surface that you are surely gonna find.this surface is acceptable per MB as long as the rotor is within tolerance for "runout" which is wobble and for the thickness.your replacement pads will not last as long on the used rotor because the new pad has to wear/conform to the surface.Dealers arent stealers,they are in business to make profit,these cars are designed for the wealthy who are used to paying more for everything.Simply tell the dealer to measure the rotors and not to replace them unless necessary.also tell them you are on a tight budget and cant afford any major costs at this time,just safe brakes and the B service.I do all my own maint and use mobil-1 0/40.i use wick filters because they are the only one that uses an "o" ring at the top and bottom to seal the filter to the extension tube.my cost for pads/oil/filter and B service inspection by the book would be about $200,the dealer will get about $700.

Jessica90

In my service booklet, at the last Service B, they replaced the oil and wrote mobil 1 0w-40 (except the writing was sloppy, so I wasn't completely sure on the weight)

I will def. not be going to the dealer when my dad is a dealer .

I for sure need new pads as I have the malfunction "Brake Wear Visit Workshop" and the fact that the car squeels already.

I'm not entirely sure if I need to replace rotors, but the car has 65k miles, so it's a possibility. I will have that checked though.

I will not be doing the work myself b/c I have no experience, I will be taking it to our independent shop.

Jessica90

I was definitely not planning on taking the car to the dealership, I know what needs to be replaced/checked without them telling me.

Last week, I was at MB of SF and had to get 2 bulbs for my CLK and they gave them to me for free. Very nice of them