Steverock

My '07 S550 seems to have a chronic problem. From the day I picked it up from the showroom the brakes have squeaked as the car comes to a halt. After 5 different service visits they decided to change the brakes and rotors, and this worked fine for about 5 days, but the brakes now squeak again.

I have always learned from this forum, and was wondering if anyone cxould advise me on what the problem can be.

Thanks

i7iceguy

My does the same thing. I took it in and they replaced the rotors and brakes based on a recall. That worked for a good month and now my car still squeaks a little when going slowly and breaking. I have gotten used to it.

Diesel Benz

I don't think you should accept squeaky brakes. Not necessary any need for repair either. My experience at least is that the brakes make that noise mainly if you park the car when the discs are wet. One cannot avoid that but at least one can try to use a bit brakes before parking. I'm not using brakes heavily at our traffic, I would assume that the US driving style is less smooth, and that would be good for brakes (cannot do it too hard in normal traffic).

If that is not sufficient, I've learned from the W211 at least that using some copper based grease at the sides of the brake pads and at the rear of of the pad would help a lot. MB should even have a bulletin for this, and some grease that is intended for this purpose.

The only case I've had the squeaky noise has been when first reversing and applying brakes very gently, and if the discs have been wet before parking. Even here using brakes shortly with a bit more power has been sufficient to kill the noise.

WingFlex

I have the same problem. It is especially loud and annoying (and even embarrassing when there are lots of people) when it is raining or when the car has just been washed. In other words, worse when the brakes are wet. When dry, it is less noticable and intermittent.

How can we fix this???

P.S.: We have a 01/2007 build and the problem is as described above. Another one is 06/2007 build and it doesn't have this problem (at least not yet and the car is rarely driven, only clocked 1400km so far since mid-Aug). Thinking of it, my W220 also has squeaking brake problem every time the car comes to a stop, but does not get worse when it's wet. This is a 04/2005 build.

cmcjo

I had the same problem with my 07 S for the last year since it was new.
It was brought back 3 times for the sqeaking and they never fixed it.

It went in 2 weeks ago for the scheduled service and they did some kind of cleaning (recall?) and there has been no brake squeal so far.

EinMD

Same problem on my '08. Have not taken it in yet. Also had problem on my '07 GL 450. New pads solved the problem there.

WingFlex

Does anyone know which service bulletin exactly addresses this problem? Then again, some have said the problem returned even after repairs as per the bulletin?

Diesel Benz

Chucky had his pads replaced but his post does not mention any service bulletin number.
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w221/172689-mercedes-brakes-bulletin.html

I was just wondering if those who had pads replaced without permanent cure, had the pads actually change to the same old type pads instead of those the TSB would suggest.

Pads on my car must be different from those on an S 550 anyway, so my experience does not count really.

konigstiger

DTB P-B-42.10/68a – MY07 S550 (221.171) Brake Squeal; Front – brake paste part # A0019898751 and improved replacement brake pads A0044208020. Rear- brake lubrication (BQ1420001), replacement brake pads A0044204420.

Note: Brake squeal does not usually necessitate the replacement of rotors unless heavily scored, or seriously warped.

Chucky300

STILL squeaky breaks....

But I dont want to complain to MB about this - I dunno what they can do.

trumpet1

I guess I'm just lucky but I never have cars that have squeaky brakes.

dr.skp.ortho

Hi.

My brakes started squealing a few months after i bought the car. Showed them the above bulletin and had the service carried out. Was silent until a month ago. Had the pads changed and is silent now. Hopefully wont come back.....this is not the first Mercedes Ive had with squealing brakes....how hard can it be to make silent brakes.......??????

Diesel Benz

I'm pretty sure MB could make the brakes silent, but the way they are is to provide better performance, in various aspects.

cmcjo

I also noticed that is was only when the brakes were cold that they would squeak. Never squeaking after driving it a little.

WingFlex

Something weird I noticed yesterday: Maybe it's the lower temperature these days but I was driving in the rain and when we stopped at a light, obviously exhausts coming out of all other cars would look smokey due to the cold temp but I noticed the same from my front wheels. Do the brakes really get that hot?

Diesel Benz

If you had been using your brakes a bit more than just a first stop at traffic lights at low speed, brake discs would easily be above 100 degrees celsius.

Your brakes are more powerful than your engine and the engine would produce quite a lot heat when speeding from zero to something, all the energy the brakes kill turns to heat.