Hello, the local non-dealer Mercedes shop I trade with, pointed out my front brakes are warped and worn out.

They want to help me out and replace front/back with original Mercedes rotors and pads for $3,000

I accept that challenge, will obtain the parts, and do the work.

I obtained all of those Mercedes original parts for $600 from FCP Euro, lifetime warranty.

Do the back slave cylinders need a special tool to compress them? Example, a “C”clamp that rotates while compressing?
A friend is warning about damaging the electronic parking brake somehow, he’s not providing and specific examples.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Johnny

 

prices are insane if you let them rob you

for example its possible to buy genuine disks with sensible discount of 30% of retail - but they hate to offer to joe mug at the counter - discs and pads £300 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132499112714?
not so much help for you, but a main dealer via UK ebay will sell me a Pair of rear discs (vented 320mm) for £136 - the local stealership wants £175 each - or I can go aftermarket to OEM quality for £99 or rubbish for £69

rear has discs - with an electrically actuated "brake shoe" park brake hiding inside the rear disc hub - you don't need to touch the park brake
there is a school of thought you should crack open the bleed nipple to push back the brake pistons - rather than forcing it back through the ABS module - BMW Techs like to claim this is what kills their designed to fail modules
German manus also like to change the brake fluid every two years - claiming same system reliability lies - what they mean is if we rob you every year for pointless work it eases the pain of offering a discount when stealing 2k at a later date for a module they deliberately designed to fail

 

I didn't even get Mercedes OEM parts--just got good German aftermarket pads and rotors. I don't think it cost even $300. The pistons easily compressed back into the caliper with a regular compression tool.

 

Every 2 years is a bit much but brake fluid does degrade over time because it sucks moisture in.
It's hygroscopic.
If you then drive in the mountains or on a circuit the water will start to cook and the brake pedal will be spongy.

 

Thanks Botus.

Those AMG parts look and sound like a nice upgrade.

The original replacements is a great start for now to get back to normal operation at reasonable price.

With all of the feedback, the swap out of rotors and pads is sounding fairly straight forward.

I’ve been hearing a lot, it’s an effective way to release pressure by opening the bleeder screw when compressing the slave pistons.
Would most folks agree, or push the brake fluid back through to the reservoir?

It’s crazy that shops charge excessively for a 15 year old car. It’s just an old car. Well, a pretty cool old car…

Johnny

 

....inside the rear disc is a shoe park brake with manual adjusters.... and you have a separate electronic calibration process of the park brake module - you are meant to do after work

you might need to back off the adjusters (one per wheel) to get the discs off (due to rust ridge inside) either way when back on, I'd operate the electronic park kicking the disc round a few times to seat the shoes and manually adjust up the mechanical star wheel (part 160 below) till they just bite then back off a click or two till the disc spins nicely - you can reach in with long thin flat blade screw driver and tweak it around via a wheel bolt hole (the adjuster is at 3 O clock-ish)

if you have high end diagnostics the calibration is via OBD port - and you just tell the module to apply and it pretends to judge how much force its pulling on the cable - I guess really just judging how much it needs pulling up the cable slop and applying them

you'll need a silly torx tool to get the baby bolt that just seats the discs (part 110 below) they are made of warm chocolate - smack its face hard before trying or you'll round it off - they do nothing in reality - so you can get robbed buying two new or just nip up with some lube during refit - the wheels actually hold the disc on properly at both ends

also wipe the crud off and take a photo of the disc pad wear sensor (part 140 below) its a bit of mind f--- working out how it seats - oh yes. I think you need to buy these, I don't think they come with the new pads

umm, not done my rears yet - this shows its a sliding joke caliper - the sliding pins need lube and the dust seals often fail - might be worth having those too

rear



front - note at least three brake systems available, tractor parts - sport with 320mm vented rears - AMD mental front set-up

does the S600 get 4 front calipers ? picture below suggest it does - never knew that ?

 

if you think..... as the pads all round wear, the level drops in the reservoir under the bonnet. obviously its designed to go from full up to worn pads all round and still have enough fluid to operate safely
as no one does car maint properly - plus you seldom wear all 4 corners out at the same time - few ever / need to top up the reservoir....

but if they did, just pushing the pads back can over fill the reservoir - and if unlucky spray out a vent hole and damage the paint by squirting fluid about unnoticed. ( I find it strange on vice grip garage he loves to pour / drip that filth everywhere and never cleans it up - brake fluid is evil - first its a paint stripper and second its etches metals - obviously destroying the looks and causing rust...).

Anyway if you crack the bleed nipple and evacuate the excess fluid you avoid the need to double check if the reservoir is overflowing (or later try to reduce contaminating the fluid). Of course after completing, you need to check and adjust the reservoir level.

Also worth noting: on some systems (ford transit for one), to actually get the pads back due to a one way check valve - the only way to get the pistons back on those without opening the nipple is to pop the piston seals - after applying phenomenal force and destroying the calipers.


.

 

[QUOTE=BOTUS;9049873]if you think..... as the pads all round wear, the level drops in the reservoir under the bonnet. obviously its designed to go from full up to worn pads all round and still have enough fluid to operate safely
as no one does car maint properly - plus you seldom wear all 4 corners out at the same time - few ever / need to top up the reservoir....

but if they did, just pushing the pads back can over fill the reservoir - and if unlucky spray out a vent hole and damage the paint by squirting fluid about unnoticed. ( I find it strange on vice grip garage he loves to pour / drip that filth everywhere and never cleans it up - brake fluid is evil - first its a paint stripper and second its etches metals - obviously destroying the looks and causing rust...).

Anyway if you crack the bleed nipple and evacuate the excess fluid you avoid the need to double check if the reservoir is overflowing (or later try to reduce contaminating the fluid). Of course after completing, you need to check and adjust the reservoir level.

Also worth noting: on some systems (ford transit for one), to actually get the pads back due to a one way check valve - the only way to get the pistons back on those without opening the nipple is to pop the piston seals - after applying phenomenal force and destroying the calipers.



Thanks for the info Botus.

If only replacing the rotors/pads on all 4 tires, will I need to do anything to the electronic parking brake calibration?

II just had the brake system bled last year and the reservoir is full. I’ll crack open the bleeder screw on each slave cylinder to get the slave cylinders to retract. No turkey baster needed.

I purchased new low pad sensors for the front pads. Those will get replaced as well.

JR

 

[QUOTE=johnnyrocket52;9051676]....the park brake modules wear and die and some gears can get crunchy and broken (according to some people who believe they made mistakes)... during calibration the car pulls the cables and measures the nm (force) its applying - I forget needs to be between between 450 and 600 I think - if its happy it remembers how much cable it pulled for next round - when done it removes a lot of the noise ratcheting the brake on.

I think its as much a safety test of the mechanism - new discs will have less wear and might need less movement to apply - but if you manually adjust it might be the exactly same (but likely to be fractionally different) if there was a significant mismatch I guess some harm could come....
depends if you use it really - I know most Americans don't appear to understand its the Law and a very good idea to always apply the park brake - it should be that first and use Park a nice extra - but so many automatics its like you've all grown up not knowing sensible... (not meant to come across offensive - just an observation of very poor practise handed down for >65 years)- if you never use you could do the job then ask someone sensible to do the calibration - 10 mins getting Xentry away and 5 mins of work

 

[QUOTE=BOTUS;9051695]Today, the parking brake holds well on fairly steep hills.

I learned to always use the parking brake. To keep the weight of the car off of the park pin, causing the pin to break over time, or can’t get the car out of park, because it’s on a steep hill, and the pin gets jammed by the weight of the car:
When parking, put you foot on the break, place the car in neutral, apply the parking brake, slowly release the foot brake allowing the car to roll into the parking brake, then place car into park. The heavy weight of the car is sitting on the parking brake and not the park pin.

When it’s time to drive away, start the car, apply foot brake, place in drive, release the parking brake, and drive away. The idea is the weight of the car is always on the parking brake, not the pin.

To be clear, if I change all of my rotors and pads, I shouldn’t need to rebuild and calibrate my parking break if it’s been working OK?

johnny

 

nice to see you are well versed in using the park brake for all the right reasons :-)

you are meant to do park brake calibration if you every touch the rear brakes in a manner that impacts it - so rear disc pads no point - new disks calibration required....

 

Hi Botus,
I don’t own the Xentry. Can I get it adjusted fairly close by hand making Xentry happy?

Install new or original shoes.

Adjust star adjuster to allow the new rotor to slip over shoes.

Adjust star adjuster until rotor drags severely, then slowly adjust star adjuster until rotor rotates by hand with shoes dragging a little.

Will that make the system happy or:

Perform the mechanical setup above and use the Xentry to finish the job?

Johnny

 

how much racket does it make applying the park brake now - electric motor noise winding followed by 3 lots of graunching in just over a second of time ?

if much different, I'd be happier to try not to apply (park on the flat after doing the job) and get round to someone with high end diagnostics before u park on a slope...
if you like the idea of hands on and like the car - join BenzNinja club - took me years to do it and I spent a fortune with idiots doing everything wrong and annoying me till I did

 

It’s functioning correctly as described. If a change any part all bets are off.

Getting to the end of my mechanical repairs and then I will need to join the BenzNinja club.

Brake job coming up in the next few weeks to assess what needs to be addressed or what can be postponed, example the parking brake.

Johnny

 

Following up, I replaced the front rotors, pads, and low pad sensor with Mercedes original parts.

Bled the front slave cylinders by loosening the bleeder screws while my friend compressed the slave cylinders.

Broke them in for ~500mi.

Perform like new. No peddle pulse.

I did not touch the rear brakes as they were in like new condition and the parking brake worked great, fully engaging in about a second, holds solid on any steep hill.

Vibration at 65-70 still there.

Moving on to:
Tech bulletin LI00.90-P-050323 – 221 except 4MATIC, steering wheel vibrations/shimmy @ highway speeds. Vibration caused by wheel/tire balance/uniformity; torque strut bushing; or steering rack (vehicles with EHPS up to VIN A351230

johnny

 

that vibration is a nuisance - I would def jack up car loosen the bolts one or two turns wiggle the wheel and try to seat in the middle and nip up all bolts as bets you can at once

do not hang on the hub and tighten one bolt - they can end up eccentric

 

The steering wheel vibration drove me crazy. It is finally 99% fixed after new upper and lower control arms, tie rods, and wheels. Not sure which of those parts did the trick, but that's what I changed.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have had the wheels balanced by 3 different places down to the finest it could be with new tires. The run out was deemed good and road force measured out very low around 10lbs. Each time mounted the rims with car up in the air and torqued. Wheels are definitely centered. The torque strut bushings make sense from the Technical Bulletin and cost.

If no joy, I will get upper/lower control arms swapped out.

My 2009 S600 has 94k miles. Anyone know about what mileage the vibration tends to afflicts the car?

JR

 

mines been doing it since 60k

just a thought last MOT he said "you need new arms on the steering rack, the inner ball joints are very bad - but I can't fail it as not part of the test..." I didn't believe him, but he showed there's 4 to 5 min of slop on both the rack end inner ball joints - when you look up parts there looks to be an updated part number - due to Merc's superior engineering talent these are way undersized fit for an 900kg super mini not 2.3 tonne tank so I guess we should expect them to fail

Part #35

TIE ROD LEFT / RIGHT , INSIDE 001 A 22 133 016 03 $71.70
TIE ROD LEFT / RIGHT , INSIDE 001 A 22 133 038 03 $239.04 - later part number