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I took my 2105 S550 into the dealership today for B2 service. I knew they were going to try to sell me on getting brakes changed as I only drive the car less than 4,000 miles in a year. But when he quoted like $3,000 for brakes all around, I said to myself this is ridiculous! I'm so fortunate that my 2015 is not my daily driver. I use my 1987 420 SEL for that as all these streets are HORRENDOUS!
Hello fellow W222 & W126 owner! I would love to see your W126. From my experience, you should only change your brake pads once the Brake indicator has come on. (I still had 3,000 miles in my pads when my brake light came on). I recently changed my own brakes on my W222. It's very easy to do. (Make sure to order brake sensors from FCP Euro) Also, what's great about the W222 is that you can reset the Service A & Service B display messages on your own. I've also switched from OEM Brembo brake pads to I believe Advanced Auto ceramic brake pads. (Stopping distance stayed the same & way less brake dust).
Hey Sean. Here's a picture of my 420 SEL. Thanks for the info on resetting display messages.
Polished and waxed the day before so my wife just had to lay on it. Lol!
This past snow storm. My heavy duty wax holds up well! Out for dinner one night a few years ago!
Dealer mark-up. Parts are about $1200 front & rear (I just priced them on FCP Euro). So they are charging you $1800 for maybe 4 hours of work. An Indy shop will charge you about $600. Good luck!
2019 S560; 2019 Range Rover Supercharged; 1985 European model 280SL, Navigator Black Label, Lexus LX
This is true. I have been known to be cheap, but I think I am just a wise and conscious consumer. Therefore I take my cars to the dealer for warranty work and for truly specialized items that need attention including computer updates and the like. Everything else I go to an independent that I trust as I know their can handle oil changes, brake fluid flushes, etc and they don't add on extra things that aren't warranted or needed. The dealer service department is their main profit center. Nothing wrong with that but know it eyes wide open. The rate quoted for the brake work is a good example. You can likely get the labor for anywhere form 30-50% of what they were charging in my opinion.
You pay more for OEM parts for one thing, and dealers generally insist on replacing rotors and pads all-around instead of measuring the rotor thickness and only replace when actually necessary. I don't do wear and tear items at the dealership such as brakes and tires. You can often get better parts for less money by going aftermarket and have the work done at an indy. I usually source the parts myself. FCP Euro for example has lifetime replacement on their parts, so you buy once and then replacements are free for as long as you own the car. You just need to order the replacement part, then send back the worn part and they refund the cost of the replacement. Tires I get shipped directly to my indy from TireRack. More options than the dealerships offer and they come with free road hazard coverage, although the mounting is pretty cheap at my MB dealership, but I don't think they road force balance them.
Last edited by superswiss; Feb 23, 2022 at 04:15 PM.
That's a pretty stupendous price. I recently did my fronts and spent around $650 on rotors, pads and a hardware kit. While it's true that brakes are a vital safety system, refreshing the wear components is one of the simplest and most foolproof things you can do on a car. It's an easy afternoon with most of the labor time just cleaning everything real well. An additional benefit in not using the dealer is you have more pad choices. There are some great aftermarket pads out there and the OEM versions may not suit you. For example, many aftermarket pads create less dust than the OEM.
Perhaps the dealer's quoted price includes changing the fluid and/or diagnosing the electronics/anti-lock system. Those activities involve a lot more skill and equipment and could add a lot of cost to the work.
I also just ordered rotors and matching pads to do my rears, and paid about $250 for those parts. I am using EBC Red pads which I think will be great based on first 300 miles on the fronts.
Last edited by Tom in Austin; Feb 23, 2022 at 04:41 PM.
That is pretty crazy and make sure that you really need to replace them. I made a big mistake after taking in my car last year for the pre-paid service with the service writer telling me my rear pads were low and needed to be replaced. It was $400 installed and I figured I never cheap out with brakes or tires so I let him do it. Then he showed me the amount of pad that was left in MM and then I asked my local trusted indy who laughed and told me I had 50% of the pad life left. So I learned my lesson and stopped using that service writer and switched.
The MB dealership I have been taking my car to for the pre-paid maintenance (I got a good deal on 3 years) is a super nice faclity, having come from Nissan/Infiniti for most of my life I was blown away at how nice the dealership is (Autobahn motors) with free loaner, nice waiting room, extra fancy everything, so someone has to pay for that!!
Make sure you really need this work done by someone you trust before you trust the stealership
Thanks all for your input. It was comical how the service advisor came over and then said..."You really take good care of your car but, the technician went over a few other things and recommends that pretty soon you'll need pads and rotors all around". So I immediately said in my head...wait until I share this story with the Forum. Lol!
My next steps will be to start purchasing the necessary brake components from some of the recommended vendors mentioned here. It's no rush, as I use my '87 420 SEL with over 355,000 on her as my daily driver to deal with these horrendous streets and I save the S550 for the road trips. I purchased the S550 in Jan 2019 certified with 37,000 on the odometer and now she has only 47,658 after 3 years. I think my plan is working out very well! Take care and remain safe in your travels. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Regards.
The techs are supposed to measure the pads during regular service and you should get an inspection sheet at the end that tells you how much is left on the pads. It's good information. At about 3 mm it's recommended to change them. The wear sensor will trip around that time as well, but you can effectively keep driving until the wear sensor trips. Just be aware, the thinner the pads, the less heat resistant they are and the sooner they fade. While they may still stop well when slowing down normally, they may not perform so well during an emergency stop at highway speed. They might overheat quickly. Pads start out at around 10 mm, so that gives you an idea and you can approximate how many additional miles you might get out of your current set, although, they wear faster towards the end. Usually techs don't measure the rotor thickness, but that's easy to do yourself and the minimum thickness should be stamped on the hat.
I took my 2105 S550 into the dealership today for B2 service. I knew they were going to try to sell me on getting brakes changed as I only drive the car less than 4,000 miles in a year. But when he quoted like $3,000 for brakes all around, I said to myself this is ridiculous! I'm so fortunate that my 2015 is not my daily driver. I use my 1987 420 SEL for that as all these streets are HORRENDOUS!
Please chime in good people! Have a great day!
Hello fellow W222 & W126 owner! I would love to see your W126. From my experience, you should only change your brake pads once the Brake indicator has come on. (I still had 3,000 miles in my pads when my brake light came on). I recently changed my own brakes on my W222. It's very easy to do. (Make sure to order brake sensors from FCP Euro) Also, what's great about the W222 is that you can reset the Service A & Service B display messages on your own. I've also switched from OEM Brembo brake pads to I believe Advanced Auto ceramic brake pads. (Stopping distance stayed the same & way less brake dust).
Hello fellow W222 & W126 owner! I would love to see your W126. From my experience, you should only change your brake pads once the Brake indicator has come on. (I still had 3,000 miles in my pads when my brake light came on). I recently changed my own brakes on my W222. It's very easy to do. (Make sure to order brake sensors from FCP Euro) Also, what's great about the W222 is that you can reset the Service A & Service B display messages on your own. I've also switched from OEM Brembo brake pads to I believe Advanced Auto ceramic brake pads. (Stopping distance stayed the same & way less brake dust).
Hey Sean. Here's a picture of my 420 SEL. Thanks for the info on resetting display messages.
Polished and waxed the day before so my wife just had to lay on it. Lol!
This past snow storm. My heavy duty wax holds up well! Out for dinner one night a few years ago!
The techs are supposed to measure the pads during regular service and you should get an inspection sheet at the end that tells you how much is left on the pads. It's good information. At about 3 mm it's recommended to change them. The wear sensor will trip around that time as well, but you can effectively keep driving until the wear sensor trips. Just be aware, the thinner the pads, the less heat resistant they are and the sooner they fade. While they may still stop well when slowing down normally, they may not perform so well during an emergency stop at highway speed. They might overheat quickly. Pads start out at around 10 mm, so that gives you an idea and you can approximate how many additional miles you might get out of your current set, although, they wear faster towards the end. Usually techs don't measure the rotor thickness, but that's easy to do yourself and the minimum thickness should be stamped on the hat.
The dealership did send me a video of the tech inspecting my tires and brake pads and rotors while the car was on the lift. The tech stated the pads were at 4mm in the video. I will begin purchasing everything from FCP EURO so I can do them myself. Thanks.
BTW, on the subject of brakes, here's a picture of a front wheel with the new EBC Redstuff pads installed. EBC puts what they call a "break in" coating on the face of the pad ... it polishes the surface of the rotor to level it and clean off any material left from old pads. If you look closely, the rotor surface is so polished that you can see the reflection of the back of the wheel spokes.
Just thought I'd share this, it was new to me ...
Last edited by Tom in Austin; Feb 24, 2022 at 11:28 AM.
My dad bought a brand new 1977 450SEL he loved that car so much, he had driven Cadillac's and Buicks and refused to buy a German car (we're jews) for many years. We bought that car in Visallia, CA and he drove it until 1988 when he bought a 500SEL "gray market" car that was better in every way but he never liked it as much.
And now that I see 10mm is new pads mine had 5mm left (50%) when I foolishly agreed to replacing them. When my time comes for replacement I will source my own stuff and get an Indy mechanic to install
I've heard that in normal times, dealers make more money from the service department than new and used car sales combined.
This is when I take mine to an independent MB service shop. While my car is under warranty, I go to the MB department. Other than that, I have found great service shops that might not get me in and out in the same day but because I have 3 Mercedes and can hand it over for a few hours/days, I'm willing to do that to save hundreds of dollars. It can be done if you do your research.
Thanks for all the helpful input. I need brake service as well and would like to swap out pads to reduce brake dust (its absolutely horrendous). Any recommendations on pads to reduce brake dust?
I took my 2105 S550 into the dealership today for B2 service. I knew they were going to try to sell me on getting brakes changed as I only drive the car less than 4,000 miles in a year. But when he quoted like $3,000 for brakes all around, I said to myself this is ridiculous! I'm so fortunate that my 2015 is not my daily driver. I use my 1987 420 SEL for that as all these streets are HORRENDOUS!
Please chime in good people! Have a great day!
I refuse to give them my money, except for major work. Fortunately, I’ve never had to have any work done on any Mercedes I’ve owned. I buy MB pads off a Mercedes dealership online and they ship for free and no tax. I then take my rotors down to the local machine shop and get them turned for 15.00 each. I’ve never had one out of spec, so it’s been pretty painless. Fortunately, I’ve never had scored or grooved rotor, so it’s been very inexpensive, so far. Since I retired fairly young, I enjoy tinkering around on my cars. Plus, saving the money to do other things, is always a nice thing.
I took my 2105 S550 into the dealership today for B2 service. I knew they were going to try to sell me on getting brakes changed as I only drive the car less than 4,000 miles in a year. But when he quoted like $3,000 for brakes all around, I said to myself this is ridiculous!
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
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