superpop

While I am not ready for new brakes yet, I wanted to start looking into it as the brakes on the car now produce an obscene amount of brake dust and are a PITA to keep clean. Sounds like Brembo makes a cool 2 piece rotor for the fronts and one piece rotor for the rears. Rotors all around are going to cost around 1100 for all 4 which is not bad considering one OEM rear rotor costs this much. Plus I am buying them from FCP Euro so they come with a lifetime warranty so they are the last set I will have to buy. For the pads I am going with Powerstop Z26/23 pads all around based on the low dust factor. Pads are around 100 bucks so for around 1200 bucks I will have all new pads and rotors. I will share pics once I get the new parts installed and tested but just wanted to let the forum know that there is a far better/cheaper way to do brakes on these cars. I also looked at CCB and the pricing was ridiculous.

Vanquish59

any update

superpop

Yes, the Powerstop pads have performed as good as the OEM ones for about a year now and still have most of the meat on them. No noise, no dust and no worries. I did not do the rotors as the ones I had were fine and still within spec.

logan1903

This is promising! Can you please provide links to the exact rotors and pads?

I might get these for my S65. The squealing noise of the OEMs is driving me nuts; a $200k+ car shouldn't sound like an old city bus.

superpop

phatisfy

Will these fit 100% for sure? I contacted fcp and they couldn’t confirm it?

superpop

Dimensionally they are the same as the factory spec down to the millimeter if you look at the cut sheet for both, that is what I did as I had the same concern. I have not fitted them on my car yet as I did not need new rotors the last time I did my brakes. The pads work great though.

Vanquish59

taking my car today cause of it

Vanquish59

can you vouch for zimmermans? Are they close enough to oem? They are 1 piece tho?

ChrisHimself

Zimmermans are one of the best in the industry for runout, metallurgy, high-speed braking. On some cars they're the OE, one some cars/countries it's Textar/ATE. They don't warp ever as long as you're within the minimum thickness. You used to be able to warp terrible rotors (long time ago, everything is pretty good these days) in like two stops. Short of 2-pc rotors by VNE and Brembo thats pretty much the standard. I use Brembo 1pc rotors for the coating but we're splitting hairs.

You'll like those pads I promise. It should be the last brake job on this car.

logan1903

@superpop how did these rotors and/or pads perform by now? Any squealing or other issues?

Vanquish59

I have same, no squealing for me

superpop

Working great for me after around 15K miles. Still have about half the pad left and absolutely no dust or noise.

ChrisHimself

currently using them on all 3 cars

slow down from 130mph all the time. no pad deformation, very little light colored dust if any, usually just blows off, no rotor wear to speak of

you don't actually stop better, but it's a lot nicer to live with

Vanquish59

Similar experience from me and I have about 500-1000 miles on mine, rear only.

carlosinseattle

My rear brakes are in need of changing. I'm going to move forward with the Zimmerman rotors and Z23 pads. I have a 2018 S63 sedan, with 42K on the clock. Pads were changed at around 25K by first owner, I'm the 2nd owner. Unless anybody has any cautionary tales I'm going with the setup Superpop mentioned in the first post. I'll report back about my impressions after install, and again after 90 days.

carlosinseattle

One quick follow up, I spoke with a guy at FCP Euro about the rear rotors. He said the Zimmerman one piece rotors will be around 4lbs heavier per rotor than the OEM rotors. Not too concerining, but glad to know. Also, based on how you search for the rotors, they are listed as direct replacements for S63's, but if you search another way they will not be listed as compatible...FYI.

I ordered them today, but looks like they won't be here until the end of the month.

ChrisHimself

I install these in the shop, you're A-OK to proceed with these.

I run them on a similar setup on the GTS and have stopped from 140 to 65 right in front of a cop before so you're alright

PS he didn't even bother pulling out

carlosinseattle

Replaced the rear pads and rotors yesterday; Z23 pads and Zimmerman rotors. Sounded really rough before the embedding process, all is well now. Swapped to aftermarket primarily because of the obscene amount of brake dust, also this was a lot cheaper than OEM. I'll report back in 1K miles and 5K miles on performance and levels of brake dust.

Points of note on the brake job; be sure you have 18mm socket and 18mm box end wrench. I didn't have either, and don't ever remember using 18mm for anything, and I've worked on cars all my life. Had to walk to the hardware store, in the rain, with the car taken apart and sitting on jackstands. I'd suggest getting a wratcheting 18mm box end wrench to make things go quicker, which I'll buy before swapping the fronts. A socket is doable, but space is tight, routing a ratchet through isn't super easy. And since you're putting a lot of torque through the head of the bolt the chances are pretty high that the socket will slip off. Just my $.02 cents. Otherwise, a straightforward brake job.

JohnLane

Uphill both ways in Seattle rain. Been there. Done that! 18mm is the new 17mm for newer MB.

Enjoy your brakes.

carlosinseattle

Just changed my front pads to the Powerstop Z26. I changed my rear pads and rotors earlier this month and it seems like I've seen less brake dust all the way around, even on the fronts - maybe it's just the placebo effect, but it sure seems real. So, for $60 bucks it was a no brainer to change the front pads. The rotors have less than 10K miles on them so they're practically brand new. Easy and quick swap, even kept the old sensor.