It's time to replace rotors and brake pads but not sure which brand to go with, wanting the highest quality product i can get with the price budget i might come up with.

I was looking at Auto Zone and they have EBC performance kit...comes with slotted/drilled rotors and pads...front and rear would be like $600, that is with the 20% discount for online orders.

I heard Akebonos are pretty good pads but not sure which rotors would suit best for them. And with new rotors, whichever brand i get, would or should i get the wear sensors. Which i am not aware of...can the previous sensors work or always have to get new sensors with new set of pads/rotors?

Just for the looks...EBC kit looks pretty cool. It's all black and while my wheels are grey, darkish, it would complete that dark look and color the calipers yellow/gold...?

 

Not much help, but I ran Akebono pads with stock rotors on my old 210 E55 and was happy with them.

I wish they made pads for the E63.

 

Yea heard a few good things about those pads, but I'm in market for the complete kit. I read somewhere on w211 forum, prolly wasn't this site, guy also ran EBC stuff on his and said he was happy with it.

 

When I did the e55 brake upgrade I went with Akebono and OEM MB rotors. The rotors are cheap. I think sport rotors up front are $96 on FCPEuro... under 100 for rotors in my book is a no brainer to go with OEM, rears were like $50ish. Hell I spent $1700 on Girodiscs on all 4 corners for my STi so the MB is cheap in comparison...lol


You aren't tracking the car so you don't need to overthink rotors. Akebono pads are nice, very minimal dust and are OEM on a lot of cars. I have them on 3 of our vehicles and have no complaints. For daily driving they are good pads. You can re-use the wear sensors. I did. I saw no need to replace them since they were not damaged in anyway.


Shop around for parts and you will get the best deals... however if you get them at FCP Euro then you can use their lifetime warranty and never have to buy the parts again. I use them for a lot of stuff now and that's a nice benefit of using them even if you do spend a couple extra bucks, it will pay back when you need to replace an item.


-Nigel

 

The sensors are a one time use item once they go off. Basically they're worn away once they reach a certain point. If you replace pads before you get the light on, you can just reuse the sensors. However I've replaced the pads on my car with Akebono and they came with the sensors. Only the front set of pads came with 2 sensors, but you just need one for the front and one for the rear. You can also measure your rotor thickness and just slap the pads on them if they're not badly worn. MB makes them pretty meaty so they're not like other cars where you always do rotors when you do pads. E350 pads and rotors are cheapest, I think as they went up the line the E550 was like 2 piston and E63 was 3 so the pads were all different depending on the car, same with the rotors. The Akebonos were fine, very minimal brake dust, don't even have to wipe down the wheels whenever I take it to a car wash, always had to do that with the stock set of pads. Should have done it a lot sooner. Only drawback with them is that they just have a 30 day warranty. I remember getting lifetime pads on a different car and get 3-4 sets of pads out of that one purchase.

 

Hmm, i've looked around and FCP doesn't show any rotors for rear atm. I might go with EBC rotors and pads kit for about $600. the measurements I'm looking at is 12.3" in front and 11.8" in rear. I am going to walk into the store and get more info on the product.

another question, idk this either, does base E350 has stainless brake lines? If it doesn't, should i swap to stainless steel brake lines? I rear and said they are pretty better than stock rubber lines.

 

and does the rotors' size matter to the pads? Say i get slightly bigger/smaller rotors, but all the pads must be one size right? Because they have their own spot to be fitted in than rotors.

And how do we measure the rotors, one end across to the other end? Just like wheels?

Auto Zone site says it fits my ride, 12.3fr and 11.8rear...just curious if the sizes matter much?

 

Stick with OEM sizes... it's not worth going up/down unless you know 100% what will fit and even then you might run into issues with clearances or something being slightly off and having a catastrophic effect down the line.

I couldn't remember if your 06' had the sport package or not.
*EDIT: Reading your last post leads me to believe you do because I remember my car had 12.3" front rotors which indicated the larger sport (4 piston front calipers/larger rotors) compared to the standard single pot floating caliper on the base models.


Front Rotors W/ Sport package (This will be a larger rotor):
$95
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...50-sl500-25785

Front Rotor W/O Sport package: This will be a smaller rotor: $83
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...500-e350-25774

Rear Rotor: $56
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...-e500-09a35810


Pads:
Front: With Sport Package: $82
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...30-w219-eur847

Fronts: Without Sport Package :$82
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...10-w211-eur987

Rears: $77
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...21-w216-eur986


Our cars don't have s/s lines from the factory, not even E63s.. Completely depends on what you want to do. I changed out my lines for Stoptech S/S lines when I did my retrofit since that's all I've ever used on the cars. To me it's one less thing I ever have to worry about as far as brakes are concerned or a line bursting. On a DD are you going to really notice it compared to the rubber lines... probably not. On the track, a little bit. The cost of s/s lines are cheap. I think less than $90. Is it worth doing? You make the call. If it was me and I was changing rotors/pads that's already half the battle of taking things apart for brakes I would probably change to s/s lines only because I am going to have to bleed the brakes after the pads/rotors so why not change the lines while I am there and will literally take another 3 minutes to remove old line and replace with new s/s line.

Without s/s you are at about $461 using all OEM rotors and better brake pads than stock. If you add the lines you are still cheaper than you $600 for the EBC stuff. If you like the EBC because the hats on the rotors are painted black, paint the stock hats black on the OEM rotors. They come with a rust resistant silver coating by default.



You can probably find a coupon with FCP and you will never have to buy that stuff again using their warranty. That alone is worth it in my opinion as you won't be spending another $400+ on brake components like you eventually will by going anywhere else. (Note I'm not affiliated with them at all, they just rock and have great CS.) You can save $20-30 on the pads if you get them from Amazon/RockAuto as well.

Hope that helps.

-Nigel

 

Different size rotors may not fit the caliper correctly. Should use the correct OEM size. Drill and slotted rotors have no effect for street use, they for looks only. With my old E500, I had good results with premium Centric rotors.

 

No mine is base model, not premium or sport. I checked with dealership with the VIN. Yes, now i know the 12.3mm rotors are for sport package but mine is base so idk the measurement of it. Dealer said they can't provide specs cuz they don't have em on list.

Well i have no problem going with OEM style, plain, but i was looking more towards drilled/slotted rotors cuz, well, they look better lol

@Flash Gordon, thx for pointing out the caliper..i forgot if i do get bigger sizes i would need bigger calipers lol I am not trying to up/downsize the brakes, I just want quality drilled rotors /pads. I didn't know about the sizes and how a slightly bigger size could affect that much.

At FCP, the drilled rotors are only with sports or AMG package but not for w/out sport, then it's plain.

 

So i am reading at Auto Zone options, its either 11.6 and 12.3 in front and only 11.8 in rear. since yours is sports package and with 12.3...mine is base so it is 11.6 and 11.8 in rear. The FCP doesn't list those specs.

 

Are you calipers single pot floating or the 4 pot calipers?


If you want the rotors to look cool then that's cool I guess. Keep in mind that the majority of manufactures with drilled rotors are just that, blank rotors that have been drilled at the factory and not CAST. There's a huge difference because you are removing material from a giant heat sink and that's one of the worst things you can do for brake rotors... on top of that they will crack where the holes are. They always do. Always starts with micro cracks then eventually get larger.


Since you have the base the entire job should be pretty cheap honestly. Skip the s/s lines and it's even cheaper.


-Nigel

 

Call FCP Euro and ask.

They have a couple listed for your fronts:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...500-e350-25774

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...50-2114210912a

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...50-2114210912a



Although I'd personally stay away from Zimmerman rotors. I have not read good things about them.

-Nigel

 

Yes, I've been doing some reading and getting some mixed reviews about drilled rotors. Some cracked n some said it's perfect. Now i don't want to end up in the population with cracked rotors...I will look into this tom and i have work early.

By reading around, reason i am avoiding drilled is cuz i drive thru mountains often and it gets trafficky and lot of accel n stopping which will, at a time, cause the holes to start cracking. I'm leaving them out of the list here.

I might just go with regular plain style. But also wanna ask, how or if anyone have on, are the slotted rotors? Iknw it's the pads that makes the biggest difference in stopping, but how about them? Not finding much neg about them.

and i apologize for some of these nonsensical questions lol just tryna do these little upgrades on it and should have it all completed to my wants in about a month of two

 

I have slotted two piece GiroDiscs on my STi. It gets tracked. They come slotted by default but the main reason getting them was so that when the rotors are toast I can take them apart and still use the hats. Slotted rotors in theory are to let the gas escape from the pads while they are pressed into the rotor. You will not notice a difference at all for a DD. W211's are heavy cars. Driving them spirited will eventually heat the brakes up and if you are driving like a nut you will boil the fluid/experience brake fade. This will happen on any car given enough time minus adequate brake cooling... IE: brake ducts.

If you want the slotted for looks again, completely your choice. But you will not gain any performance difference on our cars having slotted/drilled rotors. Most people are unaware that a major aspect of stopping the car is your tire. Have super sticky tires will make you stop faster than the dude that doesn't...etc.

My point, don't draw attention to things on the car that aren't upgraded/beefed up.

IE: The dude driving around in his Honda del sol with painted red stock front brake calipers and painted red rear drums... why draw attention to crap that shouldn't stand out. NOW, if you upgraded the brakes to an AMG kit then by all means show off. Rightfully so, they are beautiful to look at... see my pics below..lol


If you got a hole burning in your pocket then go for looks.
(I still have my sport calipers/rotors that I took off when I did the retro, not sure if you'd be interested in buying it but I'd sell it cheap... shipping might be killer since rotors are heavy AF to ship, but the front 4 piston brembo calipers would be an upgrade to your single piston calipers. Should be 100% bolt on)


-Nigel

 

Yes, i get what you are saying. And the brake lines, i'm going to leave them as is since there is no leaks or anything but they aren't too expensive to replace with SS.

That AMG calipers look nice lol how much was that? And those rotors, are those also AMG rotors? How much did you entirely put into that whole rotors/pads/amg calipers? If its around 700-800...i might go for it. If not, I'll just find some OEM from FCP i guess lol and you have pics of ur old rotors/calipers? Could pop a possible deal here lol

Yea those drilled ones do look good but as u said too how they heat up and start to crack slowly when they get toasted for too much braking. I would've gotten the drilled but like i said i go thru hills often and I'm afraid they most likely will crack after a year or two.

 

And i checked with this local shop if i wanna upgrade my rotors/calipers/pads to E55, this guy said $3700 lol for that much money i rather sell my ride and a few grand and get an AMG lol

Tell me abt ur AMG upgrade.

And mine, idk if they are single floating or the pot calipers. And i have no idea how to check which one are they. Hell i dont even know what those 2 terms mean

 

They aren't cheap. I bought them used. If you search eBay you can find many many sets. Bank on around $1000-1500 for front rears depending on condition. Things to know about doing AMG upgrade. You must enlarge the spindle holes by 2mm. The bolts holding the AMG calipers are larger than the standard brakes, OR buy new spindles. I drilled because I wasn't about to spend $300 per spindle arm.


E55 front calipers use 4 brake pads per caliper (total 8), you will need completely different pads, and rotors.
For the entire thing (calipers, s/s lines, front/rear OEM MB rotors, rebuild kit on the calipers, pads, and fluid) I think I spent $2k but since I broke it up over several months it wasn't as bad. If I spent that much all at once I probably wouldn't have done it...lol
You will spend roughly $7-800 for the front/rear rotors and pads.


I mainly did it because I couldn't stand the nice 18" amg wheels but then seeing the very tiny calipers. It looked so bad. Almost like what most manufactures are doing now with stupid *** 20" wheels from the factory which makes normal size brake calipers look tiny. This is the first time ever doing a BBK that wasn't for performance honestly. The 4 pot sport brakes that were on the car are MORE than enough to stop the car.


Take a picture of your calipers and post it. Single piston means there is a single piston/set of pistons pushing against the brake pad. 4 pot means there are 4 pistons pushing on the pads. The picture I posted above of my sport brakes and amg calipers, the sport on the left is 4 pistons, where as the amg is 8. The AMG caliper is monstrous.


The drilled rotors are MB originals, the idiots at MB used the same rotor for both sides. Ideally you'd have a different vane/spiral pattern per wheel since they are different. Having the same design defeats the purpose of having them drilled since only one side is technically benefitting from cooling pattern..


-Nigel

 

 

Ummm...i can do 800 but calipers alone are 300-400 a piece lol That is the same reason I want bigger rotors so i can grab bigger calipers due to lot of visibility thru my 20 wheels and the rear brake is just...like a grain of a sand. Front is better but not enough.

Any suggestions for that cause? AMG upgrade is too much to go for. It's the calipers that are costing as much as the rotors+pads. I wanted bigger rotors and bigger calipers.

 

or is there a way install a bigger caliper? with some modifications over the stock pads nd rotor?

 

You know what, Ima stick with vented plain rotors. I don't want to complicate this more lol Ima check with FCP tom and online and go with the best price i can get. If i was driving thru just streets, i would have bought drilled, cuz street use with less speed...but thru mountains, sudden stops and turns and acceleration, no. I don't want to learn my lesson the hard way lol

 

Yep that's the problem with going with large wheels. You loose that balance look that one used to have with the internal wheel gap against the rotors/calipers. Reminds me of dudes who put "dubs" on their cars then see the teeny tiny brakes and it makes me laugh because it's so ridiculous looking..lol

Pretty sure your front calipers are 4 pistons from the picture.

Looking on eBay these look exactly like your front brakes:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-W211-ME...NWj9h-&vxp=mtr


In which case you have 4 piston calipers. Agreed completely on the rear calipers. They look so silly compared to AMG caliper, however... I was surprised to see the brake pad surface of the single pot rear calipers were AS big as the AMG 4 piston calipers.

I think that's smart what you are doing. Honestly it's not worth swapping anything over unless you are really hell bent on it. And even then it's going to cost some coin if you really look around for stuff.

Look at it this way. If you get everything from then, that's the last time you ever have to pay for that stuff.


-Nigel

 

Yea i hear you. Well, in this case, i'll have the silver rotors and will paint calipers silver too to blend it in. That way the tiny *** calipers won't be that visible to look so frekin oddly balanced out lol That i will think through later when i get the rotors and pads to install. But tom ima make an order and get this thing over with. Thanks for that info and working with me lol

 

I missed the time to call FCP lol i woke up late after getting home from work...work early mornings.

U think i could fit the Sport packg rotors/pads with my stock base caliper? How big the rotors would be from the w/out sport pckg, if u knw.

I will be calling FPC on Monday now.