quickburn

we currently have a 2006 slr. it has 3000 miles and brakes are just way too loud! We have been working with MBUSA for the past 6 months. We were testing a new braking system for them. Only 2 cars in the US have been with this system. it worked fairly well for 1 month but recently it started going back to normal. I know ceramic brakes make more noise but our Carrera GT doesnt make a peep and has more aggressive pads and rotors then the slr. My question is: Is there a class action law suit againt Mbusa to buy back the cars or should we just take the necessary steps and lemon the car? Does anyne know a good Lemon law attorney in CA? We currently own 12 Mbs and we just want to do this right. Thanks again and you can E-mail me at quickburn7@hotmail.com for any other personal experieces or for any details on law suits or Lemon law attorneys.

Vadim @ FD

Ceramic brakes by nature are squeaky, noisy and feel strange until warm.

Have you driven any other SLRs?

Do they exhibit the same noise level?

SLR brakes are louder than stock MB brakes on regular cars.

quickburn

the same noise. So there is a design defect in the brakes of this car. Putting heat in the brakes dont fix the problem unless you brake from 120mph-0mph 3 times in a row and that works for about a day.
We have a carrera GT with cermaic brakes and they dont make ANY noise cold or hot and like i said the porsche is running more aggressive pads and rotors.
A $450K car should not sound like a jalopy with no brakes. Porsche understands that... MB doesnt. They have admitted a problem to us but cant seem to find a fix. Thats why we were testing an experimental braking system on our SLR. It didnt work well and we are now fed up!

magwheel

Ditto..... I have a Carrera GT and it doesn't make any noise. I just sold my 05 Gallardo (970 miles) and 06 Murcielago (450 miles) and both of them squealed a lot when coming to a stop. Was pretty embarrassing but loved the cars so it didn't matter much. I did take a SLR for a test ride in March of this year and really didn't notice any brake squeal. Only went about 10-15 miles though. Magwheel

quickburn

and it seems like its not just ours. The dealership who services our car has had the same complaints from Jay Leno and a few other celebs with the same car.

glassJAw

Do you already have the updated brake pads from MBZ?? They started arriving at the dealership not more than 2 or 3 weeks ago. I've installed a few and it seems to take care of the noise fine.

software

Quickburn: that problem sounds pretty annoying. I hate that you have to suffer with those brakes. If you'd like you can simply donate the car to me - you'll never have to listen to those damn brakes squeal again.

I can see the headlines now "Pissed off guy gives away exotic Benz..."

quickburn

yeah i think we got the updated brake pads a couple of months ago and it still hasnt fixed the problem. Like I said we have been testing a few fixes for MBZ on our car for 4-5 months now.
Ill check with my dealer and see if those are the pads we had on the car and if anything new is coming from germany.

AsianML

Hmm, maybe I'm just ignorant; but how does brake squeal constitute a class action lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz?

quickburn

brakes are defective. They squeel and are not up to the standards of a 450K car. A few SlR owners join up to sue MB for a buy back of the car or a compensation for the defective brakes. Any SLR owner will be able to benefit from this suit.

AsianML

I still don't see how it would constitute a class action lawsuit. Sure it's defective if it doesn't stop squealing, but does it affect the stopping power/distance of the brakes?

That I could see as a cause for a class action lawsuit.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

glassJAw

quickburn, were you able to find out if you had the updated brake pads installed yet??

quickburn

a few months ago. They worked well for about 500 miles and then acted exactly like the original pads.

meegle

You may want to get in touch with Damian "Damaged" who does post every so often on these boards.
He is a SLR/MB specialist in the LA area and may offer sound advice.

MBTech21

Update on the brake pad issue- just installed a set on 'Generation 4' pads on one of the SLRs I service and it worked great (touch wood)- not even a wimper out of this set...even when seating them. These pads have to be ordered through your dealer's SLR tech, through a special channel, it's not like they are in stock items, but they seem to work.

quickburn

we dont have the generation 4 pads already on there. Like i said we were testing a new version of pads for MB a few months ago that worked great for about 500 miles and then started acting like the original pads.
Ill check though just to make sure.

MBTech21

These have only been out a month or so- (maybe 2), so that maybe it? On a different note- 500 miles in a few mouths (using 3 as a few)? Thats a pile compared to most I have seen!!

quickburn

testing the pads long before it came out. MB tech from germany came over to look at our car and we let them test a few pad compounds on our car. The only ones that lasted more than a week were the last set. Those were quiet for 500 miles or about a month and a half. My slr is a daily driver.

roccoriley

Except for the brake problem, what do you think of the car?

quickburn

driver supercar. The only thing that bothers me about it is how much its similar inside than our sl55. It seems like everything has been carried over!

MBTech21

Quickburn- MB just came out with a service campaign for the new brake pads- they look to be the same ones I was talking about- Hope this fixes your ride!!

c2jones

I have had several sets of ceramic brakes and they NEVER squeal. I purchased these for exactly that reason. Ceramics are often associated with less squeal (in addition to the increased performance).

As far as this service matter, should you not find adequate attention, as a member of The Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA), they (Montvale) provides a special number for members to get service matters addressed. MB knows full and well of their escalating service gremlins.

You may or may not be a member, but at SLR prices, you've certainly 'joined the club' and should have all the attention you anyone else should have.