simon78

I have 25,000 miles on it and brakes are running low.

Do i need to change both pads and roters? And what is an estimated cost from a dealer or ID shop.

My dealer queted me appr 900 bucks and he said he will give me 15% off.

Sounds right?

ChicagoX

I've been quoted from 900-1100. (pads + rotors)

Of course, now that I need them badly, it's 1100. .

nine1twoinc

I paid 800 for brand new rotors and pads for front and rear few months ago. I thought that was pretty cheap

DJE55

I don't think that's bad. ChicagoX scared me, I thought that was for just the fronts which sounds a little wack!

ILSAAir

What ever happened to replacing your own brake pads. I may be wrong, but I find it hard to beleive a 25,000 mile car needs rotors.

I just replaced the front and rear brakes on my high-maintenance daughter's Volvo S-60t and the total cost was $70. This car had 45,000 miles on it, and while there was some wear on the rotors, I saw little reason to throw the rotors away.

Guys - correct me if I'm off base, but after 25,000 miles - pop on a new set of pads and cruise on!

Barry

Can Drive 55

I suppose replacing rotors with little visible wear would be necessary if there was an excessive amount of stress cracks.

vader

You are supposed tat least machine the rotors before you install pads on any car. Even a Volvo.

Scott in H-town

????

I have been changing my brakes on my Porsches for years without doing this. Mainly when changing between track pads and street, but also just worn pads.

I don't think that's a requirement for changing pads.

tigerlam92

On crossdrilled rotors, I'm not sure if you want to turn the rotors; at least, the vendor doesn't recommend it. If the surface is pretty even, I would just slap on new rotors instead of turning them.

vader

I don't know about hi performance slotted or cross drilled rotors...but putting new pads on a glazed rotor can't be the best solution. Does MB recommend new rotors with each pad change ???

Retiree

Agreed............Shallow grooves in an unshaved, unwarped rotor have little or no effect on new pads or braking effectiveness. The pads will quickly conform to the grooves, just as new pads on new rotors will quickly wear their own grooves.........

health services

I don't want to be a butt head but if you are going to replace your pads yourself please at least measure the rotor thickness. If it was my daughter’s car I’d make sure the car was safe after I decided to do the brakes whether I did them or someone else did them. If you never done this before at least get a manual and read how to do it correctly, there are a lot of people here that although have good intentions and the ability to replace the pads themselves have no idea what the hell they are doing! You are talking about a car that weights at least 4000 lbs; someone can get killed if you decided you wanted to save some money. There is a minimum recommended rotor thickness for safe braking. Although the rotors may be thicker than the minimum please look at the wear and see if the rotors will still stay above the minimum thickness during the full life span of the next set of pads, many times this will not happen. And that is just one reason why rotor replacement is recommended. Most German rotors are inexpensive! Also most German brakes have very soft rotors (this is one of the reasons they do not warp as easily) so please do not compare these to other makes! And yes it is very common for rotors to need replacement on these cars whether the pads wear out at 10,000 or 50,000!

I’m a tight wad just like everyone else but if it is going to be a safety issue that I am working on, I sure as heck will find out the correct way of doing the project not just the cheapest.

And argue all you want but brake pad wear is directly related to driving style!

jangy

Dude, mellow with the yelling. If people wanna listen to your rant, they will.

health services

Like I said in the beginning sorry for being a butt head.

I used to teach the new techs in my shop and some of them think just because they have tools and can unbolt something they think they can do anything. Pretty bad results sometimes. And these were kids who wanted to work on cars!

Rant off

Retiree

Actually, the MB's rotors are made of hardened steel, it's the OEM pads that are soft. Notice the frequent complaints about brake dust.

speedpeddler

Actually, it's not a good idea to machine the rotors on today's cars because they only heat treat the surface of the rotor to save $$. If you machine it, you just took off the heat treated surface and they won't perform or wear properly. I sure as hell aren't going to replace my rotors at 25,000 miles unless they show some serious wear. Swaping pads until the rotors NEED replacing seems OK to me.

health services

Please just measure the rotor thickness and make your determination from those measurements.

Ben

I was just told by my SA that the brake pad is ~$500. And currently, the pads are difficult to find.

I'm getting my pads replaced because of the brake squeal, under warranty of course.

simon78

Um... MB dealer said that rotors where low. 34.1mm

So going to do both pads and rotors and he gave me 20%off.

Matching the price of a local independent Mbn shop for $800.

CynCarvin32

You normally can get away with not changing rotors every time you change out the pads. When I had it done I just did all 4 wheels and both pads and rotors because I figured it was a good idea. Then again I only paid $700 for the entire brake job (installed - pads and rotors on an 04 E55). When you are talking about paying full bore for the job doing just the pads seems far more logical.

See if you can't get a better deal on the parts.

Also doing it yourself risks losing a finger. There is a list of 20+ items that can prime the SBC pump for fun and if you happen to be working on installing a pad and the pump sends 1500 psi of pressure through the system you will likely lose a finger. I did the brakes on my old cars but I paid to get my E55 done for that reason.

ChicagoX

That's why I opted not to swap out pads at the track

Can one not simply unplug the SBC before the swap?

jangy

I'm also one that does not do my own wrenching on critical components, but I can see where some may want to. to place a blanket statement that is is an intricate job and so nobody should do it is somewhat narrow minded.

Just for the record, I swap out rotors and pads each time. But, then again, I consider them as a disposable set.

CynCarvin32

No Jangy its logical. If you read the list of items which prime the sbc pump you quickly realize that you could take the risk but that it might not be worth it. I drive around in an AMG car and I like my fingers! So assuming that all goes well I get to keep my 10 digits but if not I might end up with just 7 or 8. 10 beats 7-8every time in my book. Changing out pads and rotors is likely the easiest thing to do on these cars BUT sbc changed the rules slightly.

People do change their own pads and good for them but I dont choose to do it and that is far from narrow minded. Its a warning to people who dont realize that someone walking past the car or within x feet of the car with a keyless go key in their pocket can prime the pump. How about if you turn the front wheels more than x degrees either way while working and the pump primes? Bye bye fingers.

CynCarvin32

IT can be done but I have yet to see a fail sale method other than turning it off with DAS. Some disconect the pump and others say pull the batt terminals off. But the car has 2 batt's just for that reason and I just dont want to risk it.

The brake issue is just one reason I dont end up tracking my E55. I dont want to pay to get pads swapped out all day long when every other car is a do it yur self kind of job! I did the brake jobs on all my other cars but the E55 was the first time I said oh whatever. I just happened to have 200 lbs of pads and rotors in the trunk of my car when it went in for a service with an envelope with 200 bucks in it. When I got my car back it had new pads and rotors all around and I was missing that 200 buck envelope!

Ben

LOL! Come on... gimme a break