Hi,

For those of you with a carbon ceramic brake set for your E63s', could you tell me how the servicing goes for these brakes? Do the rotors last 100,000 miles+? How much do pads cost? I heard that they should be replaced at about half life to ensure the longevity of the rotors.

I may purchase an E63s in January or so; therefore, I'm just gathering some knowledge about carbon ceramic brakes in case there is an Edition 1 for sale. There was one listed and it sold in just a few days, the car had about 48,000km with 9mm left on all four pads (not sure how many mm they are at when new).

 

Yes on replacing the pads around the 50% mark . If no track usage I think more then 100k is doable. Maybe some current ccb owners can give a more accurate lifespan .

 

I could be wrong, but I don't remember of any servicing tales from anyone with a non-track CCB w213 daily here.

I would definitely spend a lot of effort trying to ascertain if a CCB car has seen any track time, though.

Given the way our traction control system's work, I would also take a good look at the rear brakes of any canyon carver selling their CCB car.

FWIW I think back in the w212 forum there was a wagon owner who said after 25,000 miles their dealer measure their CCB rotor wear at 5-7%, and that owner had tracked his wagon a few times.

 

+1 on rear brakes for anyone who sports around much in the Comfort, Sport, or Sport+ settings. Less so in Race mode as TC is less aggressive but still kicks in and applies rear brakes to control rear traction and the rear end stepping out more than a little. Basically, if you see your yellow TC indicator lighting up on the dash very often, make sure they check your rear brakes at service time.

I was blown away when I learned that my Jeep Wrangler Rubicon needed new rear pads at only 20 k miles. Turns out that when driving down desert washes in 2WD the Jeep was regularly engaging one or both rear brakes to limit wheel spin. Same thing applies to the Merc whenever the rear wheels start to spin.

My car will be going in for its 5th annual service in about a month so we'll see how the CCBs are holding up. I suspect pretty well as I only have 21 k miles on it and in the past two years haven't made it out to do much canyon carving. Palomar Mountain is still fun, but not so much now that they made it a 35 mi/h speed limit the whole way . . .

My understanding though is that as long as you have the pads replaced before they're worn too far, the CCB rotors are good to go for quite a while.

 

Yes, as has been stated here, the standard and inexpensive preventative maintenance procedure on any CCB system is to replace the pads no later than 50% pad wear. If there are any techs lurking here in the know, please share the OEM pad specs so we can break out our calipers and check.

 

Rotor thickness specs would be helpful as well. I assume they must be measured and replaced at a certain percentage of OEM thickness?

 

CCB rotor wear is measured by weight (loss).

 

That is correct.

 

Interesting, didn’t know that.

Any idea what percent loss is acceptable / when the rotor needs to be replaced?

I’ve got multiple rallies and track days on my wagon with 34k miles. Maybe I should check the rotors soon?

 

The rotors have round wear markers on them, take a picture, post it here and we can comment
If the spots are rough or color changed more than 50%, it's time to change the rotors too

 

Mine just had its service at Mercedes and they said brake pad wear was 10% front and 8%rear and that's with 25K on the clock. so 100K is very do-able.

 

I've been wondering what these circles are. Thanks!

 

at 32k i have 9mm left on the rotors. i so love CCB'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the info on the wear circle markers . May be going to look at one with ccb's . I will give these a good look & look for any chips etc. I guess if all checks out , can get exact #s during a ppi. What's the health of the circle on the rotor you posted - just as a reference point ?

 

I don't even have 12k miles yet, so I'm probably good for a while. I love the CCB for the always-clean look and the great bite. I'm sure my W212 steal stopped as well, but in my head the CCB are better!

 

When people were asking about brake selection early on, there were many CCB deniers early on, claiming they squeal, don't stop when cold, don't last long, cause flatulence and erectile disfunction, etc.

I've been super happy with mine. They've never squealed, have had great initial bite even when cold, have never faded on me under very spirited mountain road driving conditions, haven't worn out so far in 20 k miles, and my wife is still happy, though there may be some truth to the flatulence claim . . .

The number one thing that I really like about the CCBs is the lack of brake dust. I'm sure I'd be totally happy with the steel brakes if I had ordered my car with them but am very happy I chose the CCBs. Are they worth the extra cost when ordering just to avoid dealing with some brake dust and dirty wheels, probably not. On a used car the price adder for CCBs is probably a fraction of the original cost - just guessing. That cost may be offset somewhat by the lower frequency of brake pad and rotor changes so over time the cost of ownership may not be so high.

So far I haven't really seen any downside.

 

Love my CCBs but periodically they squeal like a hamster in a snake pit

 

Bringing back the thread:

My front pads on my CCBs are currently about 60% or slightly less.

What replacement pads do you guys go with when it comes time for replacement?

 

Nice, time to get down to business. I don't have any experience to base this on but...with how expensive the rotors are, there would have to be a very compelling reason to go with a non-OEM pad, no?

Out of curiosity, what is your mileage?

 

I'd only do OEM. The rotors are way too expensive to risk anything else. In Canada each rotor is $6,210. The pads are "only" $1130 and $620 front/rear. (Keep in mind that's in Canadian before the usual 20% discount.)

In freedom bucks internet tells me:
Front $700 Disk Brake Pad - Mercedes-Benz (000-421-94-01)
Rear $280 Brake Pads Rear - Mercedes-Benz (000-420-32-02)

 

I'm currently at 20500 miles. Purchased dec 2020 with 7400 miles. But according to the GPS history at sale, it shows the prev owner frequented the track down in FL quite often. Would'nt be surprised, he did trade it in after a year for a 2021 turboS.

I've also added downpipes, stage 2 along with CPC+TCU tuned it last month after my warranty expired.

 

I thought I read somewhere here that it is safe to change the CCB pads at around 30-40% to prevent any additional wears on the rotors? At 60% still a lot of pad left.

 

I would hope 30-40% is good enough. I still have a AMG meet at Atco Dragway in NJ on 6/20, 3 weeks before my scheduled 40K service

 

I'm waiting for someone to disprove what I believe is to be a myth for street driving.

If tracking, yeah, you want lots of mm and meat on the pads before the weekend starts. Starting an event with 1/2 pads would be risky, could use them up and wreck rotors.

But on the street? I see no reason to change out pads for no reason at 50% wear.

Like I said in another thread - because pads are so cheap compared to rotors I'm too chicken **** to put my money where my mouth is and will probably change my pads out at 50% too.

In my gut I think it's stupid. IMHO there is no reason mechanically why the rotors would wear faster if using good pads below 50%. I have no idea where this legend started.

 

On the GT models, there seems to be more wear on the inner pads than the outer. Due to visibility, some may go overboard and replace the pads earlier than needed. Given the costs of the rotor, probably not the worst idea but more for tracking. Easiest to get the car on the lift from time to time when at 50% or below and check for even wear.

Also plenty of people replace/upgrade the brake pads on their GT models which has the same brake system/rotors as the E63s. OEM pads are 3rd party pads anyways, made by Brembo and/or Pagid. Pagid RSC1 pads would be an option.