So I bought my 2018 e63s wagon two years ago, and the brakes (steel) have always been squealy/noisy. I chalked it up to the fact that these cars are known to have squealy/dusty brakes, but lately it has gotten a bit more sonorous, so I asked the people at the shop I take it to here on the Colorado front range to take a peek while it was in for its 'B' service.
The car has ~30K miles on it, but since I haven't owned it since new, I figured I might as well have them take a look.
Keep in mind I knew what I was getting into when I bought the car, these aren't particularly cheap cars to maintain. I also spent the first 15 years of my working career as a German car technician/shop manager, so I know the "business".
The service writer sends me a text with a checklist of items to approve, no call, no discussion. The price? EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS.
He didn't mic the rotors to tell me if they were still in spec, didn't give me pad percentages, just "NEEDS NEW BRAKES FRONT AND REAR".
I found this rather amusing, so I declined the service and put the car up in the air when I got home. The front pads have about 30% remaining, the rears about 40%. And the rotors are still well within spec, so I'm going to do what I was going to do from the beginning, which is put some ceramic pads on it and go from there. Cost out the door? $200.
Worse case scenario is that I replace the rotors if they are still noisy after bed-in, but I have a feeling that things are going to be OK, given the mileage on the car.
Has anyone else seen a price estimate like this for brakes on a W213 AMG? It doesn't really seem conscionable. It's a high-performance car, but it's not a freaking Bentley/Lambo/Ferrari, and their pricing structure ($1,200 each for front rotors) is pretty silly when one can buy a full front set of Brembo rotors and pads online for $1,500.
I think the main pool of clients for this shop is CU sorority girls who just put it on daddy's credit card, as these guys truly didn't seem to care whether I ever returned or not, which I won't.

 

Preach!

Yes, I had a $6400 quote on my w212 for full brake job from a benz dealer (did it for $1400 from Indy) and I routinely read these type of scenarios and quotes on this forum. Dealers suck at times and probably most just pay the bill

you're just the next potential sucker, you returning or not doesn't make a difference to them sadly:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s63-amg-s...ds-rotors.html

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...e-shocker.html

a bmw dealer recently quoted me $6000 in small repairs needed on my bmw 550 and my Indy took care of me for $1200 and all the work was done by the Indy and done right

 

That's what surprised me, as this is an indy shop with good reviews, but I noticed that they are under new ownership, which may be a factor. I played Columbo with the service writer for a minute and basically got him to admit that he, and everyone else that works there, drives a ****box and thinks that people who drive nice cars are stupid people who waste money. I appreciate his candor, but not his business ethics.

 

I used to value reviews - now I've come to realize they are muddied with fake reviews and/or people that love to dish out accolades regardless of what they paid so long as it was a smooth process. I agree that it's so high for an Indy but at least he came clean.

 

A couple thoughts:

1. It seems that brakes are one of the most abused maintenance items. I simply cannot believe the premium dealers, or any shop for that matter ask. On top of that, it's a simple and quick job!

The 'need to replace rotors and pads every time' line also insults one's intelligence. In fairness, albeit undeserved, explaining to the average owner that their rotors will be worn beyond spec within the life of the new pads is probably not enjoyable.

2. I'm not entirely sure that 'luxury' automaker maintenance really needs to cost owners what it does. Yes OEM or quality parts are more money. But the dealer's nail everyone so hard they undermine the value proposition of the car. My previous car, Jag XFR cost me next to nothing to own for 12 years aside from brakes and tires. Why...only saw the dealership twice. Every German car owner I know gets handed a $7,500-$15k bill for a car that seemed to be in fine operating condition when it went in for 'maintenance'. Recently, while kicking the proverbial tire just for kicks, my dealer wanted $3400 for the same tires I did for $1800. Insulting me like that just settled my approach as it has in the past.

2.

 

for some odd reason, the OEM rear rotors are more expensive than the front ones. Yeah. I am in Canada. If I want the OEM rotors and pads and sensors ... I have to sell my organs to get it done at dealer.

 

My pads went from 5mm (needing replacement) to 7mm in a year at my dealer. At that rate by now they're probably at 10mm.

Other than warranty work, all my service is now done at a couple of independents (one for wheel/tire/suspension and one for everything else).

Oh. and there definitely something going on with those brakes. I have a 2018 too and it has never squeaked. ever. 38K miles

 

My stock rear brake on one side squeaked since new. I think the pads and shims needed greasing, but I replaced the pads with Powerstop Z23 pads since taking off the wheels and calipers was more than half the effort to grease the pads alone. No more squeak and no more dust.

 

How is braking power vs oem pads?

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...on-brakes.html

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...-pads-e43.html

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...endations.html

 

Thank you for taking the time to post these links!

 

To those that changed their pads and rotors, do you have the torque specs? Caliper bracket, bracket that holds the pads in, etc?

 

im glad you asked the question - I added this to the sticky since it's a frequently discussed topic

 

"2. I'm not entirely sure that 'luxury' automaker maintenance really needs to cost owners what it does. Yes OEM or quality parts are more money. But the dealer's nail everyone so hard they undermine the value proposition of the car. My previous car, Jag XFR cost me next to nothing to own for 12 years aside from brakes and tires. Why...only saw the dealership twice. Every German car owner I know gets handed a $7,500-$15k bill for a car that seemed to be in fine operating condition when it went in for 'maintenance'. Recently, while kicking the proverbial tire just for kicks, my dealer wanted $3400 for the same tires I did for $1800. Insulting me like that just settled my approach as it has in the past."

- I agree wholeheartedly. The brake parts on these cars are not limited-run by any definition of the term. They are shared widely along the model lines of AMG, and there are a LOT of AMG cars running around out there. Basing the pricing on a fantasy that there are little elves in Germany hand-crafting these parts one at a time in quaint workshops is transparent scammery at its worst, and the purchase price of the vehicle in no way reflects a commitment into $8K brake jobs every 30K miles.

 

OK, I'm back to report success, I think.. There was only one odd event during the procedure, that being when I went to take the brake system out of "Pad Replacement Mode" (This function unwinds the emergency brake actuators for brake servicing) the system stated that "Conditions Not Met" and the e-brake was stuck "on" and wouldn't release. With the sun setting, I found an obscure MB service video created to address a stuck e-brake. This involved removing the RR ebrake actuator and winding it back (clockwise?) to an indeterminate point (it never bottomed out for me like it did in the video) and reassembling.

Needless to say, when I put the car back down and released the e-brake, everything returned to normal. I'm thinking that the ebrake actuator unwound all the way, as it does in pad replacement mode, and then it lost its little mind and couldn't figure out where it was in reference to its home point, and my re-setting must've, well, reset it.

At any rate, I bedded in the pads and the brakes are as quiet as a mouse's fart now, fingers crossed!