W124 Front Brake Pads? Preference? (300D 2.5)
 

Hey everyone,

Its coming time to replace my front brakes on my 300D. I've got some rotor warp so I'm lining up parts for the replacement.

I've selected ATE PremiumOne Rotors as I've always had good luck with them in the past.

I am not sure on pads. Currently the car has pads that the previous owner bought directly from Mercedes-Benz. They're got a good feel to them and seem to be very low dust. I can get them for $80-100 a set but that's nearly double what I can get from any where else!

I see the following brands:
Textar
Jurid
Pagid
ATE
Bendix
Mercedes
Akebono
a few other non-familiar names too..


What's your preference?

Also this is the first Mercedes that I've owned/worked on that is single piston front brakes. All my 126's are dual, my 190E is quad...I never thought MB used single piston fronts.. interesting for sure.

When I did the brakes on our Sienna, I went with "Wearever Platinum Ceramic" brake pads from that Auto store where you buy stuff online in Advance and get 20% off. Hmmm, I wonder who could that be? ;) The pads are supposed to have a long life -- a reviewer on the site of the aforementioned store said that he had 70% left at 40,000 miles, or something impressive like that. We've since done a couple of hard stops and many softer stops, and pads feel sweeeeeet :cool:.

hard pad material eats discs, I would suggest to stick to the OE Mercedes pads or textars/Jurid etc.

They provide the best brake performance and the best brake disc life. You have to clean the wheels every week though.

Use whatever you can find that will fit and is Ceramic. No noise, no dust, last a long time, disk ware the same for the same mileage.

Above from experience, not hear-say.

Paul

Centrix Ceramic.

I put Akebono EUR423 ceramic pads in the front of my '95 E300 (W124) and Akebono EUR710 ceramic pads in the front of my wife's '96 E300 (W210). The '95 has about 7,000 miles on those pads and the '96 about 5,000 miles. I thought at first that braking took slightly greater pedal pressure but that may just have been as the pads bedded into the rotors. Today we notice no difference (or maybe we just got used to the new pads). The amount of dust left on the wheels by the Akebono pads is much less than the factory pads making us very happy. The wheels are much, much easier to keep clean now.

I don't have enough miles on the Akebono pads to determine whether rotor wear has increased. Given the few miles we drive, I may never know. In any case, disk rotors aren't that expensive -- in April I put Zimmermann rotors on the front of the '96 for a total of $113 (parts) with me doing the work.

Jeremy

I've settled into the pattern of Balo rotors and Pagid pads....have had great success.

Brake squeaking, which used to be the bane of my existence, hasn't been a problem in a LONG time.

No comparison...Australian Organics made by PBR.

Between August of 2005 and May of 2013, I got 88,000 out of the rotors and PBR pads on my 1978 300SD before needing replacement.

I've never had a better pad, and I've used Pagid and others....FWIW

I've never had a problem with Textar pads, or Pagid or Jurid. Just dusty.

I had PBR Rotors on the 190. They were absolute crap.

Balo Rotors and PBR pads...No dust and 88,000 miles of life, better than any other rotor/pad combo I ever used....

The PBR pads are just PBR not another brand made by PBR?

I think these
AXXIS BRAKES - ULT Semi Metallic

are made by PBR? They were on my 190E when I bought it..I liked them.

Ill chime in on the genuine MB pads. After a few thousand miles I say they stop well but dusty as hell

PBR Organics, for a W116 they are PN D254DP....

If you bed in the Akebonos properly, they will BITE just as good as OE pads.

I have Akebono pads in my 300D (w123) and Textar pads in my 190E. Both cars brake just as good.

The front Akebono pads in my 300D were installed in 2009 and still remain pretty thick today. The rotors appear to have no observable wear (they were replaced at the same time, with new ATE along with new bearings).

After each drive, I need to clean the 190E's wheels to keep it as clean as my 300D with the Akebonos. Same route, same distance, same braking. Sure the 300D is a heavier car, but those Textars are dusty!

Two notes, depending on your local autozone most offer a lifetime warranty on their gold pads and get this it covers wear. So in other words you can bring in worn out pads and swap them as long as they were duralast golds. I'm on my second set of "free" pads. You can change the single piston fronts four the fours, awesome upgrade and not too expensive if your good at parts hunting.

Whaaat.....? Wish I'd known that. :(

Well looks like the ATE Premium One are NLA in the US. I think I discovered that a few months/years ago but wasn't sure. I thought they were back when I saw them on the one website but oh well.

I think I will go with Balo rotor and Pagid front pads. I've had good luck with Pagid/Jurid stuff on my other cars. With the 300D I prefer not to get overly experimental. The 190 is a different story.

Akebono's are good I agree, but expensive. I prefer the PBR Organics that have a gray/white pad material with copper (non-ferrous) particles present. No rotor wear and no dusting.

D254DP for the W116 cost my $24.95 a set.

I hardly ever have to clean my wheels and when I do, the dust just rinses off....

Organic vs. Inorganic?
 

Not that expensive -- I paid $38.80 for the set for my '95 E300, including new wear sensors -- but you did indeed get a good price on the PBR Organics (but are they truly organic? Inquiring minds / organic farmers everywhere / want to know!)

Jeremy

Yes, well 'organic' as I am told refers to a non-asbestos friction material that has no ferrous metal in it. Semi-Metallics and Ceramics wear rotors quickly, no ferrous pads do not.

I brake aggressively and they are great pads....

P.S. The set for the rear was only $12.95

I'll second what Jeremy said about Akebono - takes more pedal pressure than any other pad I recall under normal braking but there when you mash the pedal, and the front wheels stay as clean as the rear wheels (not Akebono) with no effort. I heard from folks who do that sort of thing that Akebono are decent track pads.

Sixto
87 300D

That's the thing I don't like is high pedal effort. When I converted the 300SD to DOT 5 brake fluid my pedal went from OK to rock solid, almost no movement at all. The combination of the PBR Organic Pads, stone-ground Balo rotors and the silicone fluid give unreal braking performance for a big, heavy car.

When you put your foot on the brake, it is as if the pressure you input is multiplied several times without you ever pressing any harder on the pedal....

I like my pedal to be solid and firm. I like the car to be stopped long before I hit end of travel.

My 300D has a nice firm pedal right now. I dont have to push it to the floor to get the car to stop.

I had Akebono pads on my 190E. I did not like them took too much pedal effort to bring the car to a stop.

Dang, now I'm going to be thinking about how much more pedal effort it takes. I'd forgotten already :) I think of it as driving a Citroen.

Sixto
87 300D

LOL!!!!!

If you own a Citroen, you would be walking.... :-)

Doktor Bert, it would be helpful to know where you purchased the PBR pads...

I bought them from Napa in Palm Springs...but you can get them online from a number of suppliers.

Alright folks! Just finished this job. Pretty straight forward as far as brakes goes. Never did a brake job on a single piston MB setup before.

I went with Balo rotors and Pagid pads. The Balo's were made in germany. yay!

When I took the old rotors and pads off, the rotors were pretty worn but the pads had good life left in them. I emailed the PO to see where he bought them. He said he ordered them from the dealership. They were actually JURID pads.

I believe Pagid/Jurid were OEM for pads on these cars.