I was working on a customers car at his home, and a delivery guy comes by and asked me for a business card and told me he had an E-430 that had the brake pad light on and he told me he would call me when he was ready.

Well, two years go by and he calls me to come to his home to give him a quote because he had never changed his pads out since he saw me that day.

I get to his home and inspect the vehicle.

I really should have taken pictures, but I will explain what I saw.

Both fron brake rotors were worn down on the inside of the disks all the way to the fins.
There were only slivers of metal left where the pads should be meeting the disks.

The inboard pad on the pass side no longer had any backing plate left and the caliper piston was touching what was left of the rotor.

The drivers side inboard pad had a sliver of backing plate left.

At this point ,both calipers were leaking brake fluid from the pistons.

I can only imagine what kind of noise this vehicle was making while braking.

The guy was letting his cute little 90 pound wife drive the car like this.

They both should be ashamed of themselves.

I gave him a reasonable repair quote and never heard back from him.

The kicker was this guy does not have enough money to repair the brakes on his wife's car, but he had just moved into a $600,000 home.

Go figure.

No surprise there. He managed to squeak into the $600K home and, therefore, he has no money for brakes, or food for that matter........

I guess you don't have annual car inspections down there. I hope that guy loses that 600K house when he runs into someone and there is an injury or a fatality.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

We've got 'em in NY. A basic test for functionality of lights and brakes and a front end check to make sure the wheels are not falling off.

$37.00 and it's worth every penny to keep the criminally dangerous off the roads.

I get to pay $10.00 for the diesels.........no emissions testing.

Good thing he has a 90lb wife!

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

LOL! I bet the oil has never been changed either.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

wow... some people.. I would have called DOT to have his car booted or something so this blatent disregard for safety doesnt hit the road .. or anything else solid

He said she had to quit driving it when the car would no longer stop and the pedal went all the way to the floor.

I mean, what do you say to someone that freaking simple?

He kept telling me he wanted to get me to do all this work because he likes to keep up on his maintenance.

Uh.....Okay.

I wish you could have seen the look on my face when he was feeding me this garbage.

I told him I take cash in advance after witnessing this situation.

I don't blame y ou, I would have done the same thing, thats scary.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

how much do you think it would have cost to fix it..

Holy crap. He doesn't watch out, it'll be a case of natural selection.

Nimrod.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

It depends on who does the work.

He would have needed both front calipers, and I would replace the hoses too.
Front pads and rotors, and a complete brake flush.

I conservatively quoted a little over $1100.00.

He had two other quotes over $1600.00

If he changed the front pads two years ago about $50. Idiots, they deserve what they get.

How much you want to be the hood has never been popped either. Probably still has the factory air and oil filter in their.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Oh, yeah.

I'm sure you are right.

Aren't those drive by wire? Is there a physical connection between brake and master cylinder?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman