First, a little background on the problem I'm trying to fix: My '85 300D shudders while braking at almost all speeds. I'm thinking that I may have some bad discs up front.

I just bought a new set of discs for the front end, and since Mercedesshop is offering free shipping I went ahead and ordered some other things I thought I might need sometime down the road, including a new set of front OEM brake pads.

About a month ago I replaced my front pads with some pads I bought from the local autozone (I forget the brand). They work well, don't squeak, and actually helped my problem with the shuddering somewhat.

My question is, when I replace my front discs, should I go ahead and replace my almost-new aftermarket pads with the OEM pads?

As to whether your warped rotors put any serious wear on the pads, I’d rather doubt it, UNLESS you’ve put on a lot of miles in that month, or unless the pads turn out to be scored or glazed. Check for wear, scoring and/or glazing when you remove them and take it from there.

There is a lot of debate about which break pads are the way to go, or rather, the way to stop. Since OEM rotors are supposedly designed to work with OEM pads, there is an obvious solution. However, as long as the pads are of good quality, the risks include not as good of stopping power, shorter life, and accelerated wear on the rotors. The good news is that there are not many pads around that will let off more dust than the OEM pads. There is a recent discussion by someone who is using a type of premium dustless break pad. He’s had good luck with them in the past and sees no reason not to continue to use them.

IMO the breaks are the only thing between you and certain death. Don’t cheap out.

…Tracy

Save the old ones for use on your or someone else's car in a pinch (like when you are rotating tires on a Sun eve and discover you are a hair's breath form metal-to-metal contact on the brakes). New rotors always deserve new pads as your current ones will not contact them uniformly.

I recently changed the metallic Raybestos pads (Pep Boys)I installed along with new rotors on my Saab 900 18,000 miles ago. They were nearly worn out and I was experiencing significant pulsing through the pedal while braking. It was the second set of Raybestos "lifetime" warranty pads to last under 20K miles. I used PBR Deluxe this time and the pulsing nearly disappeared. I don't think the new rotors warped but I noticed there are a couple of surface imperfections on one that the other pads apparently "grabbed" on more than these do.

I too would recommend getting new pads. Using old pads, you run the risk of squeeling, and prematurely wearing out the rotors, due to scores on the pads.

Also, equally important is to set the pads in properly. After they're installed, take time to break the pads in. Go to a nice open road, get up to 40-50mph, then come to a near stop, with steady even pressure. Continue this process for a few miles. Doing this will help seat the pads to the new rotors, and ensure a nice long squeel free brake setup.

Great, I'll install them OEM pads then Thanks for the information everyone.

Are there any tricks to installing new front rotors on W123's, or is it just like doing the job on any other car? I don't expect it to be much trouble, considering how easy it is to change pads on these things.

Thanks again everyone.
Chris

Straut,

I too have experienced the Albany brand brake pads that autozone sells. I bought them a few months before I went to works for their main competition in the south east. I personally would recommend changing those pads, but not because of the new rotors(although its not a bad idea). My main reason is that I have found this brand of pad to be very very prone to dusting. I have since then replaced them with Bendix pads before they had reached their end of life span, and the dusting has stopped.

Jason M.