I recently replaced the front brake pads on the 124 (1990 300TE). We had to park it for a while due to insurance problems but now that it's been fixed my mom drives it daily. But she's been reporting that the brakes do not function properly. She says the pedal is pushing against her feet sometimes when she brakes, and that the car "slides" forward as if it's not braking.

What did I do wrong with the brake repair? I would think this is the ABS sensing some trouble, and maybe it's been posted before, but I don't know what key words to look for. The brakes worked well after replacing the pads, which was around March or early April I think. This problem only appeared recently. And it only appears intermittently. Most of the time it would brake normally, but sometimes it would just do that.

Before I forget I also rememebered that one of the two 13mm (or were they 15mm?) bolts holding the floating type calipers in (with blue Loctite) was a bit loose in that the bolt and its nut were spinning somewhat freely but the caliper was held in place nonetheless. These bolts are the ones you have to remove to access the calipers by the way. It was like this for both wheels so I didn't think much of it. Are these supposed to be really tight? I tightened them as much as I could but it was hard holding the nut in place while I tightened the bolt because the gap wasn't wide enough for what I think was a 15mm open end wrench.

Please advise. Thanks.

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I would pull the wheels off again and check everything for tightness.

I took a 15mm wrench that I use for this purpose only and ground the sides down on my bench grinder to make the wrench thinner so it would fit on the 15mm bolt better so I could tighten the 13mm bolt without interference from the 15mm bolt.

Yeah, I'd say take the wheels off and inspect your work,make sure everything is tight as they should be pretty tight.

Also make sure your brake pads were not put in backwards, seen guys do it before.

Also check for brake fluid leaks at the caliper seals and brake hoses.

You also may have a brake caliper hose plugged up not allowing the fluid to pass through to the caliper, this could cause a hard pedal and the pedal feeling like it wants to jump back on your foot.

The easiest way to tell if your hose is locked up is to crack the bleeder at the caliper and have someone step on the brake pedal to see if fluid is getting past the hose to the caliper.

It really sounds like a plugged hose, but that's just my best guess at the moment.
It could also be a seized up caliper or air in the system.

Remember, to tighten the bleeder valve on the caliper while the assistant has the pedal to the floor so air does not enter the system.

I will walk you through it should you get to that point.
Call me at 404-723-1346.
John,( Benzmobility.)

PS, make sure you use jack stands along with your floor jack for safety.

Thanks John, unfortunately the underground garage doesn't have good phone reception so I'll post what I can over here and report back. In the mean time my mom will use her other car, and the TE is parked. I have to take my final exams next week so until then I will update on it.

By the way you have a good point about the kinked hose. I'm sure I double checked the pads, and they should be in the right way. Otherwise this would be happening all the time right?

Never dealt with a floating caliper before, did work on the w123 which were solid type, so removing the caliper was a first for me so maybe the hose might be kinked like you said.

Thanks again. Any more input is welcome

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The hose is probably not kinked but rather blocked internally, or the caliper is seized up.
You may tell mom to park the car till you get it adressed ,I'm sure she's worth it.