210 Wagon - warped rotors?
 

On our newly acquired 2000 W210 wagon, we're noticing a some pedal surging when coming to a stop. It's not a huge amount, but it is definitely annoying.

In looking through some posts here, warped rotors sound like a leading cause of this. I also read that over torqued wheels could cause this problem, and I'm fairly certain that happened on the vehicle. I just swapped out the rims on the car - reverting to stock - and there was WAY more than 80 ft. lbs. on several of the front wheel lug bots. I didn't measure it, but it took a a pipe extension on a breaker bar to break a few of them free. For whatever reason, the rear wheels seemed fine.

Per the receipts I got with the car, the brakes are almost new - about one year, and less than 5K miles. My guess is, the wheels were re-installed by some gorilla at the time.

Anyway, given that new front rotors are relatively inexpensive, I've no problem replacing them. Which leads to a couple questions...

- Can/should I simply replace the rotors, or should I replace the pads as well? The pads look like new, but I've no idea whether a warped rotor would result in any damage to them.

- Phil sells three different rotor brands, all cost about the same - Brembo, Zimmermann and Balo. Any reason to pick one over the other?

Thanks.

There are SEVERAL reasons for run out on the brake rotors

Over tighten the lug bolts ala IMPACT

Panic Stops then rest the car with the foot on the brakes..

Car wash after NOT letting the car / BRAKES Cool down

Buy a New Set of OE Brand Rotors and have them treated ala Cryo dip
The Cryogenic treatment Will help the Rotor life up to Three Times longer

Also Purchase a set of low dust pads to match the New Brake rotors

I Had the Cryogenic Treatment done on my New Rotors when I Upgraded my Brakes to the AMG E55 Brakes
on my 2000 W210 Wagon They have 60k on them and the rotors look great!

I would bed the brakes in again before spending money. Do a few hard stops from 40-50mph with a run around the block after each. Do not come to a full stop after each one just drive around to cool the rotors and do it again. 4 times should be good. See how that helps before replacing stuff.

If the pads are relatively knew you can use them again, but sometimes with bad rotors the pads are sometimes the problem.