Today I was driving along, rolled to a stopsign and noticed that my brake pad indicator light was on. I began to wonder if the kleen wheels were screwing with the system, then came to the conclusion that that would be impossible, and my front brakes must be worn. So I dropped my car off at my mechanic while I worked. When I came back, they told me that yes, in fact, my front brakes had 10-15% left. But the back were atleast 60-65% good! He says this is from my driving style (not sedate!). But I guess tha tough braking outweighed much of my conservative driving when I was so good on the brakes! Oh well. He says they are going to try a german brand called RIPCO. And only the front brakes need to be done. He is only going to charge me for the parts, and he'll do the labor for free since it has only been about 17,000 miles since I got the brakes. But the rears are still more than half good!
Question... is it normal for the front brakes to wear MUCH faster (I know a little is normal), if I have a 'harder than normal' driving style? Thankssss!

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

Front brakes do 75% of the braking. Normal for rear pads to last 2 to 3 times longer than the fronts.
I'll bet the pads that your tech is talking about is REPCO, & they come from "down-under" not Germany.

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Well then are Repco good pads? Or should I have him stick with the soft OEM pads?
I didn't know that there was that much of a difference. I thought that the rear brakes only lasted about 25% longer than the fronts. Oh well, I guess it's normal then. It's only gonna cost $60. No big deal. Small price to pay.
Thanks for the help.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

David,

I would go with either some really good aftermarket pads, or some oem pads. I used textar on my car, and could not be happier with the results.

I was going to do front and rear, but my rears were pretty much new, so I figure I'll change them later on. I do have the rears in the trunk waiting to be installed if need be.

Most any car will use the front more than the back when braking.

My 1983 GMC Jimmy that I had, used to go through a set of front raybestos pads every month, The guys at pep boys hated me because I would trade in the pads for new ones at no charge every month. It turned out the rear brake shoes were not in correctly so the car was using the front brake pretty much only. Even after I got the rears fixed, the fronts would still wear out after about a month to a month and a half.

Talk about crappy pads. Once I changed to another brand, they lasted much longer.

Not all pads are created equal. go with OEM, or something that is of equal or better quality.

Your brakes are one of the most important features of a car, don't take them for granted by using cheap pads.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

The front pads wear a lot faster because when you decelerate, the weight distribution of the car shifts heavily to the front.

I also use Textar pads and am qute happy with them. I avoid "lifetime" pads: the Mercedes or OEM pads have a much shorter life and produce more dust, but the "lifetime" pads just don't stop the car as smoothly, quietly, or effectively. Which is more important?

- Nathan
'83 240D "Steiner"
'00 New Beetle TDI

Get German made OEM pads such as Textar or Pagid. I have had good luck with Pagid OEM pad. They did'nt sqeek like Raybestos. I'm sticking with pagid.

__________________
1990 190E 2.6
1996 Grand Voyager 3.3
1985 Mustang GT 5.0 5 SPD
1982 Suzuki GS 750T

I had some "metal matrix" or master or something like that on my 300zx, they made a little bit of a squeak, but stopped the car a lot better. Metal all the way.

don't eat raw meat!

I bought OEM pads from the dealer for $98, that is list price. Later, I returned them because my tech had already purchased brake pads for only $40. So I returned the MB brake pads (which I later realized, DUH, Partsshop!!!!!!!!!). Oh well, next time...!
Anyway, when I took my car over today to have the front brakes done, he said he'd charge $60 for the pads ($20 markup, it took some wrenching to find out how much he got for them ). And then $30 for the resurfacing of the rotors (and MB says replace rotors every time, correct? ). So I paid $90. He didn't charge for any instal. We take many cars to him so he's pretty good to us. And the pads he had were PAGID, perfect!!
Now the brakes are nice and firm again. I don't have to push the petal nearly as far as I did before (don't recall it being like that last brake job). So that's that!

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

Are you sure that the pedal travel is not psychological? Why would only replacing the pads and resurfacing the rotors change the pedal travel unless something else was done?

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

I am 98% sure. The second I got back into the car after having the brakes replaced, I noticed how I didn't have to push as far. I did mention this in the post because I didn't think that should happen. It feels better this way though... but I am pretty convinced it's not psychological.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

I have had nothing but excellent results using several sets of REPCO pads on a 535i and now my 300CE. ( I think they were bought out by another company and go by another name now.)

The primary benefit is far, far less dusting than OEM pads. Stopping power, I think, is comparable to OEM. The only downside is that you might occasionally get some squeaking on the rears, but it sounds like you didn't need those anyway. But the fronts come with the teflon anti-squeal pad so they're quiet; the rears didn't.

Some argue they're harder on the rotors, that may be, but I have yet to detect that. Rotor replacement is relatively inexpensivvec and should be done at some regular intervals when warranted anyway to maintain effective braking.

The Pagids brake just fine. But the dust is still covering the rims very fast.

But I think that these pads SUCK because they squeek and sound like metal on metal!! I HATE THAT!! That drove me crazy with the original set of pads on the car when I got them. I can't get the squeek to go away! I've stomped on the brakes to get any glaze off (as if I would have any on there ANYWAY!!!!!!!). Maybe some anti-squeel? I just can't stand the squeeking and metal on metal sound....!

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

David,
RE: the noise -- were the new pads properly broken in? I've heard the best way to do that is to make about 10 easy stops from 35-40 mph, giving the rotors and pads time to cool off between stops. If this is not followed, the pads may wear faster than normal, make more noise than normal, and not "feel" right since the high spots on the pads get burned if the brakes are applied too hard right after the pads are replaced.

__________________
Steve
'93 400E

Front brakes do 75% of the braking, so there wear faster
The rear pads to last 2 to 3 times longer than the fronts.
I'm from Germany and I never heard the name REPCO.

David:

Make sure the anti-squeal shims are properly installed, and that the retainer pins and springs are in good shape.

Disk brakes squeal a lot -- MBs aren't too bad, but volvo 740's are notorious for shrieking brakes -- a friend of mine worked for NATO in Belgium, and the border guard would put their fingers in their ears when he drove up in his 740 it squealed so bad.

Soft pads help, as does gentle braking until the squeal goes away -- if the pads vibrate a lot, they can wear funny. MB OEM pads are relatively soft for just this reason -- very good braking and no squeal. The price is short life.

I'd recommend gentle braking and coasting down to stops anyway. I love to drive fast, even in the old 72, but my brakes last forever -- 60,000 in the Volvo front pads, at least 20.000 on the 220, etc. Gentle stops are easier on your passengers and the rest of the car, too! Probably a habit left over from my first car, a 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 -- ran like a bat out of hell -- easy to run 90+ on the highway without knowing it, and brakes smaller than our 1970 Bettle...... one learned to brake early and often, or one didn't stop at all --- you could lock up the tires, but still didn't stop very quickly! Ran amny a stop sign, passed many a driveway until I learned to slow down early.

The MB recommendation is a set of rotors each third pad replacement. My mechanic replaces rotors if there is a discernable lip on the outer edge -- when they are worn enough to show this ridge where the pads don't cover the outer rim, they are too thin to machine. Never allow them to get too thin, as the pads will run up on the retaining spring -- this will cock the piston in the bore, cause the brakes to drag badly, and bake the rubber parts, ruining the caliper..... exspensive!

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!