My 94 E-420 seems to go through front pads very quickly, every 12000 to 14000 miles. Is that usual or is my wife riding the brakes?? By the way, is there an advantage using OEM pads rather than aftermarket?

It is usual when the wife drives the MB, they are always braking, haha.

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85 300CD Signal Red/Tan sold
83 300D Manganese Brown 109K
97 E420 Midnight Blue 197K sold
98 BMW 328i Vert White 100K, sold
95 BMW 525i White 125K, sold
93 BMW 525iT Red 193K, sold
95 E320 Green Wagon 125K, sold
94 E320 White 127K, sold
85 300SD 156K Grey (Annie), sold
84 300D Lapis Blue 170K (Judy), sold
99 ML 320 Black (lease), 1998 C230 White (lease)
00 Honda S2000 Red (lease)
86 Mercedes 300E (sold)
84 Porsche 911 Red (sold), 1965 Porsche 911 White (sold)

Mercedes can wear brakes quickly when they are used often in stop and go traffic. I prefer to stick with OEM pads, they perform better than a lot of aftermarket pads and are quiet.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

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

45000 miles on my front pads now. -Still plenty of pad left.
But a lot of it is highway miles = not that much breaking.

I'd be pretty annoyed if my pads only lasted 12-14000 miles. Ask your wife if she found the footrest yet.

Freestyler

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Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do, you're a mile away -and you have his shoes!


'86 300E optically converted to '95 E300 (Sold)
-Blauschwarz on silver
-Black leather
-17" AMG & 15" AMG for winter

The front air dam of the 124 cars has blocked brake air vents.

This is so the air dam is aerodynamically effective at high speeds. But since ultra high speeds are seldom achieved here in the U.S. I have removed the vent blocks on my 124 cars.

It is easy to do: Looking carefully from inside the front wheel wells, the air blocks are seen. They are held in by metal caps over small plastic studs attached to the front bumper cover.

Of course it is hard to measure, but I seem to have great brake pad life generally speaking.

To just be sure to remind yourself that you will experience a slight increase in front-end areo drag at say 135 MPH..... from the minor reduction in air management ..... in exchange for increased amounts of air going into the front wheel area.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

I had this same concern not long ago...

How many miles are you getting out of your pads?


Since I've started doing my own, I'm averaging 15K between front sets on the W124. And my daily commute is a mix of city/hwy...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car