Can the front brakes on a 300CE be used on the rear?
 

On a 1989 300CE, can the front brake rotors be installed on the rear wheels?
If so, will these slightly larger brakes improve braking performance?

Are you sure the fronts are bigger? The fronts are vented rather than solid but I would have said they are the same diameter. In any case the fact that they are vented means you would have to, at a minimum, swap out the calipers too. The rear brakes hardly do anything - performance increase would negligible at best.

You do not want to put front calipers on the rear of the car. Rear calipers have smaller pistons to produce less braking force. Even if larger rotors fit in the rear calipers, there will be no benefit unless the calipers are also changed.

I think doing this would ruin your braking performance -- performance being defined as stopping safely. You'll probably throw off the balance between front/rear stopping power, which could put your car into a fishtail skid under certain conditions. Don't try to reengineer a car unless you know exactly what you're doing.

the front brakes do aprox 70% of the stopping, so they will produce about 3x the stopping of the rear. so if you want to use them on the rear you need to find some fronts that are 3x the stopping power of the fronts. if you can use the rear calipers on them when installed in the rear you should be fine providing they bolt up which seems highly unlikely since your rear brakes have little drums in the center to provide em brakes and the fronts do not.

what idea are you chasing with these thoughts?

tom w

No
 

The factory brake system is (massively over engineered) excessive for the vehicle. :)

If you plan to install a V12 or larger (Jet) engine, you will need to redesign the brake system. :eek:

This is a safety system, if you change it without design and engineering input, you may kill someone, which could open potential criminal prosecution for murder/manslaughter, if anyone is ever killed due to any form of brake failure, (for the remaining life of this vehicle). :eek: :eek: :eek:




Have a great day.

while roy is correct about the braking system, it doesnt hurt to talk about ideas.

imho

tom w

There are ideas and then there are fantasies!

Well... that's why it's good to have these questions asked. We can then put these ideas (or fantasies) to rest. I remember having wierd notions when I was younger. I wouldn't want to dissuade others from asking such questions.

Thanks everyone. The reason for the question is that I'll soon be installing an AMG 3.4L engine with a Mosselman twin turbo kit. Everyone I've talked to about the project asks me "what are you going to do about the brakes?". I'm hoping to find an answer to that question, even if the answer is "nothing will be done, the stock brakes are fine".

there it is.
you can upgrade your brakes with 500E brakes. but you already should have a pretty good setup

How much extra weight will this add to your vehicle?

And to put it in perspective, how does this compare with loading the car with passengers and luggage (to which the car is qualified to handle)? I think you can see where I'm going with this.

I like neanderthal's suggestion of matching the brakes to the 500E, especially if the weight distribution is similar.

Even an upgrade to what was used on the 400E I'm sure would be adequate. I'm not "up" on all the tuner engines, if this 3.4 is a 103 engine, you should be fine with the factory brakes.
Gilly

Just did a search, the 3.4 is a 104 engine, you want to put that in a chassis that had a 103 in it? Is that a CIS engine or SFI injection?
Gilly

It's a 3.0L M103 with crank & rods from a C36 (3.6L M104) to give 3.4L through increased stroke (see my other posts in Performance Paddock). Unfortunately the V8 W124s were never sold in Australia so I'd have to have the parts shipped in from the USA.