Gregs210

Okay, as promised, here's the thread on changing the brakes on my 210.065 -- with single-pin rear pads. I commented elsewhere on the frustrating limitations on pictures (both size and number), so I broke this into two posts to get everything consolidated.

Before you jump into the thread and pics, be aware that this car started life in NYC, so it's got quite a bit of rust on some components, which looks really scary in some of the shots -- particularly some of those looking down into the vent of the front rotor.

These are genuine Brembo rotors that were purchased from (and drilled by) Night's Auto in Canada. They did an excellent job and also painted the hubs of the rotors (visible in the pics). I bought them on eBay and there's enough discussion on these various issues in other threads that I won't replicate it all here. If memory serves with shipping and the money conversion factor they were right at $250 for all four. The pads are Axxis Ultimates, which I also purchased from a guy I found on eBay, although I didn't purchase them through an auction. His business is Evobreed. They were about $130 including shipping. I purchased the MBZ brake paste and brake wear sensors from parts.mbz.org.

The entire job took about 6 hours, including periodically cleaning up and partial reassembly so I could take certain pics. The single most time consuming task (and the most difficult thing) was removing the old rotors. Three of them were rusted on and it took me between 20-30 minutes each to remove them. (And man are my shoulders sore!) If you've never removed frozen rotors before, don't try it unless you have someone handy who can show you how.

If you're not changing rotors, the job is much easier as you don't have to remove the front caliper mounting bracket (18MM bolt heads, very tight) but instead just the caliper itself (two torx bolts under plastic caps). You don't have to remove the rear caliper at all (in fact it takes less time to actually change the rear pads than it does to jack up the car, set the jackstand, remove/replace the wheel, and drop the jack).

The basic procedure is as follows. Raise the corner you're going to work on and secure it on a jackstand, chocking the opposite end wheels, then remove the wheel. For the front, pry gently against one of the pads to partially press the piston back into the caliper. Remove the anti-rattle spring. Remove the two plastic caps and loosen the two caliper bolts (remove them only if you plan on relubricating them). Slide the caliper off and remove the pads. Rotate the caliper so the highest point is the bleed screw (pointing up) and then barely crack it (this prevents you from pushing dirty fluid back up into the tiny passages of the ABS system and master cylinder). Using a hose (clear is best, you can buy it at any hardware store) to catch the fluid and direct it to a container, press the piston back into the caliper until it is seated fully, then close the bleed screw and replace the rubber dust cap. Apply MBZ paste to the back of the pads, insert a new (or re-use the old one if it is not worn through, see the pic) pad wear sensor and insert the pads into the caliper. Carefully slide the caliper back on, align the bolts and tighten to spec using torque wrench. Reinstall the anti-rattle spring. NOTE: If you are going to replace the rotors, then once you have the caliper off, remove the caliper mounting bracket (two large hex bolts thread through from the back). Remove the small allen locking screw and remove the rotor. Reverse the procedure to reinstall rotor and caliper mounting bracket, ensuring that you replace the small allen locking screw. Reinstall the wheel, torque the lug bolts and you're ready to bed them in according to the rotor/pad manufacturer's recommended procedure.

For the rear, make sure you don't have the emergency brake on(!) and then gently pry against a pad on each side to partially compress the piston. Tap gently on the front end of the retaining pin (it pokes through to the front) until you can grab it with pliers in the back. If you have a long awl and can press it further, so much the better. Then press down on the spring pressure clip and remove the pin. Then slide the pads out of the caliper and remove the anti-rattle spacers from them. It's tricky to press the pistons back into the calipers with the caliper installed but you can do it. I'd recommend cracking this bleed screw as well, although this is a bit more difficult with the twin-piston calipers to coordinate everything. Once the pistons are pressed back in, install the anti-rattle spacers, apply the MBZ paste to the back of the new pads, insert them and then start the retaining pin in from the back. Insert the spring clip and depress it so you can pass the retaining pin through the other pad and out the front as before. Drift the retaining pin fully into the caliper body. NOTE: If you are also going to replace the rotors, you'll have to remove the calipers. BEWARE! If you have twin-piston calipers and accidentally remove the bolts that join the two halves of the calipers, you've created lots of extra work for yourself. The (single pin, twin piston) rear calipers are held on by two bolts, the metric size of which I didn't have, but 5/8" fit perfectly. No room for sockets, so it was a ratcheting box-end. Once the caliper is off, remove the allen head lock screw and remove the rotor. Reverse the procedure to install the new rotor. Reinstall the wheel, torque the lug bolts, and you're ready to bed them in according to the rotor/pad manufacturer's recommended procedure.

Finally, be sure to check your brake fluid level and add only the recommended MBZ product if you need any.

And with all of that overview, here you go. I embedded comments in some of the pics to make it easier to figure out. The first two pics are of the wheel before and after; the light isn't great but if you look closely, you can see the new drilled rotors visible through the spokes. mmmmm.

Gregs210

Here's the rest of the pics, folks.

OceanView

Awesome !
Looks like alot of work. How is the performance? Does it stop the car any faster?

I am about to change my front rotors and brake pads too.
Can you give me some pointers on the rotor removal?
Is it just the 1 screw that's holding it on there?
Did you just use a hammer and a crow bar to remove it?

THanks.

Gregs210

For the vast majority of benzes, once you've removed the allen-head lock screw and the caliper (and caliper mounting bracket on the front), the rotors should drift right off with little resistance. If they are frozen due to rust -- as mine were -- you have a new project on your hands. As noted in the thread, if you've never removed frozen rotors before, you really need to have someone with you to walk you through it. (It's no different than removing frozen rotors on any other vehicle, but again, you have to know how to do it.)

The problem is that if it is not done properly, common outcomes are damage to something else -- or worse, yourself. Therefore, I hope you can appreciate my reluctance to try and explain it on a forum thread.

I think probably the most common issue is that they'll just be stuck -- not frozen -- so spraying something along the lines of WD-40 around the hub/rotor edge and wiggling the rotor back and forth will usually meet with success. If they're rusted on, you do have to pry and pound -- but the key is knowing where and how much to pry and to pound. As noted in the thread it's also time-consuming; you have to be very patient. And the worst cases will actually require the heating process, which itself is a whole other level of complication and thus is not to be undertaken lightly. That's why you need someone with that experience to literally show you how to do it and then give you some feedback as you undertake it yourself.

In all honesty the best advice I can give you is to try to remove them, and if they're frozen, then either find someone who can share their time and talent with you or take it in.

It's , but where -- approximately -- is your ocean view?

Good luck and enjoy the ride,
Greg

BenzVince

Great post, thanks for the step by step and the photos to illistruate it. Now i am ready to break out my tools to work on my brakes.

Co 55 AMG

Great job! Killer post!
Rock On!!!!

Dema

I heard advice to put wheel and drive a few meters until you hear click noise.

Gregs210

I've never heard any advice like that, at least not with respect to MBZ cars. There are some cars out there that use a different design for the parking brake and it's possible such advice might be related to that, but frankly if I'd driven a few meters after this job and heard a click I'd have been pulling things apart to see what in the world made the noise.

Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg

BenzVince

quick question abot the caliper bolt, since today I couldn't work on my brake discovering that there's a torx bolt instead of a regular bolt. What size is the torx bit is it? I went to Pep boys and unable to figure out which one and asked for help they were clueless. Is it a T-50 torx? Check your PM.

Top Jimmy

The Torx bolt on the caliper of a '96 is a No. 45.

stemags

Nice work Greg,2 questions for ya.Would a nice sized rubber mallet and the WD make the free up of the rotors easier?And did you consider painting the calipers for appearance? As an ex mechanic,I would commend your patience and explanation.

Gregs210

for the feedback, Stemags. Actually as frozen as these were, they would have laughed at a rubber mallet. As a former mechanic, I'm sure you've seen some that bad. As I think I might have mentioned, I was close to the last-resort torch on two of them.

I did consider painting the calipers and sought some feedback as one of my first posts, but didn't get any real consensus other than a rec to powder-coat and not paint. I may still get around to it, but am still mulling over the color. It's too dressy a car to go with the screaming bright colors that are typical for caliper paint; if I could find a dark blue (to match the blue in the laurel wreath centercaps) in high-temp I'd do that. Black would just disappear, I think. However, I'm considering a silver if I can find one close enough to body color.

At the time, I just needed to hurry up and get the brakes done (look at the one pic of the worn pad and it's evident I only had a few hundred miles to go) so I just decided to wait on the calipers. Besides, now that I've burned off the top layer of new pad dust, I only have to clean them once.

Again, folks, my thanks for all the positive feedback.
Greg

BT320

Excellent write-up and pictures! You've created a very handy reference thread for any and all of us W210 owners.

marcmayer

Fantastic post - Thanks.

I have painted the calipers on a non-MB car ('92 Eagle Talon) using the G2 caliper paint (http://www.g2usa.com/wheel.shtml) which is available in Red, Yellow, Blue, Silver, Black, Purple, Green, White & Gold. Its 2 part paint that is chemical and heat resistant and its applied with a brush (paint is formulated not to show brush-strokes) and can be done without pulling calipers entirely off the car. Kit comes with enough for 4 calipers and you can find it form about $25 on ebay but check shelf life, they do come with an expiration date.

Curious about performance of the new rotors/pads on your W210. I replaced my Talon's rotors/pads with drilled rotors and the Axxis Ultimate pads and it made a HUGE difference in stopping. Having said that, my E430 4matic already comes with fantasic brakes from the factory (I'm told the 4matics come stock with bigger brakes than their RWD cousins and the E430 4matic shares brake components with one of the AMG cars). Not sure how much room there is for improvement.

Gregs210

Hi, marcmayer. I appreciate the feedback.

I've painted non-benz calipers before, both with an aerosol high-heat paint and the two-part stuff you mentioned. I think I probably will do it at some point, just can't get excited about all the prep work for it. I think I'm going to start with high-heat silver and see how that looks. Hidden as it is, the color may be close enough. I'm sure it won't last as long as powder coating, but if it has to be redone every year or two that's okay with me. Plus I can experiment with different colors.

I think there are only a couple of real improvements for our E brakes. One is stainless-steel braided hoses to replace the rubber ones and the other is big-brake kits, but those require larger wheels. Like you, I'm very satisfied with the brake performance, and since I don't shoot canyons or do track days, I don't foresee a problem. I might go to the stainless lines, though; they made a marked difference in my friend's Denali and I put them on a former motorcycle, too. (If you want to see an awesome Brembo big brake kit install on a Denali, search out user vroomvroom on SUVWorld.)

Thanks again, and enjoy your E!
Greg

StapleGun

Excellent post Greg, your stuff is the best I've seen.

hadam

Greg, good job buddy. Thanks to people like you, I have saved $300 on my front brakes.

I did front brakes and rotor about week ago and came out good.

My front rotors were frozen, we used WD40 and about 4-5 bang of hammer and rotors got lose.

One thing me and my friend forgot to do to release the brake line at each front brakes, once we did it, it works great.

My cars like the new brakes, stops are much better.

I think I got not good feed back on brake pads, I used Textar Yellow box, but I have noticing little more brake dust then the MB pads [by Pagid].

Gregs210

Hi, Hadam. In reverse order, no matter what pads you use you get lots of brake dust for the first several hundred miles; give it a while. Lots of folks love those yellow textars. I'm not sure what you mean by releasing the brake line, so I can't even begin to comment on that one. If you got the rotors off with WD-40 and a few hammer whacks, they were just typically stuck. That won't work when they are frozen. At any rate, glad you got it done and saved some bucks! Plus you have the satisfaction of doing it yourself, always a big thing in my book.

Enjoy the ride,
Greg

hadam

Greg, The following step I did not do during the brake job. But then I open the bleed screw and pump the brake padel 3 time for each front brakes to get rid of any air pockets etc.

" Rotate the caliper so the highest point is the bleed screw (pointing up) and then barely crack it (this prevents you from pushing dirty fluid back up into the tiny passages of the ABS system and master cylinder). Using a hose (clear is best, you can buy it at any hardware store) to catch the fluid and direct it to a container, press the piston back into the caliper until it is seated fully, then close the bleed screw and replace the rubber dust cap."

Gregs210

Hi, Hadam. I sincerely hope you don't have problems with it.

That said, to the rest of you reading this post, I would definitely NOT recommend following Hadam's sidestep of the procedure detailed above. When you compress the pistons back into the calipers without first opening the bleed screw, you force all of the old fluid (with it's potential particles and contaminants) back up into the lines and through all of the tiny little orifices in the ABS system and MC (and will typically overflow the MC if you've kept it full as part of basic maintenance). Opening the bleed screw and pumping the brakes afterwards is nonsensical, because you didn't have any air to get rid of, and any contaminants are already way up where they have the potential to create problems. Although it's possible that you might not have problems doing it that way, it's more likely than not that problems will occur, and then you're looking at lots of time and expense to rectify the problems. I have personally seen situtations where the ABS system had to be completely disassembled and cleaned and the MC replaced, at pretty dramatic cost.

Again, Hadam, I hope you don't end up with such problems.

hadam

Greg, Appreciate your concern.

About 4 months ago I did brake fluid change as recommended by MB service manual. So hopefully the brake fluid was clean enough that will not cause problem for me.

So far all looks good. Brakes are working fine. Brake dust is minimal now after about 300 miles on new brakes.

Yes, I got very little over flow of brake fluid in MC. I just wiped it off.

I will keep you posted if I run into any ABS problem.

Gregs210

First to Hadam, congrats on following the dealer's recommendation and flushing the brake fluid. That probably saved you dire consequences and I'm glad it worked out. Plus the savings!!

To all, thanks again for all the positive feedback. Just wanted to update you that the brakes continue to be awesome: the Aussies at Axxis clearly know what they're doing in the brake-pad department. Their "Ultimate" pads are well worth their cost (about 1/3 more than stock). If you're a track hound, they're not the best pad out there, but unlike track pads they don't need to be hot to stop the car, either. And now that they're broken in, greatly reduced brake dust.

Take care and enjoy the ride, folks.
Greg

f-rod

This is an awesome post, and very timely for me.

The way I understand it, all the parts I'll need are:

1- Pads of choice
2- Sensors
3- MB Brake paste

Is that right?

Gregs210

If I wasn't doing rotors that's exactly what I'd order. Make sure you get four packs of the brake paste, one pack will do one pair of pads. I'd recommend some emery cloth to clean up the rotors (yeah, that's a supply, not a part!) but other than that you should be set.

Good luck and enjoy the ride,
Greg

f-rod

Just one question.

What is the difference between the MB brake paste and any other brand?