New pads, nice easy job. Or not...

[Colin_b]

My trusty SLK is approaching 30k miles and 7 years old, and the front brake pads were looking a bit wornm so I thought I'd give it a treat and replace them.

Buy the new disks and pads, make sure I've got the right tools and away I go.

Except. Challenge 1 is the wheel is welded to the hub. A bit of gratuitous violence and off it comes. HAHA, beat you

Next remove the pads. Or not, the holding pins are stuck. A variety of drifts won't move them.

So calliper off to drill the pins out, not too hard, in theory.

Once off, its obvious the calliper is dead, the pistons are severely corroded and the pins have become part of the calliper, a lovely mix of corroded alloy, iron and other unidentifiable substances.

New calliper time.

So where is a good source of replacements?

 

[daveenty]

I'd personally be looking at Euro Car Parts

I'm pretty sure that they have a discount for forum members as well.

 

[AMGeed]

New calliper time.

So where is a good source of replacements?

Apart from the dealer, try ECP

Mercedes Caliper | Calipers Online for all models

 

[stwat]

False sale price
Mercedes Caliper | Calipers Online for all models

Always price.
Brake Caliper | Cheap Caliper | Quality Brake Callipers For All Cars

 

[Colin_b]

False sale price
Mercedes Caliper | Calipers Online for all models

Always price.
Brake Caliper | Cheap Caliper | Quality Brake Callipers For All Cars

Both prices identical The latter web site looks amazingly similar to the former....

 

[sspeed]

A good trick for removing a stuck road wheel is to run the spare wheel hard into each side of the wheel you are trying to remove..
A rolled spare wheel had a surprising amount of force but it wont knacker your alloy!

 

[LTD]

You can also slacken off the wheel nuts slightly then drive the car forward and stab on the brakes.

Walking pace should suffice.

 

[Colin_b]

Still not Fixed Ordered replacement calipers on Monday, still not arrived... and I'm, off on holiday tomorrow. Just not in the SLK...

Bah Humbug.

 

[millo777]

fwiw, when I replaced the front calipers on my w124, GSF charged around £75 each on an exchange basis for rebuilt calipers, and they were original rebuilt MB calipers I received from them. This was way cheaper than buying aftermarket parts from ECP, and seemd like a much better option to me. They also had them in stock for sme day collection.

 

[stevehg]

You can also slacken off the wheel nuts slightly then drive the car forward and stab on the brakes.

Walking pace should suffice.

FYI - this is really bad practice unless you plan to replace the wheel bolts as it places stress on shaft of the bolt.

cheers, Steve

 

[LTD]

FYI - this is really bad practice unless you plan to replace the wheel bolts as it places stress on shaft of the bolt.

cheers, Steve

I'd replace the bolts as a matter of course in case they had been over-torqued originally.

I forgot to add this into the post.

 

[Colin_b]

Still not Fixed Ordered replacement calipers on Monday, still not arrived... and I'm, off on holiday tomorrow. Just not in the SLK...

Bah Humbug.

And yet more humbug. Get back from holiday, and the parts had arrived. Had a quick check and all appeared OK.

Except the pads are wrong. Box says SLK class range 04 on. Disks are fine and callipers are fine. Pads are too big.

Anyway, replaced disks and callipers no problem. And stuck the old pads back in, I really do need the car this week.

Anyone know if the pads are just the wrong ones, or is there different pad types for an slk350?

 

[Colin_b]

And even more humbug. Phoned ECP on Monday, and they admitted sending the wrong pads, and would send the replacement ones.

No sign of them by today. Do they deliver by tortoise? And I had to pay a fiver to return the old ones.

 

[Howard]

I just had new front discs and pads on the clk430.

OEM discs were only £58 each (334mm)

Dropped the car off Monday , picked it up Tuesday ... Nice and painless

 

[Colin_b]

I just had new front discs and pads on the clk430.

OEM discs were only £58 each (334mm)

Dropped the car off Monday , picked it up Tuesday ... Nice and painless

MB quoted me £600 for new disks & pads. Changing them myself isn't normally a problem

The DIY parts were £160, assuming the right ones eventually arrive!

 

[Colin_b]

And even more humbug. Phoned ECP on Monday, and they admitted sending the wrong pads, and would send the replacement ones.

No sign of them by today. Do they deliver by tortoise? And I had to pay a fiver to return the old ones.

And even more bloody humbug. New pads yet to arrive, even though ECP promised to post them a week ago. Phone them again, and they say they haven't sent them - they haven't received the wrong ones back. And don't seem to know if they've received them yet. I need to phone them daily to check!

I am very unimpressed with you ECP.

 

[Colin_b]

They eventually arrived on the 9th. In they went today, no problem, less than an hour.

Taken far too long