Problems with brake vibrations on W211 E500

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Zed82

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
32
Car
MY2003 E500
I have changed the front discs twice on my E500 now. The first ones were Brembo and those warped pretty fast and I changed them too OEM discs which are also warped now.

Everything is changed in the front suspension and is good. I get vibrations in the steering wheel when braking in high speed, in low speed and when coming to a stop the wheel rocks noticeably.

I get a feeling that it gets better when it´s raining and that the vibrations are less then but i´m not totally sure. I also have some shimmy in the steering wheel at approx. 60mph but that got better with a good balancing of the wheels but not totally gone.

The only thing I didn´t change is the pads which are really good. They are worn evenly and have a lot of meat left.
What should i do now? I love the car but this spoils everything.
 
I'm not sure if its specific to the vehicle, but Alot of Mercs seem to have this issue due to a small amount of rust on the hub.

This should be sanded and polished prior to fitting new discs, to minimise the chance of vibration (due to run out) or possible warping.

Pat
 
Mine has this issue - only from motorway speeds it seems.

I don't know for sure but I imagine mine weren't fitted with this issue in mind as the work was done by Maserati specialists (and they probably don't know about this issue).
 
Thanks guys.

I´m going to get my discs refaced tomorrow and change the pads as well even if it hurts to change pads with almost half life left. :wallbash:

It rained yesterday and the car felt better while braking and not so weavy on the road either. The vibrations were still there but much less. Why is this so? :dk:
 
Water reducing the friction when braking maybe...?
 
Water reducing the friction when braking maybe...?

Could be, i sincerely hope that the problem will vanish tomorrow.

This time i will take it reaaaally easy on the brakes the first 3-400 miles.
 
OK guys, car came back from the Mercedes shop today and the verdict was bad alignment although i did an alignment a couple of weeks ago but that shop apparently didn´t get the job done properly.

The caster needed to be aligned as well with special bolts from MB. They adjusted the rear axle and the caster and the cars feels MUCH better on the road. They will do a full 4-wheel alignment next week to get it 100%.

Now to the real problem with the brakes. They called me up and told me that there was a big amount of rust on the hubs which needed to be brushed off. They tried to brush it off but the rust had apparently gone too far so the shop recommended to change the hubs as well as the discs/pads if i want the car vibration free. My "housetech" obviously didn´t do a proper job with cleaning the hubs before the discs were installed the last time.

The intermittent vibrations i feel in speed is according to the tech because of the SBC wiping the discs clean from water.

I´m glad the car is now stable to drive and will be even better soon but stumbled by the fact that i have to change the hubs and brakes in front. It sucks.

Comments on this info?
 
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It sounds feasible that the allignment would be causing problems, but I don't know if it would cause intermittent vibrations, but, if the car drives better, then it must have done some good.

As for the hubs, they are made from very thick steel and I would like to see the rust on them before I let the garage go ahead with replacing them. Surely they haven't rusted so far as to make them structually unsafe??

However, if the discs have been warping so easily, and by the sounds of it, this has been going on for sometime, it is possible that the vibrations have damaged the hub bearings, in which case, they would need to be replaced anyway. If they do get replaced, make sure to smear copper grease on the mating face between the hub and the disc to help prevent it happening again
 

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