S211 E320 CDI '04 Discs and pads...utter FAIL

[Telebass]

After a (mostly) successful thermostat swap yesterday, today was discs and pads.
Had all the bits ordered from ECP.

First thing I noticed was that no picture or howto that I've seen anywhere looks like the calipers fitted to the front. It was soon pretty clear that the pads I had were not remotely similar to those fitted to the car. Oh well, let's check the discs. No joy. The supplied discs are about a centimetre smaller diameter than the old ones. At this point, I reassembled the car, coaxed the computer into believing the brakes were fine (they are), and gave up.

Looks like I blew £130...

I have not bothered to even begin looking at the rear brakes...

Any similar experiences? This should have been a fairly routine job, but it seems my car is very different to the examples shown.

 

[Telebass]

Right, having managed to exchange the pads and discs for the correct items, I have completed one wheel. The problem? Getting the pad pins out. Or, to be more accurate, the lower one on each side. As above, none of this is helped by the fact that every other photo example has single-pot sliding calipers, and I have fixed four-pots...
About to get the heat on it...

 

[DSM10000]

It is not just you! ECP supplied the wrong pads to me as well. The problem is that MB use more than one brand of caliper as well as a range of disc sizes. I did resolve it without problem, just a couple of wasted hours. Pads and discs are good value from MB so I thinnk I will use them in future

Hope it goes well, do you have a suitable drift to knock the pins out?

 

[camerafodder]

Sounds like you may have the sports brakes. Watch out if you have SBC too. Don't attempt to unlock the car or open the drivers door whilst you've got the pads out or the discs off or both. You could get into a bit of a pickle!

 

[Telebass]

I do have a drift, they are just very stubborn! Fronts now complete. One thing that irritated me a great deal was that the disc retiaing screws are loctited into place. Crazy! They need putting on with copper grease, not Loctite - they are only there to prevent the disc from falling off when you change the wheel! No idea if that was a dealer job - it has nearly 190,000 on the clock, so it must have been through a few sets.
Using the basic SBC sleep mode (lock/unlock/lock sequence). Then hide keys!
While popping out to pick up a tool from the local store, I noticed only one headlamp washer was working. Oh joy. MOT next Monday...

 

[SL300-24]

You will probably have to cut the pins with a Dremel type tool and then drill the ends out of the calipers if they do not move when hit with a punch.

They are a PITA to get out, and the dealers end up cutting them usually.

Drop Olly (BlackC55) a PM he may be able to advise you.

 

[Telebass]

I did manage to drift them out, fronts all done now. Tomorrow, the rears!