W212 E63 Rear brake lines

[Wenglish]

yes yes.. off that has to come.. did mine on the old clk, got a second hand rear subframe that was in excellent condition, removed the bushes etc and had it blasted and re coated.

The brake pipes were a little bit worse than yours and I bought everything to replace mine back to good pipe, I got the best fittings I could and anti corrosion pipe.
Spent a couple of hours on each one getting things cleaned, coated and bent into shape and fitted, it was quite relaxing.

If its not something that you want to do then yes the guys at Avantguarde are high on my reccomendation list, steve and the guys there know thier stuff ( I was drooling over the two mclaren slr's they had in when mine was in).

Give them a call and tell Lee that the guys at the forum told you to go there!! Steve does pop in here from time to time also.

For me if one is bad then the other will not be far off, get them all checked and changed if need be.

I haven't had any issues with the cls since i stripped it all down and rebuilt it, spending this weekend putting new front discs and pads on, cleaning the link arms and wheel well's while they are off and give it all a check over.

Thank you mate for your input I’m really grateful so you did yours yourself with zero issues ? My good friend is actually a mobile mechanic and has said he would happily do the job for me on the drive is this definitely a job that can be done on the drive ?

What about bleeding the brake system after the work has been completed etc I’ve seen some threads where it’s apparently not so simple to do on these cars and needs the star system to do it properly ?

Yes Steve was fantastic last time i used them a few years ago for a gearbox service on my old S212 and I did actually email them last night for a quote he replied today and stated that he would really need to see the car before quoting etc to see if the subframe needs to be dropped etc

The only issue with doing that is that it’s a 2-3 hour round trip for me just for a inspection so I’m not sure if I should just let my mobile mechanic friend do the work for me if you definitely think it’s a job that can be done on the drive ?

 

[unclebuck]

The trip is worth it also if you take wifey with you and pop into bristol shopping and for a bite to eat while its checked over ( take two cars for this!) you will be given a bountiful amount of wifey points.

Makes it all worth while trust me I know this as fact, especially when it is time to spend some cash on the repairs.

Get the Avantguarde guys to check it all over for peace of mind, for me it would be a no brainer to go with the inspection first, if other issues are there on the other pipes it can be pointed out and you can decide how you want to progress.

As you said it can be hooked upto star and checked over etc and be made aware of anything else, mine is going back in the summer for a health check and a trip to brissy with wifey.

It was a journey for me as well i went a couple of times as I had the glow plugs changed at a specialist they use down the road.

Also if they have any Slr's in you can stand there and drool for a while also, it's very refreshing

 

[190]

Just remember MB will have to route the pipes where they are now , a specialist “may” know shortcuts that bring the price down even more (I’m assuming a specialist is probably half the hourly cost of MB anyway ?)
Yes those pipes look well corroded , everyone should be spraying them with ACF50 or similar when they first buy the car to try and protect them .

Yes and MB will replace with the same crappy steel pipes that rusted in the first place. Why would anyone pay to give MB a 2nd shot at it.

I had mine replaced with copper-nickel and not even a specialist, just a garage . They did a neat job for a fraction of what MB would have charged and it will out last the car.

 

[johnsco]

The pipes may look better since you rubbed them to remove surface corrosion.
If there is "pitting corrosion" on the pipes, it may not be visible to the naked eye.
Change these pipes.
Copper-nickel will give you safety and peace of mind.

 

[jasonh]

It's definitely a job that could be done by any garage and a competent garage would know the tricks like to disconnect and plug the line at the ABS pump to minimise drainage across the brake system.

As I said before how big a job it is depends on what is corroded and where.

I probably wouldn't get it done on your drive though. If it gets complicated or starts raining it could be a problem.

Yes afterwards diagnostics will be required to ensure the ABS pump is fully bled - but most garages would be able to do it with Snap On or other general purpose kit.

Bleeding the brakes can be pain after replacing brake lines.

 

[Wenglish]

Update

Just to bring this thread to a close I finally managed to get the car booked into my local MB specialist last week for the rear brake lines to be replaced as they had been fully booked for over a month in advance

The MB specialist I used said you would seriously be surprised at how many of these brake lines we replace on a daily basis he also and we work around things so the sub frame etc wouldn’t need to be dropped which was a great relief as I was dreading the price if it had to be dropped etc. They also recommended doing both rear brake lines for piece of mind which I went ahead with

In total they charged me 3 hours labour plus parts and the brake fluid change total price all in was £360 which I thought was a fantastic price and also piece of mind knowing it was done by a MB specialist

Thanks everyone who commented for your help and advice

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hi there - would you be able to let me know which Cardiff specialist you used? I need the same work done asap! Thank you

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Looks like he hasn't posted in a year or two...

@unclebuck I know you're a fan of Avantgarde in Bristol, but my car is currently out of action and is going to be trailered to somewhere to get the work done. If you had to get it done in south Wales (Cardiff/Newport border is where I am), where would you go? I'm so curious as to where the OP managed to get it done... although the price is still not as good as PCS IN Horndean...

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

I actually called Avantgarde just now as I thought it shouldn't be too bad to get it trailered to them in Bristol. Unfortunately it was bad news - they refuse to 'bodge' it and not do the lines via dropping the axle/subframe etc. So the prices are:

Cutting the brake pipes 'half way' and just doing the 'back end': £890+vat
Replacing the entire rear brake lines from the pump: £1200+vat

+ trailering + changing subframe bushes 'while it's out' + whatever else they find....

The chap on the phone was very knowledgeable and lovely, and quite insistent that there was no real way of doing it without dropping the rear axle... 'we've seen some real horrendous bodge jobs that we then have to fix by dropping the rear end anyway'.... so, that's not good news for me.

I know PCS quoted me £327 a few months ago, they're obviously doing a different job (I trust PCS but they must be doing it in a less time consuming way). I guess I could try to see if the breakdown company would trailer it all the way to Horndean, but it's a long old way...

I wish I could find a good MB indie in South Wales.

 

[W1ghty]

I actually called Avantgarde just now as I thought it shouldn't be too bad to get it trailered to them in Bristol. Unfortunately it was bad news - they refuse to 'bodge' it and not do the lines via dropping the axle/subframe etc. So the prices are:

Cutting the brake pipes 'half way' and just doing the 'back end': £890+vat
Replacing the entire rear brake lines from the pump: £1200+vat

+ trailering + changing subframe bushes 'while it's out' + whatever else they find....

The chap on the phone was very knowledgeable and lovely, and quite insistent that there was no real way of doing it without dropping the rear axle... 'we've seen some real horrendous bodge jobs that we then have to fix by dropping the rear end anyway'.... so, that's not good news for me.

I know PCS quoted me £327 a few months ago, they're obviously doing a different job (I trust PCS but they must be doing it in a less time consuming way). I guess I could try to see if the breakdown company would trailer it all the way to Horndean, but it's a long old way...

I wish I could find a good MB indie in South Wales.

Change your breakdown/recovery address for the nearest house next to PCS then say you want recovery back home

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Change your breakdown/recovery address for the nearest house next to PCS then say you want recovery back home

My registered address for the breakdown company is actually London, so I could probably say PCS if I really wanted to as it’s vaguely between here and London (ok, a bit ‘more south’). But it’s 2.5h away and it’s a bit ridiculous that I can’t find an indie that I can trust near here. It’s just an old-ish E-class not some vintage Ferrari…

I’ll do PCS if I can’t find anybody else I trust to do it, though.

 

[SteveFromAvantgarde]

Good to chat to you earlier Teddy and I hope you are able to get it sorted. Of course, if you change your mind then feel free to give me a call.

Purely, the only reason we remove the rear subframe and install the lines in the correct place is down to safety and knowing that the metal lines have been installed, secured and bled properly.

Yes its a bit more costly, but for me, I cant compromise on quality of workmanship and safety to do a work around repair, its just not what we do, and I always think that its a piece of my reputation which is riding around on your car, and if someone sees some kind of hodge bodge, it doesnt reflect well.

Do it nice or do it twice...

Steve