GL63 brake pads wearing out fast

Gl63

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I know it's a big fast car but it's driven quite sensibly by my wife.

The car is one and a half years old and has done 21,000 miles.

I have had to replace rear brake pads twice and front once.not cheap!

To be this seems strange??

It does a lot of short low speed journeys on school run involving stopping and starting. Rarely on motorway.

Does anyone know why brake pads not lasting and why back ones especially are wearing down twice as fast as front pads which I thought were the main ones?

Mercedes say it's a big car and must be the way it's being driven but admit not having seen many although mechanic said they had a g63 in this week that needed rear pads after 8500 miles.

My research suggests that modern cars don't necessarily have the 70:30 split between front and back they used to have? Or that abs wears down back more. Also whether they use softer brake pads for improved performance. Can't see anyone else highlighting same issue though.

My argument with Mercedes us that the brake pads can't be suitable for the vehicle and I've never had same issue with other big cars I've had ie Range Rover.
 

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Braking in the main is still 72% front and 28% rear. I see these are a type of sliding caliper. If they have not been cleaned up and greased correctly, this type of caliper can stick causing excessive wear on the pads

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Gl63

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Thanks Malcolm.presumedly they'd do this when they fitted them?? Beyond my technical expertise I'm afraid! I do live down a dirty country lane. Could that make it worse??
 

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Maybe not related but I had same issue with my ML270. Rear brakes were wearing at a rate of knots. Now I tow a lot (caravan) and the standard rear shocks were too soft allowing excessive bounce. 2 sets of rear pads in 30000 miles - fronts were fine, so wasn't overuse of brakes. I surmised that the ESP was trying to control the bounce of the rear. I changed the rear shocks to Bilstein and, since then, the car has done a further 60000 miles and the pads are still quite serviceable. Of course, I now don't have excessive bounce. I am sure I proved a point with the ESP being the culprit.
Have no idea what your suspension is like or how you use the vehicle, but you may be able to relate to this.
 

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This is a question that cannot be answered, mainly because if the one that did the job was not aware that all the moving parts of this type of brake must be cleaned and lubricated.

One normally returns the pistons back, on the twin pistons on the front, fit new pads and job done. With the rear if the one doing it did not know that this sliding type fitted to the rear could stick and cleaning of all parts was important then no, it would not be done.

I had a friend who had just had new pads fitted with the same type of caliper who was coming to see me, by the time he had got to my house, the rears were near on red hot and the pads destroyed. I cleaned them all up, new pads again and he has been fine.

My own SL500 came with new rear pads. I am a fussy person and always paint my disc and calipers, I also only use dust free ceramic pads, and painted them and fitted the ceramic pads. I noticed a few days later that I could smell hot paint after a short run, on investigating I found that the rear calipers were sticking on. So I too wrongly assumed that they had been cleaned when at mercedes workshop, but I was very wrong.
 

alexanderfoti

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Also, don't forget that Mercedes main dealer love to warn you that the pads and discs are worn, at around 50% of both.
 

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Also, don't forget that Mercedes main dealer love to warn you that the pads and discs are worn, at around 50% of both.

Thanks Alex, I forgot this very important bit, they even warn when the pads and disc are only 1/3rd worn in some cases.
 
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Gl63

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I took the car in as my warning light was on and was told should only be driven for 1,000 miles like that. The first time it came in assumed it was a faulty signal and when it was serviced they said it was down to the metal.

The mechanis yesterday said they're only thin to start with.
 

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The other thing here is doing local runs in towns the rear brakes will hardly ever be used, we know this as the rear brakes on most fail from rust on the disc, it takes a good few hard stops at speed to clean them up.

I would again say that they are sticking on.
 

oigle

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The other thing here is doing local runs in towns the rear brakes will hardly ever be used, we know this as the rear brakes on most fail from rust on the disc, it takes a good few hard stops at speed to clean them up.

I would again say that they are sticking on.

Just put your hand on the wheel after the car has been driven normally and see if it is hot - that will tell the tale.
 

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Just put your hand on the wheel after the car has been driven normally and see if it is hot - that will tell the tale.

Indeed Sir that would be the give away sign.:D
 

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