AMG Brakes

[ibbo]

Good morning all! I am both new to here & new to Mercedes Ownership. I was wondering if anyone out there can help. I am looking to replace the front disks on my 1999 C43 AMG & cant seem to find any alternatives to the ones available from Mercedes. Can anyone help?

Many thanks.

Ibbo

 

[pascal]

Welcome to the forum, ibbo.

Peter & I were discussing this last week for his SL.
It depends on what size your disks are.

 

[ibbo]

Hi Pascal & thank you for the welcome.

i have to say I am not sure how large they are, only they look big!

is it a simple case of getting the old tape measure out?

 

[pascal]

Depending on wheel style, and a good eye, you should get and approx.

300mm or 330mm is usual

 

[ibbo]

The wheels unfortunately were changed by the previous owner - a shame.

I have just dangled a tape measure & they seem to be 330mm.

 

[pascal]

I think you may be out of luck there ibbo.

Original SL (r129) had 300mm which can be got from non MB suppliers.
But in 98 when they were increased to 330mm, and Peter was finding it hard to obtain non MB ones.
He should be back later, and give an update.
You can check the web (remember our friends in the US call them rotars not disks).

Pascal

 

[ibbo]

Hi Pascal & thanks again.

thats typical! I was hoping to replace them with some EBC disks that I have found good in the past.

Fingers crossed that Peter my have some news.

Many thanks. Anything else you think it wise for me to know on my car?

 

[pascal]

I think they are £120 from MB for 330 Disks. Set of front pads is nearly as much again.

Pascal

 

[ibbo]

Thats interesting - they quoted me 161.20 for the left & 157.78 for the right as they are 'handed' disks and specific to the C43.

??

 

[peterchurch]

Hi,
welcome to the nightmare I am currently having a row with several manufacturers that think that 300 is right for our cars _ITS_NOT_ If you go to MB the will pull 330mm disks straight off the shelf but everyone else has copied someone that got it wrong, and as a result are trying to sell the wrong size Its annoying as I cant even find the name of the company that make them for MB...

Regards,

Peter

 

[angus falconer]

Hi Ibbo,

There have been several threads on this topic over the last 18 months and no one has managed to find a solution other than going for Merc parts. Yes they are sided. And yes they are expensive but then when Autocar tested the C43 in Aug 98 they recorded a 60-0 time of 2.5 seconds - same as a 550 Marenello - so they work very well .

As far as other issues go specialists will always tell you to make sure you have clean oil/grease in engine/gearbox/diff/hubs.

Do a seach on "C43" and you'll see various discussions on maintenance schedules and costs. They're not cheap to keep in tip top condition but then it's a crime to neglect them. There don't seem to any major concerns save brakes (cost) and gearbox (merc says it's sealed for life, specialists tell you to change oil and filter at 50k).

I orginally used George Fraser in Alperton (well known on this site). Now I go to BSG Mercedes on Ladbroke Grove as they are closer to my home.

Welcome to C43 ownership - I am sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[peterchurch]

Saving cost is only half the story though... when merc started to cut production costs by using cheaper parts, they reduced the gap in quality between their parts and the rest of the field. for instance when my cat went the non MB replacements I bought were 40% of the cost of the MB set _and_ they came with a 4 year/48K mile warranty... as a result I got both sets done for the cost of one MB side I feel that the same cost advantage should be availible for other consumables like disks and pads (Indeed I would have expected to be able to find _BETTER_ specialist braking sets out there as MB kit is generally set up for the midrange use rather than aggressive abuse...)

MB want £60 per side for a disk plus the same in pads...

I was able to buy a set of Mintex 300mm disks for £51 _BOTH_ sides !!! and £20 for the pads... These parts _MUST_ be of MB quality in order to get OE approval cuting out MB does not reduce the qualtiy it just removes excess profit margin and the VAT on that margin allowing _MORE_ money to be spent on the car as a result

 

[davidsl500]

Just one small point Peter, Mintex dont manufacture their own Brake Disks - its a branding Exercise.

 

[peterchurch]

Just one small point Peter, Mintex dont manufacture their own Brake Disks - its a branding Exercise.

:???: I thought that they were a brand built by TMD :smile: Hey ho I dont get how all these companies can go round selling the same parts made by the same company and still all make varying profits :???:

 

[davidsl500]

In the Automotive world it is suprising who is in bed with who behind the scenes!

As far as I remember TMD is a friction group with brand names like Mintex,Pagid and Textar but I dont think they make any Disks/Drums.

Back in 1995 I actually wrote a Brake Disk Catalogue for the UK Aftermarket and to get the range comprehensive enough to cover the diverse vehicle parc I had to use 6 OE manufacturers.

Where tooling costs are expensive you will often see major OE Competitors intertrade to complete their aftermarket supply ranges. For example on clutches LUK will buy off Valeo and Borg and Beck, and all will buy off Japanese OE Manufacturers for certain Japanese Vehicles. It makes sense really - it is unlikely that you will get back your tooling costs on a low volume vehicle unless you are the OE Supplier.

When you dig deeper still you find that Certain OE Manufacturers have shareholdings in their competitors.......talk about incest....

 

[peterchurch]

Silly really because it makes tracking the owner of a product very hard :roll:
I know that Arvin Meritor a had a stake in the S. African company that makes the exhausts for MB (they have since bought it outright and supply the exhausts for the R171 and ML direct)

 

[Myros]

Try Brakes International in Rochdale

I used to work with the MD of this firm, many years ago when we were both younger. What he doesn't know about brakes is not worth knowing, literally. If we approach him as a fairly representative cross-section of MBOA members,I'm sure he will give us what advice we need to source all thes elusive and expensive brake bits for our MBs. Secondly, I'm sure that he would offer us a reasonable discount. I hesitate to name names or put myself forward in case it is thought I'm in the kickback game. I'm not, and I wouldn't recommend any mechanic or parts retailer if I didn't think they were above average or the best in their field.