Ceramic Brakes

[chic0821]

I have been looking at S500 coupes, but I am also looking at S63 coupes as they seem to come with more bells & whistles. Looking at around 2015-2017. Noticed that a couple of S63 that I have been looking at comes with "AMG high performance ceramic brakes" Don't know if they all do.
Does anyone know the life expectancy & cost to replace discs & pads. My driving style is not stupid & I am not hard on brakes. A friend has a 911 GT3 with them & they are unbelievable. Porsche reckon about 100k miles, so if Mercedes is anything like that I would be happy as the car would be doing only about 5000miles per year, if that.
Also any advice on both S500 & S63 would be appreciated
Charles

 

[John Laidlaw]

Hi Charles
It used to be the 's' designated AMGs had ceramics on, not sure if it's still the case.
Sorry I don't know the lifetime expectancy ,most of the focus centres on performance (Higher temperature resistance) and lack of dust!
I can say they can be up to 10 x the price of standard pads and discs (Originals) and if you are not hard on brakes etc, then I'd struggle to justify the extra cost personally...
I did have ceramic pads on my SL500 but that was to eliminate dust

 

[daveenty]

Not all S63 coupes come with ceramic brakes, it was a big chunk of money to specify them. Unless you're tracking the car, which is not necessarily what the S Class is best at, then I'd stick with standard brakes. Yes, the ceramic ones do last longer but the price you pay when they do want replacing negates this. The disc itself doesn't so much wear down, more that tiny little hairline cracks start to appear, ultimately rendering it scrap. Replacement, as mentioned earlier, is scarily expensive.

I now try to avoid them when buying cars to be honest, I've never particularly got on with them since a nasty experience with an S8 Audi I had with them on; torrential rain on the motorway, press brake: nothing, bit harder: nothing, bit more: from nothing to rip your face off, terrifying both me and everyone around me.

Oh, and good choice with the S Coupe, had mine a while now and still love it, though I'm not really using it at the moment.