W210 Brake Pad Choices

[JimM]

Hi pals.

I hope I'm not upsetting anyone by starting a new topic on this old subject?

I have searched but it's because I prefer to get your valued opinions and experiences on relevant choices for my W210 model.

The obvious budget-priced choices from ECP are Eicher, Pagid, Textar, ATE and Bosch.

I am looking for more grip than my current pads, they feel they are not gripping well and are quite a dust-releasing pad, but I have no idea what brand they are.

I was going to fit Redstuff but I am not sure I will be able to run them hard enough, and as they are quite pricey, and I don't do a lot of hard braking but fear I may need it at some point, so I want more bite than I have now.

What are your experiences with each of the ECP brands please?

As per most peoples' advice I will replace the fluid at the same time.

 

[Naraic]

I have just fitted Eicher discs and pads, and kept the old fluid. The car stops.

 

[JimM]

I have just fitted Eicher discs and pads, and kept the old fluid. The car stops.

Heheheheh... OK - so does mine... eventually!

Do your Eichers feel like it's biting, or just sliding?

Mine feel like I'm pressing a couple of felt pads onto each disc!

 

[WG M-B]

Textar are a good product

 

[toby1]

Just buy MB pads and be done with it. They won't be that more expensive. They'll be a thousand different opinions but they will fit and stop the car as MB intended which IMO is very good indeed.

 

[S.Speed]

Lots of free dust with every set of OEM pads.

 

[michiganstar]

EBC Greenstuff are a good low dust pad and they're available for the W210. Only about £60 too.

 

[television]

EBC Greenstuff are a good low dust pad and they're available for the W210. Only about £60 too.

That would be my choice as well

 

[JimM]

Ermm... Greenstuffs are 140 Euros for front and rear pads, against about 70 quid for ECP for both though. Footbrake shoes are 25 quid for Pagid, so about 100 squid for all.

So that would be about 50 quid less than Greenstuff, and MB would be? A lot more? Our local MB dealer is a real thief unfortunately, no conscience whatsoever.

I know, I know, I'm a cheapskate.

As it happens I took off a set of Textar pads recently from a friend's car and we found they had disintegrated prematurely, the fibre broke away from the steel and was crumbling. There was still about 50% thickness left.

I used Pagid for my old Vauxhall Vectra and they were good grabbers. Not sure if they lasted 'cos I sold the car about a year later.

So has nobody has used ATE or Pagid on their Merc?

I'm tempted by Eicher, but I will probably try the Pagid and get the full set in one go, with footbrake shoes too, unless someone has had bad experiences with them?

 

[whitenemesis]

Always get a price from MB if cost is your main concern. They do tend to be competitive on service parts.

 

[television]

The parking brake shoes seldom wear out, are you sure that they need to be replaced, if you can lock the wheel via the adjusting hole in the drum they should be just fine.

 

[JimM]

I think so TV, the car drives off without a lot of drag when I forget to release the footbrake, and when I put it on while moving to check it, it takes time to stop the car, no bite.

So I will replace them all at once to save a bit of time. The car wasn't treated well by the last owner so I doubt they have been replaced before and she's done about 160k miles.

I've been checking on Redstuff and Greenstuff and there are a lot of upset people on other forums who insist they chew up discs or are ineffective when cold.

The Greenstuff are recommended for sports hatches, this car is a little heavier, what? Not quite a "sports hatch" even with bottle-bottom specs! :mrgreen:

Redstuffs are recommended for my S type and for "cars over 200bhp".

 

[television]

I have used the green and the rad EBC pads, the red are kinder to the disc, and the new version is good from cold.

If you read the USA forums there is no sour grape threads at all, the benefits and pitfalls are all talked about. I have fitted about 20 sets now and no one has any complaints at all, including me. Some answers can be pathetic and insist the one should only use pads that come in MB boxes.

 

[JimM]

Well pals I decided to go for Eicher to trial them. As in my youth, I was always prepared to try something new and if it doesn't do the job I will just replace them.

Only Pagid handbrake shoes are available from ECP for my car, so I got those.

I went for the Eicher Premium for the front and rear pads.

I decided to check out Pagid, the only link I can see is to Mexico. Pagid also make high-spec pads for off-road, and those ranges are expensive.

Then I checked out Eicher.

Guess what: Made in Britain 100%. Owner of the brand is TMD Friction, a German manufacturing group.

Thank goodness they are not Chinese.

They in turn are owned by (or part of) the NISSHINBO Group.

They also produce these brands:

Mintex
DON
Textar
Pagid
Cobreq

Well, well.

Funny.

If you have any concerns about Eicher, see this: http://ata.theimi.org.uk/magazine-product/eicher-brake-pads

I will try to fit them today and I will report back after I have used them for a while anyway.

 

[Naraic]

I think so TV, the car drives off without a lot of drag when I forget to release the footbrake, and when I put it on while moving to check it, it takes time to stop the car, no bite.

So I will replace them all at once to save a bit of time. The car wasn't treated well by the last owner so I doubt they have been replaced before and she's done about 160k miles.

I've been checking on Redstuff and Greenstuff and there are a lot of upset people on other forums who insist they chew up discs or are ineffective when cold.

The Greenstuff are recommended for sports hatches, this car is a little heavier, what? Not quite a "sports hatch" even with bottle-bottom specs! :mrgreen:

Redstuffs are recommended for my S type and for "cars over 200bhp".

At 160000 miles they will be worn out. I did mine before 100000...there was nothing left...and one had detached from the backing plate.

Your car will stop well with OEM...these cars aren't known for being chucked around the road...so OEM will be more than sufficient, unless clean wheels is your no. 1.

Edit: Just noticed the post above this...I too went for Eicher. The car stops...no squeals.

 

[JimM]

Is there a post showing the location of the footbrake adjusters in the rear disks?

I had a search but can't find anything.

Parrot of Doom's guide http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=26768&highlight=w210+pads is very good but the pics are a bit too small to see which way the adjuster screws in / out.

Do you happen to know which way to flick the cogs to collapse it? Logically it should be to the left, to screw it in, and to the right to expand it?

My old Ford Cortina MkII had these, and they were adjusted by a metal lever which pulled up with the handbrake every time it was operated and if there was enough gap to pull up one tooth it would do that, and if not then it would slip off the tooth. Neat and worked well.

Malcolm -

Very clever stuff, they have photo cells built in and a battery along with a solenoid the rotates the ratchet. When the shoe is worn a little this uncovers a little hole that triggers the photo cell, then the solenoid rotates the adjuster one notch.

Heheheheh! I can believe a solenoid, but a battery and photo cell? Nah! Very nice April Fool lead... but it was in July!

And what was all that gumph about working on exhaust gases?

...they took a little pipe tapped off the exhaust pipe and fed that into the brake drum assembly and the suction operated a plunger that rotated the adjuster, sadly it was all hot air,,and did not last

rofl! Even I can see it wouldn't work, exhaust pipes don't suck!

Bad boy! We have to remember the things we write will often stay in sight for years and incriminate us now! Well you were a lot younger then and more rash, I suppose.

Fortunately my disks are all in good nick so I don't need to replace them but I think I do need to replace the shoes. I've changed the front and rear pads yesterday but ran out of time, and it was too cold and miserable to do it today.

Brings back fond memories of when cars all looked like this. My Jag S is nothing like this, much more complex, and sometimes when I offer help with some suggestions on the Jag forums I am usually way off mark with that car, so much so that I put a caveat in my signature! :roll:

 

[television]

Here we are sir

 

[Naraic]

As above it's up and down not left to right...and it works the opposite on each side of the car...trial and error (I can't remember in other words).

 

[JimM]

WEEE! Thank you again, kind sirs.

Well, it's sort of angled so left/right and up/down can both be valid I suppose, especially when one is crouched down and contorted round the hub. :mrgreen:

I shall update as promised.

 

[JimM]

OK, it was too rainy to replace the footbrake shoes so I've not done them yet.

The Eicher Premium pads are fine.

They are not spectacular, in fact for the first couple of days they felt about the same as the old pads, but by today they've cleaned off and bedded in a bit and the grip is still gentle under gentle braking, but is definitely good enough when needed - the old pads were letting the car slide a bit further under similar pressure.

From speed when braking gently the car slows faster than before so this is good too.

So these Eichers are fine, I don't think I will need to replace them unless I have any bad experience.

To be truthful I was hoping for the kind of grip I used to get from Ferrodos on my very old 280E just after the asbestos content was removed from all pads and I found Ferrodos to be the only ones with that strong grip. That car was brought to its knees when braking hard. But those pads only lasted about a year and a half.

I had also changed the brake fluid - easy job with a pressurised Gunsons Eezibleed kit, but I found that the tyre pressure was not enough, feed was very slow, so I encouraged it by pushing back the pistons with a C-clamp with the bleed valve open, and that did the trick easily. The pistons came out when I closed the bleed valve so I could then open the valve again and repeat the procedure - one thing is to not pull out the clamp or whatever you use from between the piston and the disc, or the piston will close up to the disc and you will have trouble pushing it back again as it will tilt and jam.

That job was made much easier because the old fluid was green and the new fluid (Dot 4, and don't worry it's really, really fine you don't need Dot-4+ or Merc special when you are changing it all out) is clear, so when the green tinge had all gone I put in the new pads and moved to the next calliper.

It used about 1 and a half litres in this car, and I really let a lot out past the point when the fluid came out clear just to be sure.

One other thing I found is that for the first couple of days the brake pedal was sinking to the floor if I kept pressing on it hard after stopping, and some other people noted this on another thread. But today it is all firm again.

So Patience has done her job I guess! :mrgreen:

I will report back about the footbrake shoes eventually.

All comments and experiences are welcome as they will help others in future. I am happy with the Eicher pads.