Does anyone know the thicknesses (in mm) of new front and rear brake pads for a CLS 550?

Every time I take my car for service, the dealer checks the pads and reports their remaining life as a percentage. That percentage varies greatly with each visit. The other day, I finally got a report of the pads' thicknesses in mm. My fronts were at 8mm and my rears, which had just been replaced that day, were at 4mm. I know that rears wear slower then fronts, but I would think that a new set would have more pad than 4mm. Any ideas what they should be when new?

Thanks for your help!

Brian

 

Hi Brian,
I have an extra set of new Brembo front pads that I bought for my ML by mistake. They will fit ML, S and CL 430, 500 and 55 AMG all 00-06. New lining is 11.5 mm thick.
Wear limit or minimum lining thickness listed by Mercedes in Chilton's manual on these pads is 6 mm or 1/4" that is little over 50% of the brake life in the garbage! That is the way to make money on premature replacement of parts.
I don't have new set of rear pads but I have still the old set that I replaced last month. I'm not sure how thick the liner is on new pad (my guess would be 10mm) but limit is 4 mm. I had 2mm left when I changed them.
I just looked at the brembo pad again. Stainless steel shim on each of them has a finger like plate sticking out 6mm into liner side to make audible noise when in contact with rotor. Wear sensor will turn on your brake warning light at 3mm lining thickness left on pads. To let them change your brakes is your potion, as chassis221 mentioned in one of the threads. You can wait for your brake light on the dash to come ON and then go have your brakes replaced with plenty of time left to do it.

 

I'd like to take mine out and check the thickness. Do have a procedure to remove the pads on a CLS ?