hey,

2008 S550

my friend wants me to change her brake pads on all four wheels for her. the dealer quoted 1500$ for the job (wow). is there anything special about changing these pads, being that it is a mercedes.

i have done pads on many other cars but not a mercedes.

also, any pad recommendations.

 

Does this one have the sbc brakes - if so you better get it to a dealer.

 

that is the kicker there. Quite frankly I have no idea what clown the dealer get to come up with them prices. I assume (or rather hope) the dealer is including new fluid too as with one sbc that will take some dealership from what I can tell. I've seen some post about people changing the fluid DIY in the SBC system and it working as normal and some wasnt so lucky and had problems with the system. Could it be because they didnt bleed right or what but I never tried it myself yet so cat say. To change it, and not changing fluid, even with SBC it's not hard. Disconnect both batteries, pump pedal about 20 times and then change as nomal car.

In general, if you ever changed brake pads on an American car, a Mercedes is dead simple belive it or not. For ones without the SBC and ones from 1970s-deep 2000s, it's easy. pull the pins,take the plate off, remove brake pads, insert new ones, reattach the brake pad wear sensors and done. Some times a C-clamp helps to work arount the pistons, and some people do the anti squeal grease and some people go without.
Times of the backyard mechanic is changing and it's not by accident. Freaking hate the dealership. They are like the most twisted organizations behind politiians and public lawyers of course but near close.

and with a Mercedes try to stay away from many "cheap" pads (pads are fairly cheap to begin with even good ones) as they fade quick under the S-class weight and that is some weight you want to have under control braking at all times. MBZ OEM pads rarely fade even for the old ones.

 

But in order to deactivate the SBC system you also need a DAS, which only a dealership has and charge arms legs and maybe a kidney for service. This allows them to change pads without disconnecting battery and stuff for quick service. They plug it in, deactivate SBC slip the pads out slip new ones in then charge you out the nose for it and talk lingo to make it seems like they went through hell and back to do that job.


One last thing, Safety. The way the SBC system works is litterally priming before you start the car i.e when you ope the door, use the central locking system etc. IT stays on for about 20 secs after turning the car off. The catch is you dotn deactivate the system or do not disconnect the battery, the system can activate and cause injuries and other pressure build up in the system. The system works by moving the brake pads closer to the rotors and basically auto adjust them for the proper placing and for the best braking feel and action. When the system reactivates, it's not uncommon for it to take the system a few time to adjust the pads just right. I havent heard of any problems from DIYs yet. Worse was a bonehead messed with something he was meanign to mess with and the SBC light came on. He took it in an they cleared the codes lot cheaper than 1500 dollars.