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New Front Brakes

8K views 20 replies 5 participants last post by  JaysonM 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I recently replaced my very worn front rotors w/slotted & drilled ones from Chromebrakes. The calipers were needing attention, so I tried a POR15 Caliper paint kit, with good results. Also detailed the wheels and coated the lug bolts....was very pleased w/results.

pics can be seen here


PICS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

I later discovered 'Chassis Saver', which is as good or better than POR15 & much lower cost. They will both tell you to only use their solvent- I used Toluene with no issues whatsoever. It was a hot day here and the red had to be thinned. The brush supplied is ok for flat areas, but a cheap 1" brush was far better for the calipers....a small 'acid brush' was good for very tight spaces. A pipe cleaner is great for any touch-up.
Removing the calipers is the only way to really do the proper job & I was a bit anal in preparing them-smoothing out the parting lines took additional time, but I'm only doing this once.

One note: the wire clips are rather difficult to get back on, as many have found. I straightened out the longer section slightly, reducing the angle of the 2 bends by about 10 degrees each....should have measured it. This made it MUCH easier to get them on.
Rear brakes are next.
 
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#2 ·
I tried coating the inside of the 1/2" drive socket as well, to help protect the lug bolts' finish. I let everything cure for 3 days and it works pretty well.
Oh, the POR15 cans are very thin, and if any paint is left in the groove-even overnight, they will be welded together, as you can see in the pics, I had to cut them open and then poured contents into baby food jars(not ours!) These have a good seal in the lid and are great for paints.
 
#4 ·
Nice.
I may have to redo my calipers, and so will follow this info.

[Edit] Every time I look at the pictures I see more detail. To point out the obvious, good to see you masked off the mounting bolts holes, sliders and the pistons and seals, and blanked off the hydraulic tube holes (both to stop rubbish and paint going in, and to prevent fluid coming out and ruining the new paint)
How did you get the callipers so clean? [/Edit]

Of course, I may have to remove the previous owner's paint-job, so things may get more complicated...
Anon
 
#5 ·
thanks for the replies.
It was so hot, I had to move them into the garage, so paint would flow better....then back in the sun.
Oh, since both lug bolts & wheels were coated with POR15, when cured, I wiped a thin coat of hi-pressure grease on radiused portion of bolts, to prevent sticking-
worked great. Prior owner painted wheels black....I like them now.
 
#7 ·
I see your previous owner has done some mods to the SLK already, by fitting projector headlights. It gives a nice impact for the front end, especially with the black on red theme you have going.
Do you have the common problem that the high beam is not aligned when the dip beam has been properly set up? (I say not aligned, on the basis you might want the main beams for driving on roads, rather than watching for space aliens or driving in very hilly terrain ;) )
Anon
 
#8 ·
I have not driven it much at night yet, nor adjusted lights, but they seemed ok....will find a straight, vacant road to aim them.

I should clarify- I did NOT paint the rotors! If you check out Chromebrakes' website, that is the factory coating....looks like powder coating.
I sanded most of it off the brake pads' path, friction gets the remnants.
I have put 2300 miles on the car since & just love the rotors.
The POR15 gets rock hard & should handle the heat fine...I imagine they've tested it; then again, I'm not going on the racetrack.
May try the G2 system next time.

Still need to flush the brake lines, did not have time...
 
#9 ·
You may have a different brand of light; people will be beating a path to your door to find out which, once you've confirmed!

Thanks for clarifying that you didn't paint the rotors. Since the colour looked so similar, I made the mistake of thinking that; now others know not to do so, and will avoid the calamity that would arise!
Good that you've put mileage one, and the callipers still look good; that first braking session that completes the second heat cure (as it drives out the solvents, etc) can make the surface soft, and so allow brake dust to tarnish the wonderful paint-job.

And so this comes to a pretty stop!
Anon
 
#10 ·
I'll post some recent pics soon; hoping to get to the rears this week.
No ill effects, brake squeal, or otherwise, from the spring mod.....they furnish more than enough pressure. I suspect MB engineers had plenty
of extra designed in; angle reduction may be closer to 5 deg. per bend.
No Chinese rotors here;
From the Chromebrakes website:

"Our rotors are made from high quality OEM grade G3000 castings. All of our rotors are double disc ground, and mill balanced for ultra smooth stopping. Each brake rotor comes ready to install right out of the box. Our rotors are expertly machined in the USA for quiet, long lasting operation. We offer an industry first PCC Chromium plating, that protects far better than any zinc or paint process can, and it looks...well see for yourself. There's nothing like it!"

MB rotors are pretty soft, these should last the life of the car.
 
#11 ·
I recently replaced my very worn front rotors w/slotted & drilled ones from Chromebrakes. The calipers were needing attention, so I tried a POR15 Caliper paint kit, with good results. Also detailed the wheels and coated the lug bolts....was very pleased w/results.

pics can be seen here
That's a very great DIY with lots of pics! I was planning on doing mine in the future using this kit: http://www.formymercedes.com/mb_results.asp?model=R170&class=slk-class&category=Caliper+Paint+Kit
What do you think about it?
I also thought about putting EBC rotors but you provided us with a great store! I see it has exact same rotor design but for a lot cheaper. Given that I'm not a racer and slotted rotors are already better than OEM ones I might go with ChromeBrakes option =)

Also, I don't like the idea of removing calipers for painting. Do you think one can do a good job while in place?
BTW, was it hard to remove the front and rear rotors?
Thanks for this great DIY input!
 
#14 ·
thanks, I appreciate your comments & will post some pics of the wheels soon.
Have to say, I read a rotor DIY on another MB forum; nice job, but he admittedly used Chinese rotors, which mystifies me. He saved little over what I spent on my rotors & Akebono pads. I feel China gets enough of our $$, so I'm far happier with the superior quality of the Chromebrakes rotors & supporting a U.S. Company as well.
I think the CB are way sexier; like to see how the Chinese look after a year, as they appear to show signs of rust already.




 
#16 ·
thanks, I appreciate your comments & will post some pics of the wheels soon.
Have to say, I read a rotor DIY on another MB forum; nice job, but he admittedly used Chinese rotors, which mystifies me. He saved little over what I spent on my rotors & Akebono pads. I feel China gets enough of our $$, so I'm far happier with the superior quality of the Chromebrakes rotors & supporting a U.S. Company as well.
I think the CB are way sexier; like to see how the Chinese look after a year, as they appear to show signs of rust already.
Very very nice job! I think black rims will definitely match my black car =)
I just compared the prices and the EBC ones will run around $400 total (front and rear sets) for my car, and CB totals me around $260 for both sets! That's nice! The only thing I'm concerned is should I put new brake pads along with new rotors? I just changed mine like a year ago and probably hit less that 10,000 miles on it and they have all the "meat" on them...
 
#15 ·
Wow, interesting collection of pictures.
The top one (assumed Chinese) shows that they are both drilled and slotted, which makes it seem like they are trying to get both market sections *and* the vacillators! It also appears that the holes are countersunk/radiused, which is not something I've seen before.
The second shows your new disc, assembled. I still find it hard to realise that the discs are not painted, since there is a nice reflection to match your calliper reflection.
The third picture shows the range of colours (wow), but also that the discs are mostly drilled, but also have three (shallow) slots, which were not visible on your photos. So you have drilled, slotted vented discs; any more of a dictionary, and you'll have a book-end for a crumple-zone!
And the fourth picture shows your discs run in, still showing the (clean) red around the edges, but a nice clean braking surface. I shall have to be more careful jumping to conclusions about seeing this flash of colour on the disc and the hub.
And to think I thought they were bits of metal that just get a bit hot before they wear out!
 
#18 ·
That was my 1st thought about bedding in problems. I thought that old pads might screw up new rotors. So I guess I'll have to by new pads to make everything perfect! And will follow your advice - will just toss my old ones in a box for future in case I need them =) Y)
 
#19 · (Edited)
thanks, Jayson, I'd agree about using new pads w/new rotors.
CB gave me a good price for ordering front & rears at the same time, w/free shipping as well.....give them a call.
Yeah, black will look great w/your black car.....look forward to seeing your pics.
I actually scraped most of the powder coating off the pad's path, then sanded the bits left.
The rotors stop & ride just as smooth as silk, NO pulsation, or hint of a vibration or squeal. The Chinese parts are simply not in the same league, def. not worth just saving a few bucks. They apparently have a thin, cheap tin plating, as you can already see rust through it.

"
I don't like the idea of removing calipers for painting. Do you think one can do a good job while in place?"
Well, for the front, I really feel the only way to do it right is removing them.....would have killed my neck trying to get all the tight areas with them on the car. However, the rears are much smaller & easier, I just might leave those on.


Tolak, the countersunk holes are pretty standard now for any decent drilled rotor. These are very high quality & I won't have to look at rusting vent holes, etc.

BTW, One pic shows the back of the car elevated as well; as I changed the trans fluid while letting the calipers dry a few days. I'll post some pics in a new thread when I can.
 
#20 ·
Replaced rotors and brake pads. Painted brake calipers with G2 paint.

Hello fellow members! I hope you are all doing great!
First of all I would like to say Thank you to all people in this thread and on this forum for sharing their experience while replacing front/rear brake pads/rotors and painting brake calipers. Special kudos go to Mary Kay! Thank you dear for sharing your son's experience with EBC products and answering my questions! :rb:tu:

Now, to my experience. I decided not to create a whole new thread but rather make a post here and share some pictures. I got myself EBC Ultimax slotted rotors and "Red Stuff" brake pads. NOTE: EBC brake pads didn't come with sensors and I had to reuse ones from my previous brake pad replacement (Akebono ones). Another thing is that one of my front brake pads didn't come with a hole for the sensor so I had to drill one. Not a big deal =) Also, the sensors didn't fit into the U-shape opening on the pads so I had to file them just a tiny bit. These are just some minor issues I had with EBCs. :grin:
But everything worked out good and I like them so far!
The job is pretty easy and on a scale 1 to 10 I'd rate it 5.
The only special tools you'd need is T45 Torx bit, and brake pad spreader. Oh, and a hex bit socket. Can't recall the size, sorry =(
Now, there are a number of brake pad replacement DIYs, so I won't go into details but rather share some links. NOTE: Most Mercedes-Benzes follow the same principle while changing brakes.
Brake Pad Replacement - Front
Pelican Technical Article - Mercedes SLK 230 - Rear Brake Rotor and Caliper Replacement
Pelican Technical Article - Mercedes SLK 230 - Rear Brake Pad Replacement
http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r171-class-diy/13874-replace-rotors-pads-05-slk.html#post150682



What you want to do is insert your key and unlock the steering wheel so you can turn it to access the bolts.
NOTE: I put my front of the car onto jack stands so I had both front wheels off at the same time. If you're doing one side at a time, you might want to turn your wheel to the proper side before taking that wheel off. REMEMBER - be very cautious when jacking up the car. Use proper procedures. Install the "stoppers" to prevent the car from rolling, etc.

After you remove the two bolts held by T45 Star bit, and take the top part of the caliper off, make sure you secure it with some wire so it doesn't hang free on a brake hose!!!
bottom (or side) part of the brake caliper is held by two big bolts. Can't remember what size the socket was but it's either 15, 16, 17 or 18mm one. After you undo these two bolts, just set this brake caliper part aside.
I'd also recommend spraying the hex screw securing the rotor with WD-40 so it can penetrate in case it has rusted over the time. Remove that screw and the rotor should come off. Mine came off really easy. After that, clean the hub with some metal wire brush to remove any rust, and apply some copper grease to prevent it from rusting and make the removal of the rotor easier in the future.
That's it, install your new rotor, secure it with hex screw, and re-assemble the brake caliper. As always - re-assembly in the reverse order :grin:
The rear calipers are easier to remove. These are also held by two big bolts: 15, 16, 17 or 18mm. Can't recall which one was that :nerd:.
Now, the hardest part is taking the rear rotors off. After you have used WD-40 on a hex screw and removed it, you might want to arm yourself with a Rubber hammer! I had to hit on the rotor in the outwards direction (the direction you remove the rotor). Hit it, turn it an inch, hit it again, turn it an inch... repeat the process until this pesky rotor comes off =). Just be patient and take your time. I was about to give up at some point but decided to kept going. I started hitting it hard and finally it came off. I think the parking brake shoes kept it in place tight
. Again, clean all the rust with some metal wire brush, apply copper grease and put your new rotor on! Re-assembly is n the reverse order :smile:

Painting: I used black G2 brake caliper paint. I painted my calipers in pairs - front ones first, then rear ones, so I was mixing half of the paint with half of the reactor. First thing you want to do is to clean your brake calipers very thoroughly! I used metal wire brush and the supplied brake cleaner. Remember - clean clean clean! I was cleaning my calipers while they were off. I'd never think they were this clean once upon a time :wink:. I decided to assemble calipers and then paint them while in situ. Disconnecting them from brake lines was too much hassle for me and besides only the font part will be visible. Please, don't judge me that I didn't take them fully off, sand blast, prime, paint, clear coat, etc. It's up to you. I think the final result was really good and me and my wife liked it! She was helping me all the time. The full brake/rotor/painting job took us two day. Couple hours a day. Simply because I was doing my wheels in pairs; I didn't jack up all 4 at once.
 
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