OT - Mercedes Benz Brake Parts?, Should I be looking 4 particular Brands? Options

[DuckRyder]

The 190 E needs front brakes. (The girls are hard on equipment) (Description of the problem = "It sounds like it is Hungry")

Anyway, looks like I have the choice of:

EBC pads and Brembo rotors from Tire Rack

Or any combination of: (From Pelican/Driveworks)

Rotors:
ATE
ATE Powerdisc
Balo

Pads:
ATE
MB
Pagid
Textar
PBR Delux
PBR Metal Master

Quiet operation and decent life with OEM or better performace are the critera, low dust would be great as well.

Any thoughts?

[anthony]

On my Jetta I have the ATE Powerdiscs and Ferodo pads. The Ferodo dust is more silvery and a little less black than stock (which is good).

[kdfoust]

It sounds hungry! That's pretty descriptive. Open your wallet and feed it a hand full of yuppie food stamps: it'll feel much better then.

I generally run Textar which is MB OEM. ATE is also OEM. Hmmm, rotors, I don't recall but always MB OEM. My wife gets around 20k out of a set of front pads. She always brakes late and we live in a pretty hilly area. Rotors last forever if you don't score them with wornout pads. The pads dust, it's the price for high performance braking...you could put some klean shields in if it really bugs you.

The OEM brakes are always quiet for us, get the OEM MB brake pad grease (it's BLUE/GREEN in little ketchup packets). Don't forget the sensors ($1/each for the front only, needs four total).

You might want to give my guy a call. He knows these cars inside out, has competitive prices and has never let me down:

Randy Steele
European Parts Specialists, Ltd.
5960 Mandarin Ave. Suite A-1
Goleta, CA 93117
805-683-4020 / 800-334-2749
FAX 805-683-3689
Email "randy@epsparts.com"
"www.epsparts.com"

Have fun,
Kevin

PS - There's another guy that's more in your neighborhood. He's had the opportunity to impress me repeatedly and failed each time. A lot of other people like him though so it could just be a personality conflict:
Rusty Cullens
1-800-741-5252 or +1 (770) 452-7320, FAX: +1 (770) 454-9745
9 Dunwoody Park. Suite 133, Atlanta, GA 30338

[DuckRyder]

Thanks Guys.

based on this and some serching of the MB forums I ordered Balo rotors and Textar pads from DriveWorks. We will see how it goes. (got the grease, sensors and all as well.................)

[DuckRyder]

Ended up geting the Balo and Textar (yellow box)

They went on perfectly and perform well.

Big thing I don't get is that:

Driveworks has an online inventory system, it also tells the manufacturer of the part and offers several brands for each item.

I ordered on sunday and the order was checked in on sunday, it shipped on monday.

I have NEVER ordered Porsche parts from pelican and had an order checked in on sunday and shipped monday!!!

Why can't they perform this well for Porsche parts?????