Ceramic brake pads

I can't recommend ceramic brake pads highly enough.

I put ceramic pads onto my SL500 R129 and the improvement was quite staggering.
With some of our bigger, heavier MB models brake fading as the pads heat up is not uncommon. I noticed immediately after fitting ceramic pads that braking was progressive and no discernible fading.
I do a lot of high speed motorway/freeway driving and it's not uncommon to pull up from 230Kph to 100Kph when some idiot suddenly pulls out into the fast lane, so it's comforting to have the assurance that you can pull up quickly and safely.

Another small bonus of ceramic pads is that they produce far less of that dirty greasy black brake dust that blights a nicely polished alloy wheel.

Ceramics do work quite well. You lose a bit of the initial bite that organic/stock pads would afford you but in many instances it's worth the trade off.

If you want to go a step beyond ceramics, Porterfield makes an Excellent pad for the Spirited street driving, the R4S..and I can't say enough about their track pad, the R4.

I run the R4S's on all my street 560's and the 600. R4's on the track car.

A number of my customers 420/500 W124's are running R4S's as well with nothing but positive feedback:)

Jonathan

I recall Mercedes issuing a dire warning regarding the use of EB Greenstuff ceramic pads a few years back. Excessive b/rotor wear is no longer an issue?

Never fiddled w/ EBC's... Only Akebono (why not, WP has them cheap enough) and the porterfields.. I haven't seen excessive wear on my TE, been about 7K thus far..

As for the PF's....considering how those cars get driven and the brakes get WORKED excessive wear would be relative.

Jonathan

WP is an incarnation of satan. Never spent a dime with them, never will.

Never fiddled w/ EBC's... Only Akebono (why not, WP has them cheap enough) and the porterfields..

Jonathan

Akebono ceramic pads are difficult to get hold of outside of the USA which is a pity.

I went with EBC RedStuff on my R129 Sl500s and find them excellent in stopping a two ton car very quickly :rolleyes:

German Star mentioned EBC GreenStuff, are they in fact a ceramic compound ????

So Akebonos on a 210 wagon will not affect daily driving but will greatly reduce the brake dust?

Akebono ceramic pads are difficult to get hold of outside of the USA which is a pity.

I went with EBC RedStuff on my R129 Sl500s and find them excellent in stopping a two ton car very quickly :rolleyes:

German Star mentioned EBC GreenStuff, are they in fact a ceramic compound ????
......

Yes.

Yea, I hear you on the WP...Here it's a necc. evil.. GAP won't deliver w/o a fee unless you order over 50$..most of what I buy from WP is small/need it NOW items (I mainly deal w/ Brin.)

Jonathan

Yeah, I did 10 years at Brinson.

Didn't Johnny Cash record a live album there?

Back when I was in the biz, WP and Altrom were the only games in town for Euro cars...not even sure if the latter is still at it anymore. WP seems to have a monopolistic stranglehold over the online parts distribution sector. I remember staring at green screen versions of WP's catalog available on floppy disc(s)

Never heard of Altrom, and WP has nothing of the sort. They have been brought back from the verge of financial ruin more times than I can count, but they're still marching forward, still trying to eat everything in sight. And yes, it's quite the scam they have going, polluting the Internet with so many vendor clones that folks think that's all there is. Well, then there's folks like me and Adsit (yikes, can't say I appreciate the company, though I do know the lad personally).

Yeah, I did 10 years at Brinson.

You worked for Reiner?

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I worked for Guenther (Rainer's father), then for Rainer after he wrested control of the company from his father (talk about an ugly scene -- unbelievable). And I take it back, it was 11 years.

under normal low speed braking do those ceramics squeel & whine? I had that issue with the ceramics on my 944....although I must admit they stopped me at speed much more efficiently.

Have just posted about squelling brakes on my E63. Will the ceramic fix this problem? Also is there a big difference in cost between ceramic and the stock pads.

Have just posted about squelling brakes on my E63. Will the ceramic fix this problem? Also is there a big difference in cost between ceramic and the stock pads.

Ceramic pads are more expensive but have the advantage of stopping you more quickly, hardly any brake fade and a lot less black brake dust.
I have EBC Redstuff fitted to both of my SL500s and they make a big difference to standard, stock pads.

For some daft reason many users of ceramic pads, me included, notice that they only seem to squeal when reversing.