My wife reported that the brakes in the 190D "made a noise and then got quiet" and it scared her. Apparently her definition of "quiet" and mine aren't the same because when I tried it the right front wheel made an ungodly racket. It'd had a hardened spot on the rotor for some time so I'd already ordered new rotors and pads. Yesterday I installed.
Remember a couple weeks ago I asked about replacing the rotor without pulling the hub? A year or two ago I'd done the bearings on the passenger front and the rotor kept falling off as I tried to set the preload. Well yesterday that &^%$@#! rotor wouldn't come off for love nor money. I had to pull the hub and balance it on two 2x4s and beat the hub out of the rotor. On that side the pads fell out of the caliper when I pulled it, neither had any friction material to speak of. On the other side one of the big bolts that holds the caliper on would NOT come off. I resorted to the heat wrench which is hard because the small bolts have a little rubber bellows thing on them, I didn't realize at the time I could take rubber bellows thing off. On that side the pads were fine... I *think* when I did the bearing I got grease on the rotor which created the hardspot and ruined the pads. So it goes. Rusty sent me ceramic pads, I don't remember what brand he said they were but they were in a Textar box. Apparently Akebono doesn't have an application for a 190D. The rotors he sent (I spec'd the cheap PBR ones which I had used on my '83 240D with success) are very nice and thick. They weigh about twice the ones I took off and are marked "Made in Germany" on the rim. My wife is VERY pleased with the new brakes and much more confident in the car and my abilities. The latter is of course a nice feeling. -Curt _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
