changing the Mercedes C220 brake discs
Photos
This was a job that I had wanted to do since I bought the car in april or so of this year (2005). I could see from a visual inspection through the allow wheels that the brake discs were old and quite worn, so replacing them was a job to do in the summer. Finally in July i had some time and the weather was good so I started to remove the brake discs starting at the front (with help from Claes).
First off (if you are reading this to find out how to replace the discs), you'll need the parts. I bought the brake discs in a local swedish shop called biltema (http://www.biltema.se). They sell lots of car parts. You'll need to new discs for the front of the car (ventilated discs) and two different ones for the back (non-ventilated, and they are shaped differently to house the 'handbrake' brakes internally as a brake-drum mechanism).
Once you have the parts, jack up the car on a level surface, remove a wheel and then carefully remove the brake pads holding assembly. The front of the car needs a 19mm spanner to remove the two bolts holding it, this was strange as my previous Mercedes 190d only needed a 17mm spanner. The rear wheels brake-pads assemblies use a 17mm spanner.
Once you have the brake-pad assembly remove, then use a small key'd wrench to remove the small bolt that holds the brake disc to the wheel. Once it is removed, (if your brake disc is rusty) you need to whallop the brake disc quite a few times to loosen it from the wheel hub as it will rust itself and merge together with the hub. Banging on the center of the old brake disc a few times (hard slaps) is usually enough to loosen it.
Once you have it loosened, take it off and clean the surface of the exposed wheel hub with a wirebrush to remove rust and particles. A final clean with an air compressor gun will remove dust/rust that is still present (recommended).
Before fitting the new brake disc, I'd recommend you apply (with a paintbrush) some linseed oil to the brake disc shield area (carefully avoiding getting oil on any brake parts like the brake pads). Doing this will help to avoid rust and the Mercedes Benz brake shield discs are difficult to replace and not cheap either (oh, and they rust !!!). In particular, the rear brake shield discs must be protected as they hold two springs which hold the hand brake assembly together, so if it rusts too much, bang goes your handbrake (happened to me once).
Next, clean the brake disc (it will be shipped with wax coated on it to prevent rust, use a fat/wax removal solvent liquid and a cloth to get rid of it on all the surface, particularly the inside drum if its the rear disc). Then fit the new brake disc in place, if it's a rear wheel, release the handbrake prior to this operation, otherwise you won't get the old brake disc off, and you won't get the new one on. Once done, re-attach the key'd bolt to hold the brake-disc in place. At this point, I re-attached the brake shoes assembly to the brake disc and was ready to
apply some more linseed oil to the remaining areas behind the brake shield. These areas are any of the steel structure that is exposed to the elements. We used a spray gun loaded with linseed oil connected to a air-compressor, this allowed a thick even coat to all these exposed areas and you can see the results below.
I have no idea if any of this info will help others, but if it does, let me know.
any questions, email me.
cheers
anyweb
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(c) http://www.linux-noob.com 2005.
Created
by anyweb
on July 02, 2005
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