[W126 Coupe] Brakes

[Sam Sisic]

Dawid,
I agree... For a 2 ton car and the for the size of the stock brakes
limited by the stock 15" wheels, the stock brakes couldn't get much
better. They really work hard to how down this massive automobile; hence
a lot of brake dust on the front wheels. They're only clean for a day.
I live in the flatlands of the Midwest US, so the stock brakes do the
job for the most part. For those of you who live around mountains and
steep grades, I can't imagine these are adequate in "spirited"
driving... Like there's any other kind!! ;-)
I did, however pick up a set of 14" two-peace drilled and slotted rotors
with 4 piston Wilwood Super-light calipers for all four corners. These
require minimum 18" wheels for clearance. I have not had a chance to
install them yet, but will definitely post the results when I do. I
would imagine that in this case, bigger will be better...
Sam
88' 560 SEC
------------------------------

Message: 16
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 07:56:50 +0200
From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl at solms.co.za>
Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] Brakes
To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
Message-ID: <BBE4C057-9989-447E-9799-02719FBF45A5 at solms.co.za>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I have not had my 560 long enough to judge pad usage, but if the last  
5,000km is anything to go by,
I will also get long life out of mine.

But, on a related note - having 'upgraded' from a MINI Cooper S, the  
stock brakes on these cars
are very poor (yes yes, I know they weigh 2 tonnes, but the 1 tonne  
MINI had bigger brakes than the SEC).

They have excellent stopping power, but it's so easy to overheat them  
(in which case
bad fading is experienced)... has anybody upgraded their brakes to  
something a bit better?

Ever since I bough the car (which is in truly exceptional condition  
otherwise) the brake discs were
warped (which is starting to get annoying) so I need to replace them  
soon in anyway.

regards,
Dawid