Replacing rear brake pads on Mercedes Benz W203
Like everything else in life, brake pads also have a finite life span. Since I bought my Mercedes Benz C180K, I guess it was just more than two years ago. I've never had the need to replace its brake pads, probably because I hardly ever drove her but also that my preferred mode of transport is my BMW R1100RS motorcycle. However, since my Merc was being used by a sober drive team to transport Europe Assist clients, who exceeded the alcohol consumption legal limit, to their homes, I was compelled to replace its brake pads.
The average distance that this team drove each night varied between 300-400 km per 8 hour shift, thrice per week. In a matter of one month they raked up close to 5000 km. For the 3 months they used the car prior to the announcement of Covid-19, had put 26 000 km on the odometer. In my estimation that's about the same distance I normally travel in one year. Something had to give, and it was the brake pads and my tolerance; as my Merc was returned to me with the screeching sound of metal rubbing on metal when it stopped. The Europe Assist driving gig may have seemed a good idea at the time but right there and then I decided that it wasn't. Effectively the wear and tear by far exceeds the income.
Anyway, after jacking up the car and removing its wheels, I checked the front brake pads which seemed to be at half life but the rear ones were completely kaput. See pics above and below. The other side was even worse.
Mercedes Benz brake pads are not expensive and replacing the rear break pads are relatively easy. It's purely a matter of knocking out the Mercedes Benz brake pad retainer pin and removing the spring clip. Then prize open the calipers and slide the new pad into place on either side of the disk and reassemble in the reverse. Fortunately, the metal to metal screech didn't damage or score the discs. It takes as little as and hour to replace the rear brake pads on both sides.
As can be seen above, spring clip gets inserted and pin knocked back in place. But in my case, the calipers had pushed our that far that it was difficult to get it to retract. A few squirts of Brake and Parts cleaner quickly resolved the issue.
NB! Do not spray Q20 on or into the caliper. Q20 is an oil based liquid and will soak into the ceramic material of the break pads and the brakes won't engage properly or rather wont stop the car in the distance expected.
