ceramic pads - very nice!

Put some PBR Ultimate Ceramic pads on my 81 300td - very good braking, VERY clean. Well worth the few extra bucks, IMO, not to have that black crud all over the rims. FWIW

Speaking of rims, does anybody know who might sell them? Mine have all lost the finish, and look quite ratty. Or, is there a simple refinish I might do myself?

tweaks

Reply to
tweaks
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where is the cheapest place to get a set?

Reply to
Darrell

Another solution is to have yours refinished. There are shops that will repair them, including welding curb damage spots,etc and then repaint them. A search of wheel refinishing should find them on the web.

Reply to
Chet Hayes

I got mine from parts.mbz.org - I generally find them to have the lowest prices, and their service has been 110%.

tweaks

Reply to
tweaks

Thanks - I'll give 'er a shot...

Reply to
tweaks

I'm using a set of PBR Ultimate Ceramic pads on the front of two of my Mercedes. They are on my '95 E320 wagon and my '80 300CD. I had been using PRB Metal Master pads prior to switching over to the PBR ceramic pads. The PBR Ultimate pads do stop well but they also create more dust than any pad I have ever used. My wheels are really black. They also seem to wear out rotors on my '95 E320 wagon quickly (the '95 wagon has large vented front rotors like the E420 and the SL's). How long have you had those pads on your '81 300TD ? I won't be buying any more PBR ceramic pads in the future. I'm either going back to metal masters or something else.

Reply to
VCopelan

I just put them on a few weeks ago, but my wheels show almost NO dust on them, versus the old pads that would have made them more or less completely black in a week or less.

So... I also did a bit of research on them before purchasing, and read that they were supposed to be more friendly to the rotors. Wonder what the diff is? Could it be the brand. do you think, or the technology? I'll certainly keep my eyes on the rotor wear - thanks for the tip.

Reply to
tweaks

Thank you! I thought I was alone on that PBR Ultimate being dusty...I also used Axxis MetalMaster before I tried the ceramic... Maybe it is just the PBR brand is dusty.

Reply to
Tiger

PBR is good old fashioned asbestos, works well,not too much brake fade, glazing cleans right off, but dusty dusty dusty. (and don't breath dust.)

Bernard

Reply to
Bernard Farquart

I installed my sets of PBR ceramic pads about a year ago on two different Mercedes I own. At the time, I replaced front rotors and pads on both cars. One car has about 15,000 miles on it since I installed the pads. The other car has something like 10,000 miles on it since pad replacement. In the first few weeks my impression was that the pads produced little dust. My opinion changed after the pads had been in use longer. They seem to produce large amounts of very black dust. The front rotors on my '95 E320 wagon look like they are ready for replacement. They have large lips on their edges after low mileage. Usually I don't see wear like that for 60,000 miles or more.

Surfing the web you will find lots of complaints about the dust produced by PBR ceramic pads. You will also find lots of comments about the way ceramic pads transfer more heat into your brake rotors and wear them out more quickly. The PBR metal master pad is a much cleaner running pad.

Reply to
VCopelan

The PBR Ultimate pad had never contained asbestos. I don't know if the PBR Metal Master pad contained asbestos in the distant past, but it I know it has been asbestos free as long as I have been using them (over 15 years). The PBR Deluxe pad did contain asbestos but I doubt it is still sold in the United States.

Reply to
VCopelan

I must have had some old boxes, then. Because I had a few sets of PBR for my volvo (I don't remember the quality level) that had the asbestos warning on them, this was a couple of years ago, but not more than three years.

Current PBR pads do show a lack of asbestos in the formula.

Bernard

Reply to
Bernard Farquart

I agree here too...

Reply to
Tiger

YIPE! Maybe I should try and re-title this one Ceramic pads NOT so nice! Thanks for all of the information. I got some of the info out of the archives here - maybe I should have posted before I went ahead and pulled tha trigger on them.

I just replaced my rotors as well - I'll keep a close eye on them.

Thanks - is this extreme wear just PBR, or ceramic in general, do you think?

TWEAKS

Reply to
tweaks

I used PBR Metal Master pads for years and they seemed to cause less dust and rotor wear than the PBR Ultimate Ceramic pads. I have PBR ceramic pads on my '80 300CD and my '95 E320 wagon. I have more miles on the '95 since the changed the pads and rotors then on the '80 300CD. My '95 vented front rotors are quite worn. The front rotors on my '80 300CD don't look to bad yet. However, I'm not pleased at the prospect of front rotor replacement at something like 20,000 miles.

Reply to
VCopelan

I googled PBR Ceramic pads last night after posting my response, and actually found NO bad reviews on either wear or dust! Everything was actually pretty glowing, which is what I remembered seeing before purchasing. I trust your experience, of course, so I'll keep my eye on the front.

Changing out the front rotors was not fun, though, like everything else I've worked on (so far) it was well thought out and fairly easy to do. Of course, another $70 isn't a welcome prospect, just because of brake wear. Might be worth just getting new metal pads and tossing the others???

Reply to
tweaks

Don't know...

Wear patterns do tend to vary quite a bit depending on your driving habits and the weight of your vehicle... Might as well drive on them a bit and see how it goes?

Report back, and keep an eye on them for us.

Thanks, Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

Comparing semi-metallic to ceramic is one thing, but do not compare these brands because Axxis/PBR/Repco are all the same company and products. Just different boxes.

Reply to
dmkozak

I had both brands and I am telling you... they are different.

Reply to
Tiger

I've used both PBR and Axxis Metal Master brake pads. As far as I can tell, these are the same pad. Although, the Axxis pads are marked manufactured by Bendix Mintex Australia and the PRB pads are marked manufactured by FMP Group Australia.

The PBR Ceramic Ultimate pad is a totally different pad from the Metal Master pad.

Reply to
VCopelan

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