1999 Mercedes Benz C280 Difficulty removing brake rotors re

AMUMTAZ

MEMBER
1999 MERCEDES BENZ C280
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
80,000 MILES

Hello,

Me and my buddy were working on replacing front and rear brake pads and rotors. We were only able to install the front rotors and had trouble with the front rotors and removing rear calipers. Since we didn't even get to the rear rotors, I am not sure if we would have had trouble with that as well.

I am hoping someone can help with a step-by-step direction on how to do this and if anyone have photos or videos of their brake job, I would love to see it.

Here is a short summary of what happened. We jacked the front car up and put it on jack stands. Removed the tires. Removed the front R caliper and had a little trouble removing the caliper bracket: bolts were stuck but a little wd40 helped. This is when we ran into trouble with the rotor. We could not find anything was holding the rotors (screws or bolts). I did see the use of hammer to tap the inner most part of the rotor on a video on this site so we followed that instruction and still no luck. It did cross our mind if the bearing in the center should be removed but 1. It did not look large enough to be holding the bearing, and 2. There wasn't an 8 or 6 sided bold bolt; the entire bearing assembly was shaped round and there was no way to remove it with a large wrench or other ordinary tools.

So we put the caliper bracket back on and proceeded with replacing the pads for both front wheels. Upon lifting the rear, we couldn't find a place to put the jack stand so we only lifted one side and used the jack. Not sure if there is a solution for this as well. The rear caliper looked very different than the front. I removed a pin that was holding a metal piece and that’s all we were able to do. There were two large (17 mm) and two very small bolts (5 or 6 mm) that were in the back of the caliper and near impossible to remove without a slim wrench. All bolts were in the back so the only way to reach it was to stick your head over the brake assembly and try to pry the large and small bolts, which looked scary and dangerous with the car being on a 2 ton jack with wheels. So we gave up and here I am today. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

1 Reply

2CARPRO JACK

MECHANIC
11,533 POSTS

There are small Torx or Allen head set screws holding the rotors on both the front and rear.Those rotors tend to wear and create a big "lip" that makes it difficult to remove the calipers without using a small pry bar to compress the caliper pistons first.There are points out on the body lip (Rubber pads) where you can put a jackstand to work on it.See if you can get the floorjack under the center of the diff to lift the rear of the car.Those small pins need to be driven out with a punch to remove the rear pads.Then remove the 2- 17mm bolts to get the caliper off.Again there will be aTorx or Allen countersunk bolt holding the rotor on, be sure e-brake is off to remove rear rotors. You should replace the wear sensors when you do the pads ass well or you will get a "brake pad wear" warning in the info center