Perhaps the three 0's AND the K were a bit much. 
The van is up on the alignment rack. It was.....off. Hopefully I can get a picture of the before and after specs. That's assuming that they can actually align it and it's not just a case of bad rear bushings.
In reply to mazdeuce:
I've found that the rears of long German vehicles seem to quickly get wayyy out of spec for toe. 1k miles into my first road trip with the 540iT and I had a blowout of a brand new tire worn through the cords. Alignment done 3k prior...
Some alignment sheets for your enjoyment. Three of the four wheels had toe that was twice spec.
I spent some time talking with the guy who did the alignment. He likes cars. He didn't know what the R63 was but he knew it was weird and asked me about it. He was pretty excited when I went full nerd and told him what I knew about them. He spent quite a while on the alignment and after fighting with it he aligned it running so the air bags would be consistent. He was able to get a consistent alignment that he was happy with and I am too. I need to figure out a way to easily check it more often.
Interesting note, my mileage went up 1.2 mpg as calculated by the van. That means 6% of the fuel I was using was being used to grind the rear tires to dust. I kind of feel like a terrible car owner for not getting on top of things sooner. 
Should be a bit nicer to drive now too! There is one for sale near me.... I tried to talk the wife into it for her new car, no dice 
Stumbled across this thread because I periodically get the lust for a S500 or S550, and thought I'd google "grassroots motorsports" and "AMG" together. Lo and behold. I can't afford a new one (who can?), but am in a situation (lots of other, paid-for cars...) where I could manage the maintenance on one, even if nightmarish.
You're not helping me put those feelings to bed. 
Vigo wrote: For something a little cheaper but still relevant: CLS63
Love the thread. The whole point of the S-series (as well as the R-series, as the OP is doing) for me is that it's enormous. I'm 6'2" and a weightlifter, and I have three boys that show every indication of all getting up over 200# (or, god help us, more...) in the next 5-10 years- at some point I'm gonna be forced out of midsize cars by knees in my kidneys. The other option is a Suburban, but if I can buy an S55 for similar money... 
I did the "buy a sensible car" thing last time. It'll still be around.
New rotors arrived from Rock Auto. Chunks of cast iron always feel heavy, but these felt heeeeaaavy. The fronts are 36.5 lbs. Each. 
Those are some serious brake rotors. What's the diameter?
Tape measure says 15 3/8 diameter and 1.4 inches thick. I enjoy using mixed imperial units on a car that was certainly designed and build fully metric.
I had to replace brakes twice on my E55 and not only were the brakes huge; they were expensive! I believe the rotors and pads front and rear ran me $1100 for AMG parts. When I sold it I bought another Rabbit...
mazdeuce wrote: New rotors arrived from Rock Auto. Chunks of cast iron always feel heavy, but these felt heeeeaaavy. The fronts are 36.5 lbs. Each.
The old rotors would make a nice base for a grinder!
Holy crap. 36.5 lbs each? Rotating mass much? Wonder at what point the crazy multi peice rotors are worth the weight loss?
chandlerGTi wrote: I had to replace brakes twice on my E55 and not only were the brakes huge; they were expensive! I believe the rotors and pads front and rear ran me $1100 for AMG parts. When I sold it I bought another Rabbit...
Looking at the price spread on RockAuto, they haven't gotten much (if any) cheaper. Makes me feel a bit better about the rotors I just bought for my mtn bikes, although the R63 rotors probably have a better $/lb ratio.
It would be funny to stand one of those rotors next to the tires for my Mini - which has front rotors literally less than half the diameter. ...hell... I just realized my mtn bike has larger diameter front rotors than the Mini...
I'll be saving at least one rotor as a grinder stand. Deciding what to do with the other. I could use them both to make a bad ass dumbbell I suppose.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Make a clock and use paint in the different dimples to represent the hours.
I vote for the clock option. Paint dimples and then clear the whole deal.
So I pulled apart the brakes. A couple of observations:
1. The rotors are awesome but the calipers are pretty pedestrian. Sliding two piston fronts and one piston rears. Kind of disappointing.
2. Everything on this van is big and heavy. Or I'm getting old. Could go either way.
3. To add to the heavy thing, I continue to despise lug bolts.
With that out of the way, first I pulled the passenger side front apart. There was a lot of pad. So much so that the wear indicator wasn't actually rubbing. I pulled out the caliper (measuring kind) and saw that I had 6mm of pad left from 14.5 that the new ones had. About 2mm until the wear indicator hits. That means I get to use 10mm of the pad I bought. Which means I have 20% of that 10mm left. I put things back together out of general principle.
Then I took off the back. And forgot that I have an electric parking brake that you have to disengage after you start the van. I also forgot that you have to out your foot on the brake to start it and when you start it your foot goes to the floor and if you're reeeealy lucky you don't blow the piston out of the caliper that is hanging off in back. I'm reeeeealy lucky.
So the rears were down below 4mm of the 10 that the new pads have and were absolutely wearing on the little wear indicator thingy (which you have to remember to replace BEFORE reassembly or you get a do-over) 
They work well. No more warning chime every time I hit the brakes. Mercedes is really quite conservative with their "change the brakes now!" warning. I'm out of practice wrenching, that was way harder than it should have been.
Aside from the "heft" of things I think the brake job I did on our R was the easiest one I have ever done.
The van is pretty smart. And polite in its own Germanic way. The bulb is indeed out.
I feel like there should be some sort of counter that adds the word "bitch" to the end of the message after a certain number of key cycles, just to let you know the car is serious about having it's needs met.
mazdeuce wrote: The van is pretty smart. And polite in its own Germanic way. The bulb is indeed out.I feel like there should be some sort of counter that adds the word "bitch" to the end of the message after a certain number of key cycles, just to let you know the car is serious about having it's needs met.
That, or it just switches to German. Everything sounds more angry in German...
Parkleuchte vorne links!
At least that's what google translate says. The C55 did that also, even for the license plate lamps, which kinda got annoying fast.
On the other hand I have owned exactly ONE car where the license plate lamp went out. And I don't think I have replaced a non-headlight on anything in about 4 years. (and yes they all work) But German cars eat these bulbs on the regular? Hoo boy.
The thing I find interesting with the R is that in the rear light cluster there is an extra bulb. When one of the turn signal lights or brake lights burn out or don't work for whatever reason that bulb takes over and you get a message on the dash.
Did they expect those lights to not work often enough that there was a need for a backup?
I think that German the pre-LED taillights had issues burning out frequently because the lighting modules send rapid pulses of current through the bulbs as opposed to measuring resistance as a means of telling when a bulb is out. I know BMW's will flicker like mad on startup once converted to LED...
You'll need to log in to post.
