My W203 mercedes had a service yesterday and had 4 new brake discs fitted. It also had a front caliper replaced but the other side was left with the old caliper. I thought that calipers should be replaced in axle pairs.
Can anyone please advise?
The car is a lease car so they authorised the work.
Thanks
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If you had been a cash paying customer then the dealer would have told you it was mandatory for the callipers to be changed as a pair. However the leasing company would have told the dealer to get stuffed.
I have a W203 on an MB service contract and it's become hilarious taking it in. They reel off huge lists of work that need doing and then excitedly ask how I'll be paying. I say "ServicePlus" and the visibly slump! When I pick the car up it turns out that they "checked the system" and none of that work needed doing after all!!
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Calipers are merely hydraulic actuators. If they are operating properly and each is of the specified type there is no advantage or requirement for them to be matched in age. Friction materials are a different matter.
659.
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Bill Payer, can you take a hidden camera in next time that happens? I think we'd all love to see the look on their faces! How does ServicePlus work anyway?
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Bill Payer can you take a hidden camera in next time that happens? I think we'd all love to see the look on their faces!
There's a funny story on one the Merc forums from a guy who got the "we've got the wheels off and it could do with pads and disks..all round". He said "sure, go ahead" and when he went to pick the car and handed them him ServicePlus card they went white. :rofl:
How does ServicePlus work anyway?
They don't do it now. I think MB dropped a clanger with it as the coverage was very vague and is far wider than they really intended. It was supposed to cover routine servicing and wear and tear items like brake pads. In fact anything that stops working can be said to have worn out - if it just "broke" then you could say it was faulty and expect MB to pay even if out of warranty. So it basically became like an extended warranty, at about the same cost, but with free servicing and wear and tear replacements thown in. It can run until the car is 6 yrs old.
My car, 4.5yrs old, has been completely fault free and has needed amazingly little servicing (still on original brake pads etc) so I've actually lost out big time (so far), but others have had thousands of pounds worth of work done on their cars.
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Thanks for putting my mind at rest 659.
BTW, the total bill came to over £1300 - ouch!
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BTW the total bill came to over £1300 - ouch!
It was stories like that that helped me justify the ServicePlus cost!
By the way, likely the lease company paid a much discounted price, and they may well have got a significant contribution, if not total refund from MB - otherwise they increase prices on MB leases and MB lose sales as the lease costs become uncompetitive.
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As will as that Bill, the name of the lease company is.....
Daimler Chrysler!!!
Keeping it all in house.
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Keeping it all in house.
I bet there were fun internal arguments about which cost centre was going to pick up the bill!
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