I had a customer with an SLR he was annoyed he paid McLaren prices for a 230 chassis SL. He came back for issues like this man, so our dealership gave him a trickle charger and told him to drive it weekly. 80% of his issues were gone.
I let my mustang(97 gt, I know it's not a super car)sit for a little longer than 6 months. For the first 5 miles I had heavy front vibration. Pulleys are nagging at me still like a scorned neglected woman who has been stood up, it's intermittently deciding whether or not she wants to use the starter when I rotate the key forward, forcing me to push and pop start it(thought it was the Anti theft). Moral of my long story is, you're right I need to do more highway runs and clutch dump, brake stabbing donuts in the middle of intersections.
@Peter Angles McLarens are a nightmare Even for billionaires and multi millionaires on TH-cam who own sennas and p1s They all have never ending issues Triple F collection, Manny Khoshbin, Salomondrin, Hamilton collection, etc
...to be fair, the 500SL I used to get trucked around in was utterly bulletproof. I described it as a civilized maniac - quiet in town, ludicrous when booted down the A27. Always felt the McMerc broke the understated nature of this incredible chassis, added a lot of pazzzzing and fuss...
I think this is a great example of the worst thing you can do to a car is to leave it sit. The issues described sound to me like things that happen when car isn’t driven (and pushed) in a long time.
You are 100% correct when cars are left and driven probability of things going back much higher. Trust me now this car barely sits around🤣🤣… all this driving to service and back😂😂
... People have cars sitting around for decades as Car Collectors !!.. not the time the car is spending sitting but the environment the car is sitting in ! If your cars are exposed to a Climate Controlled environment with proper maintenance being done on certain parts of the car, major problems like you see, just do not happen !!! It's that simple !!
@@maraudingmerc9381 I agree BUT Collectors DO NOT drive all their cars ! The more cars are driven, the more they devaluate ! Cars can be kept in brand new condition, contrary to most comments in here , if you know what your doing !!.Go ask Jay Leno !!@
@@MrLew1965 mile per mile, depreciation can certainly take its toll, and you're right that with proper maintenance that you can care for a car collection without having to put a lot of miles on a vehicle, but the cost to your average individual of letting a car sit versus what they'd lose in value to drive it is pretty apparent. I've also got a bit of a thorn in my side about cars as museum pieces. Some are certainly works of art, and others are tremendously valuable, but at the end of the day they're meant to be driven, and depreciation be damned, that's what I believe should be done with them.
58k for just 2 carbon disks and 2 brake pads to me is insane regardless of the car, the fronts are probably even more expensive...so a brake job would be around 120k, considering the msrp was less than 600k 1/5 of the value of the car is just in brakes...
eh you can probably find someone who makes brakes that are up to spec that are not McLaren. If not in America, then definitely in new zealand or in some post USSR country
@@richardturner8630 That's because (as even Jay admits) he drives like a grandma. He feels no need to have any of his cars equipped with carbon ceramic brakes.
I worked at Mercedes for a while and I would often hear people say, "There's nothing more expensive than driving a cheap AMG". That's mostly true, but I found an exception: The only thing more expensive than driving a cheap AMG is *not* driving a cheap AMG. Some of the most expensive bills I ever saw were people that let their cars sit. Drive your car or give it to someone who will.
I guess this is a great lesson for the rich (so definitely not me, LOL)! That if you want to enjoy your supercar, you’ve got to drive it. If you just let it sit as a museum piece, then it’ll just break down over time.
@@MrLew1965 we can stare at paintings and sculptures but someone should be driving those cars. I’m not saying mistreat them and ruin them, just drive and enjoy it.
It's not good for any vehicle to sit. They are meant to be driven. I hate people that buy cars and then don't drive them...then they bitch about all these issues and things needing fixed...well if it was driven it wouldn't have been that bad.
Now I understand why Koshbin has a fleet of these things. They're in the shop so often that you need 10 of them just to have one available for use at any given time! What a nightmare.
Jay Leno always says to forget the carbon fiber/ceramic brakes for this reason. Unless you are going to seriously track a car like this...the standard metallic brakes are fine. I agree.
@@sweethands4328 definitely, this guy doesn't even know what they are lol as awesome as they are realistically their main function is to show off how little regard for money you have haha baring some exception of course, im sure some super car owners put them through their passes
There are some other videos about this car, totally worth watching. What I like is that the owner is so passionate about the car, clearly he has his dream car and has a good sense of humor about keeping it put together.
I drive a tow truck (not repos) I had to look this one up on towspec "Tower Tip: Use Extreme Caution when transporting this vehicle. MSRP = $475,000.xx" Also, the recommended method is a flatbed/slide back/roll back, and an alternative method would be a wrecker with dollies.
I drove one of these with World Class Driving back in ‘08. It was amazing. I stayed in touch with the guys and they told me they were getting the cars ready for a 200 mph experience they were doing. To do that they did full brake replacements on all they cars, including the SLR… it was $48k for rotors and $2k for pads! This was ‘09! Crazy!
i worked at big mercedes dealership back in 2008 that had 5 of these brand new on the lot leftover model year stock. the msrps were all slightly over $500k. mercedes put enough trunk money on them that the used car manager was able to wholesale all 5 for ~$250,000 each and still make money. i'll never forget that. i got to drive one of them around some back roads and literally felt like i was in the batmobile.
My grandfather had several Aston Martins over the years, including a DB5. But the ones I remember are the 71 DBS V8 and a 79 DBS V8. In the 70s and 80s he drove them on a semi-regular basis, but as he got older he didn't drive them as much and they sat in his garage. When he did try to drive them they either wouldn't start or they would break down. At one point in the late 90s he was putting gas in the 71 and the dry rotted rubber fuel filler pipe crumbled, dumping 20 gallons of premium unleaded in the trunk. The sad part is he wouldn't let me, my brother or our cousin touch them. He sold them, not running, for $20k each in 2001.
Relatable, grandfather owned a 911 and drove maybe 500 miles in a year, if even that much and sold it. Luckily the only broken thing on it was the battery had died after sitting for so long but my god it's annoying to see nice cars sat doing nothing. Now he has a diesel Mercedes coupe which goes maybe 1500 miles per year. That thing had mice living in the engine bay because it sat for so long. Honestly better doing mileage in cars lol
@@PatrickMcMahon1 No - but the body is much less of an ongoing expense, a buy and forget less it's damaged, and no owner is going to run without insurance. You're going to be much more concerned about paint and maintenance/consumables. I checked the OEM catalogue and a EU spec set of CCs for the GT Black series is like 23k USD at current rates. I'm most concerned about electronics under the car as well as the active aero. No gulf wing door shocks, hood struts, or early CCs, there is part sharing and compatability.
Plus these were the early days of cc brakes with the slr. They are much more common today and have seen advancements with their use and longevity. Plenty of cars sub 100k today have them as an option
You always need to "bed in" the brakes to transfer material onto the rotor. Never thought about having to get a car to triple digits to do that though.
When I did the brakes on my Vette it was 30 times from like 50-20 with no complete stops and then letting the car cool completely straight after. I'd much rather do a handful of runs from triple digits and be done. Having said that, properly bedding the brakes really helps with brake shudder and noise. You don't "have" to do it but it makes it nicer to drive.
@@ZboeC5 30 times seems excessive as hell. It was a pain in the ass for me to bed in the brakes on one of my Lexuses (Lexi??) when having to start and slow down 8 times. I am not even sure it made any difference since I never had any shudder or noise anyways, aside from a squeal when a front caliper went bad. That was embarrassingly noisy and frustrating b/c it took a week of taking the car apart over and over before just saying screw it and ordering two front calipers. No more squeal.
With racing pads you do. Even on my Corvette with racing pads you gotta work your way up doing stops to bed the pads. 10-40mph, 10-60mph and eventually up to 100-120mph. Race pads dont start working till they get much hotter than regular street pads so theyre gonna need to see higher speeds.
I'm so glad I got the baby sibling of this car! The SLK55 has NONE of these problems and is only a half second slower in both the 0-60 and the quarter mile! And that's at 1/25th of the cost!
About 20yrs ago my uncle bought a BMW Z3 3.0ltr (2.8). He was going to go for the M3 version. But was told by the guys at the -stealership- dealership That the "M" car was only one second faster & doubt one would notice the difference. + Everything to do with an M car is more expensive.... He still has the Z3 sits in the garage done 25,000miles. 2002.....
@@stuartd9741 Yeah, unless you're just absolutely obsessed with the timing, the experience of driving doesn't diminish that much, plus the maintenance can go through the roof! Also, the first gen Z3 3.0 was THE car to have!
The funny thing is that someone actually did swap a McLaren SLR's engine into an SLK 55, tuned it further and added slightly modified hood for cooling (cut holes essentially). It's stupid fast you can see here: th-cam.com/video/OVDlx9qsq0w/w-d-xo.html
Ed I can’t thank you enough for having a platform for these stories. I’ve learned so much about supercars and other cars in general, things that I’ve never heard in my life that blow my mind and I can’t thank you enough for bringing light to the stories! - very satisfied VinWiki subscriber
Part of me is envious that I’ll never be able to afford such a car but also part of me is also glad that my brakes only cost less than a $100 for all four corners.
I feel like 90 percent of the time Jay Leno never complains about his cars giving him trouble is because he just repairs them inhouse Compre to taking them to dealerships. I mean, aren't there videos of him literally taking the engine out of his McLaren F1 and cleaning it and putting it back?
@@Stefuu_ Could be, but I've seen videos of him removing the engine, removing and replacing the fuel tank by himself in his garage. Maybe McLaren just told him how to do these things since he's such a big customer?
I was talking to a DeLorean owner a few months back. He had bought it from a celebrity who had let it been sitting for 10 years. As a result, the oil and gasoline had turned to gunk, completely destroying the engine. The new owner had to spend $15,000 to get the car running again. It's another reason to not let these super/hypercars sit. It really makes me wonder what's happened to the internals of the last "brand new" McLaren F1 that's never been driven by its owner.
You would think after finding out the brakes were 58k per axle and then also getting away with not having to change them yet that he would get rid of it 🤣
I maybe getting my wires crossed, but aren't conversions to the lower spec steel brakes a thing with these? I could have sworn I saw a video with someone planning to do that until they were ready to sell it on.
I knew a guy who owned one. It was a sight to see. Black on black with chrome… I’m not superstitious, but I owned a bmw once that would make you change your mind.
These brakes are obviously race-car technology (hence the high cost, the difficulty in obtaining them and the fact that pushing them HARD makes them better)
carbon-ceramic brakes ain't no rocket science. It's been around long enough. The only reason they charge that much is that someone is willing to pay for that. Too many dumb supercar owners pay that because they think it is worth it. It is not. Get a set of giro disk, change the pad and call it good.
This reminds me of an old vinwiki video on the McLaren F1. Parts on that car "time" out. Weather you drive it 1,000 miles a year or 0 things like the tires, fuel tank, fire extinguisher, etc. MUST be replaced per McLaren.
Just sounds like another used Mercedes story 🤣🤣🤣. I love Mercedes. Ever since I was a little kid and first laid eyes on the 1955 500SL Gullwing. That car was and is my dream car. When I was a teen I was lucky to look at a 57 up close and sit in it. So beautiful, so simple.
not necessarily. the carbon ceramics need to be used to last. the more they’re used the better they work. they wear out like all brakes do, but the pads die before the discs
I’ve known a lot of people who hate their Mercedes because of constant breakdowns. I can’t imagine having McLaren and Mercedes do a car together because I’m sure it would be fun for the short times it works.
Funny how he was happy that took care of the brakes but eventually it’s gonna cost him the $58,000. Brakes don’t last forever. Probably even more with how everything is going up.
The weird part, I'm sure their are aftermarket brake companies that have hat/rotor setups that would fit exactly. As for brake pads - they made to fit the calipers which I'm pretty sure are not 100% custom. Seems like poor engineering all around. I mean if Brembo has a caliper that is 99% of what you want, but takes 14mm bolts and you are insisting on 12 mm bolts - the smart thing to do would be adjust your design for the off the shelf 14mm mounting bolts. The dumbest thing would be to insist that Brembo redesigns its caliper to use 12 mm bolts. Porsche used to do this. They were Brembo's No. 1 customer in the 1990s - but when the calipers came in, Porsche would disassemble and rebuild them with their own seals and customization. Never dawned on Porsche to talk with Brembo and discuss which seals would be actually better for a street car and have Brembo deliver the calipers ready to go. Porsche was of the thought that since they build limited production cars, cost was of no concern. Porsche was the model of inefficiency.
@@zxggwrt funny you say that because that's exactly what people who own gt3s do with their brakes. Then when it's time to sell the vehicle they threw the ceramic brakes back on.
@@confuse9 It's possible one could fit standard Merc 230 brakes on that car This car can do 200mph do you want to try and stop at that speed with standard Iron rotors and road spec pads? Also regarding the 12mm Nuts. Essentially you're buying the brand - hence the steep parts prices. But your also buying McLarens racing knowledge. The carbon brakes are most likely race car spec and designed for one purpose only: high performance braking and lightness. Hence the 12mm bolts. . Every gramme counts in racing. I do think McLarens have build quality issues.... But good this guy drives the car ..
Same here, but with a mainstream model merc gle 350 2019 .. first year had the small spring pop off which led the vehicle to loose all acceleration, towed it to dealership, got it worked on.. (initial diagnosis was the turbo failed, but an inspection revealed the spring issue) got the vehicle 2 days later.. Then aroud 6months later sent it in for a routine servicing, got the vehicle back, and the silencer fell off while dropping my kid to school, had to be towed to the dealership again, Then a yr later had all sorts of lights pop up, turned out a rat had gotten into the electricals... and at the last month of warranty had the front and rear airmatic fail. All credit to mercedes though for not charging a dime for those repairs. But it would be always when i left for a long trip so the wife would be mentally ready for the car breaking down every time. Other issues with tyres had it loosing pressure in hills so had to chase down a tyre supplier 2 districts away, and get all the tyres replaced.. another time had the brakes replace light turn on (which comes on 200ish km before) in the middle of a 1200 km journey..
had a bad experience at that dealership; messy service, bad communication, and couldn't even get a salesman to look at a car on their lot. (the salesman was there but sent an email 5min after we left). ended up having the service redone a week later somewhere else after 2 unsuccessful trips there
The issue with the brake price quite is correct and realistic: I work with a number of specialist engineering firms in aerospace, and keeping certain airframes in the air once they are decades out of production is an exercise in ultra low volume customized manufacturing of complex parts with stringent performance requirements. And that means insane money, often 10 times what you can expect to pay for the equivalent OTS part. I imagine it's pretty much the same with high performance cars that are many years out of production.
When we used to change pads on my rally car in the 80s i used to drive in 1st with the brakes pressed a little to clear glaze and bed the new pads, if you didnt do that brake fade would be experienced in first few miles of hard driving. seems like the car was never driven hard enough to bed them in and de glaze them.
“Because it sat too long, the seals…” Therein lies the BIGGEST problem with a lot of supercar and classic car owners. They don’t drive their cars like they’re supposed to do. Instead, they let it rot in a garage… literally
Stories like this make me happy to listen to these stories but drive a boring 5 year old korean sedan that's still under warranty and has only needed a thermostat and a repaint of the roof and hood covered under said warranty, plus oil changes, 30k, and 60k checkups (with some brake work at 60K) and gasoline to keep it rolling on its first 74,444 miles. I bet most of the guys with exotic cars are relieved that they have at least one trusty boring miler in their collection (usually a Toyota or a Honda) that they can count on to just work.
that brake procedure isn't specific to this car, I've done the same in the past to fix material transfer on brakes just at lower speeds as my car didn't have carbon ceramic brakes.
Just goes to show that even a supercar shouldn't be taken to the Mercedes stealership. Find yourself a good indie that loves German cars and save yourself a ton of time, money, and headaches getting the dealership techs to work way above their heads. Those guys are just used to bolting accessories onto nearly-new cars, not diagnosing a 20 year old precision machine.
i think some owners think that dealers should be able to " fix " anything well the first time. not knowing how much of a mess the place can be interinally
So to sum up this video please make sure you get a PPI done before you buy any expensive exotic and avoid most of the issues discussed here. Who would have thought.....
This reminds me about what Jeremy Clarkson said about Mercedes ownership. Something about it breaking, going into the shop, and coming back more broken, then going back into the shop.
I was a detailer at a Mercedes Dealer, master tech was doing the brakes on a SLR, literally tells me to stand back because the brakes cost 3x the Nissan Xterra I had just bought
Sounds like you've stumbled across the most frequently used secure parking option for these cars... Dealer lot has better liability insurance than anywhere else 😁
Ferrari owners and Porsche owners have known about the immense cost of CCM brakes for years. Often it is a 'sales advantage' to learn that a car has 'steel brakes.' The good thing about carbon brakes is that they can be rough on the edges, but still within spec. Before replacing, they should be measured, especially at $58,000. Also - German car owners often use rubber treatment for seals for cars in storage - or leave the doors partly opened only to protect the seals. Finally, almost all exotics have a battery conditioner connection and owners are religious about keeping their cars plugged in while stored. Eliminates a lot of headaches later on.
We had a customer come in wanting a quote on pads and rotors for some sort of AMG Mercedes, I cannot remember which model. We quoted him $5,000 for front pads and rotors only, he jumped on it. Im assuming he had been calling around and we were the cheapest price. The car had the two piece front brake rotors with some kind of Kevlar or carbon fiber, maybe ceramic??, rotors and the parts had to come from the Mercedes dealer. That the most expensive simple brake job Ive ever saw, Ive saw some that need all new brake lines, hoses, master cylinder and ABS module cost more, but never for just pads and rotors. Now I have.
That’s crazy expensive for brakes but it actually makes sense. The cars brakes are so good they aren’t meant to be replaced. Just drive it like a race car and they repair themselves.
For someone that drives Ferraris and Lamborghinis and stuff he seems very unfamiliar with what is normal characteristics of carbon ceramic brakes. The fact that the dealer didn’t know either is shocking! He needs another dealer.
My local Benz dealership, Carlton Motorsports Greenville SC, still has a brand new SLR on their floor that's roped off with a "not for sale" sign on the windshield
I had a Sony Discman that broke because I left it on a shelf for at least one year, the laser head refused to move. McLaren must have that same level of quality.
It's even crazier to think of this price for brakes if the car market *hadn't* blown up on the past few years. If these things were on normal depreciation curves and the car was only worth $200K, that $58K would be even worse.
I’m really interested in how the brakes could have costed so much. I work for Mercedes and work on the SLRs but a brake job on that car wasn’t even in the same universe as 58k. Granted it has been a few years since ive done brakes on an SLR so there could be supply issues as stated in the vid.
Nothing says “money pit” like a car that’s both Mercedes and Mclaren.
LOL! That's the god's honest truth!
Its a Lime
Perfectly said!
I agree from personal experience. This can also be said for other higher end brands. BMW is a big one.
😂😂😂😂🙌🏻
I had a customer with an SLR he was annoyed he paid McLaren prices for a 230 chassis SL. He came back for issues like this man, so our dealership gave him a trickle charger and told him to drive it weekly. 80% of his issues were gone.
It's amazing how things "break" without use. High performance cars need to be driven like HIGH PERFORMANCE CARS!... or they get... unhappy.
I let my mustang(97 gt, I know it's not a super car)sit for a little longer than 6 months. For the first 5 miles I had heavy front vibration. Pulleys are nagging at me still like a scorned neglected woman who has been stood up, it's intermittently deciding whether or not she wants to use the starter when I rotate the key forward, forcing me to push and pop start it(thought it was the Anti theft). Moral of my long story is, you're right I need to do more highway runs and clutch dump, brake stabbing donuts in the middle of intersections.
@Peter Angles McLarens are a nightmare
Even for billionaires and multi millionaires on TH-cam who own sennas and p1s
They all have never ending issues
Triple F collection, Manny Khoshbin, Salomondrin, Hamilton collection, etc
@Peter Angles agreed on the Porsche, but Ferrari? all my clients who had Ferraris would complain it was in the shop for at least a week every 2months.
...to be fair, the 500SL I used to get trucked around in was utterly bulletproof. I described it as a civilized maniac - quiet in town, ludicrous when booted down the A27.
Always felt the McMerc broke the understated nature of this incredible chassis, added a lot of pazzzzing and fuss...
I think this is a great example of the worst thing you can do to a car is to leave it sit. The issues described sound to me like things that happen when car isn’t driven (and pushed) in a long time.
You are 100% correct when cars are left and driven probability of things going back much higher. Trust me now this car barely sits around🤣🤣… all this driving to service and back😂😂
... People have cars sitting around for decades as Car Collectors !!.. not the time the car is spending sitting but the environment the car is sitting in ! If your cars are exposed to a Climate Controlled environment with proper maintenance being done on certain parts of the car, major problems like you see, just do not happen !!! It's that simple !!
Cars are meant to be DRIVEN! Looks like the Brits have taken the "Italian Tune-up" to the next level!
@@maraudingmerc9381 I agree BUT Collectors DO NOT drive all their cars ! The more cars are driven, the more they devaluate ! Cars can be kept in brand new condition, contrary to most comments in here , if you know what your doing !!.Go ask Jay Leno !!@
@@MrLew1965 mile per mile, depreciation can certainly take its toll, and you're right that with proper maintenance that you can care for a car collection without having to put a lot of miles on a vehicle, but the cost to your average individual of letting a car sit versus what they'd lose in value to drive it is pretty apparent.
I've also got a bit of a thorn in my side about cars as museum pieces. Some are certainly works of art, and others are tremendously valuable, but at the end of the day they're meant to be driven, and depreciation be damned, that's what I believe should be done with them.
58k for just 2 carbon disks and 2 brake pads to me is insane regardless of the car, the fronts are probably even more expensive...so a brake job would be around 120k, considering the msrp was less than 600k 1/5 of the value of the car is just in brakes...
eh you can probably find someone who makes brakes that are up to spec that are not McLaren. If not in America, then definitely in new zealand or in some post USSR country
I'd be looking to swap them for normal carbon ceramic brakes as they are only $22k aud for the full set of Brembo Mercedes rotors, pads, and callipers
Leno mentioned in his video he wisely declined the ceramic carbon brakes on his purchase.
Fronts are the same price as the rears, $26,840 each list. Rear pads $1,770.
@@richardturner8630 That's because (as even Jay admits) he drives like a grandma. He feels no need to have any of his cars equipped with carbon ceramic brakes.
I worked at Mercedes for a while and I would often hear people say, "There's nothing more expensive than driving a cheap AMG". That's mostly true, but I found an exception: The only thing more expensive than driving a cheap AMG is *not* driving a cheap AMG.
Some of the most expensive bills I ever saw were people that let their cars sit. Drive your car or give it to someone who will.
I guess this is a great lesson for the rich (so definitely not me, LOL)! That if you want to enjoy your supercar, you’ve got to drive it. If you just let it sit as a museum piece, then it’ll just break down over time.
Not True !
A car sitting as a museum piece is pure sadness.
@@kc510 Why' is that ?? Someone has to preserve the history of our accomplishments, inventions and creations OR it all was for nothing ! Lol
@@MrLew1965 we can stare at paintings and sculptures but someone should be driving those cars. I’m not saying mistreat them and ruin them, just drive and enjoy it.
It's not good for any vehicle to sit. They are meant to be driven. I hate people that buy cars and then don't drive them...then they bitch about all these issues and things needing fixed...well if it was driven it wouldn't have been that bad.
Now I understand why Koshbin has a fleet of these things. They're in the shop so often that you need 10 of them just to have one available for use at any given time! What a nightmare.
I just got an ad for 15% off brakes at orielly’s, i suggest giving them a call
lol
The best comment ever. Lol
The SLRs brakes would be the equivalent in cost to all of O'Reillys brake stock for probably 6 months.lol.
😂😂😂😂💀💀💀🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Loool🎉
Carbon ceramic brakes are serious business. But its good to know the trusty Italian Tuneup still works like a charm
It is what i did for 20 years in mountain biking on my downhill bike. Going to 60-70 km to heat the brakes and have the new pad ready.
This process is called “bedding”.
For 58k no thank you
Jay Leno always says to forget the carbon fiber/ceramic brakes for this reason. Unless you are going to seriously track a car like this...the standard metallic brakes are fine. I agree.
@@sweethands4328 definitely, this guy doesn't even know what they are lol as awesome as they are realistically their main function is to show off how little regard for money you have haha baring some exception of course, im sure some super car owners put them through their passes
As a tow truck driver (not repos) I laughed pretty good at the part where companies heard what it was and hung up.
There are some other videos about this car, totally worth watching. What I like is that the owner is so passionate about the car, clearly he has his dream car and has a good sense of humor about keeping it put together.
I drive a tow truck (not repos)
I had to look this one up on towspec
"Tower Tip: Use Extreme Caution when transporting this vehicle. MSRP = $475,000.xx"
Also, the recommended method is a flatbed/slide back/roll back, and an alternative method would be a wrecker with dollies.
I drove one of these with World Class Driving back in ‘08. It was amazing. I stayed in touch with the guys and they told me they were getting the cars ready for a 200 mph experience they were doing. To do that they did full brake replacements on all they cars, including the SLR… it was $48k for rotors and $2k for pads! This was ‘09! Crazy!
I wrote one of these as an adjuster a couple months ago and had to replace a door. The door shell by itself cost almost $45k. I was floored
I think the CLK-GTR would disagree with you on the subject of running costs
Imagine having your catalytic converters stolen from your Clk-Gtr th-cam.com/video/iRQsfTUw80U/w-d-xo.html
@@treshmiranda699 I am pleasantly surprised to not have been linked spam, but a clip from old Top Gear
Great time being there! Thanks for letting us tell our stories!
i worked at big mercedes dealership back in 2008 that had 5 of these brand new on the lot leftover model year stock. the msrps were all slightly over $500k. mercedes put enough trunk money on them that the used car manager was able to wholesale all 5 for ~$250,000 each and still make money. i'll never forget that. i got to drive one of them around some back roads and literally felt like i was in the batmobile.
That's crazy, but it being 2008 I guess that makes sense
Great vid of a guy complaining about owning a SLR- Mclaren.
😂😂😂
I would too if i had one 😂😂🤣😂😂😂
And complaining then he can’t run a 20 year old hyper car on a Porsche 911 budget.
LMAO ikr...
I like how McLaren gave him a top tip to simply drive the car and it will get better (warm up the brakes super hard).
My grandfather had several Aston Martins over the years, including a DB5. But the ones I remember are the 71 DBS V8 and a 79 DBS V8. In the 70s and 80s he drove them on a semi-regular basis, but as he got older he didn't drive them as much and they sat in his garage. When he did try to drive them they either wouldn't start or they would break down. At one point in the late 90s he was putting gas in the 71 and the dry rotted rubber fuel filler pipe crumbled, dumping 20 gallons of premium unleaded in the trunk. The sad part is he wouldn't let me, my brother or our cousin touch them. He sold them, not running, for $20k each in 2001.
Relatable, grandfather owned a 911 and drove maybe 500 miles in a year, if even that much and sold it. Luckily the only broken thing on it was the battery had died after sitting for so long but my god it's annoying to see nice cars sat doing nothing. Now he has a diesel Mercedes coupe which goes maybe 1500 miles per year. That thing had mice living in the engine bay because it sat for so long. Honestly better doing mileage in cars lol
its sad when your own family dont trust u but also neglect the car themselves but rather sell it to anyone except you
Good lesson from grandpa, GET YOUR ASS UP AND WORK FOR YOUR OWN GOODIES!!
@@smm6526 I did. But thanks for assuming the worst.
It's called a selfish boomer. They also destroyed the economy. 👍
I’m sure the GT Black series won’t be far behind with the repair costs to come in the near future.
The black series is based on the normal AMG GT though, so the costs will be similar
@@sesto194 is the GT a full carbon body also??
@@PatrickMcMahon1 No - but the body is much less of an ongoing expense, a buy and forget less it's damaged, and no owner is going to run without insurance.
You're going to be much more concerned about paint and maintenance/consumables. I checked the OEM catalogue and a EU spec set of CCs for the GT Black series is like 23k USD at current rates. I'm most concerned about electronics under the car as well as the active aero.
No gulf wing door shocks, hood struts, or early CCs, there is part sharing and compatability.
Plus these were the early days of cc brakes with the slr. They are much more common today and have seen advancements with their use and longevity. Plenty of cars sub 100k today have them as an option
You always need to "bed in" the brakes to transfer material onto the rotor. Never thought about having to get a car to triple digits to do that though.
When I did the brakes on my Vette it was 30 times from like 50-20 with no complete stops and then letting the car cool completely straight after. I'd much rather do a handful of runs from triple digits and be done. Having said that, properly bedding the brakes really helps with brake shudder and noise. You don't "have" to do it but it makes it nicer to drive.
@@ZboeC5 30 times seems excessive as hell. It was a pain in the ass for me to bed in the brakes on one of my Lexuses (Lexi??) when having to start and slow down 8 times. I am not even sure it made any difference since I never had any shudder or noise anyways, aside from a squeal when a front caliper went bad. That was embarrassingly noisy and frustrating b/c it took a week of taking the car apart over and over before just saying screw it and ordering two front calipers. No more squeal.
With racing pads you do. Even on my Corvette with racing pads you gotta work your way up doing stops to bed the pads. 10-40mph, 10-60mph and eventually up to 100-120mph. Race pads dont start working till they get much hotter than regular street pads so theyre gonna need to see higher speeds.
I'm so glad I got the baby sibling of this car! The SLK55 has NONE of these problems and is only a half second slower in both the 0-60 and the quarter mile! And that's at 1/25th of the cost!
About 20yrs ago my uncle bought a BMW Z3 3.0ltr (2.8).
He was going to go for the M3 version.
But was told by the guys at the -stealership- dealership
That the "M" car was only one second faster & doubt one would notice the difference.
+ Everything to do with an M car is more expensive....
He still has the Z3 sits in the garage done 25,000miles.
2002.....
@@stuartd9741 Yeah, unless you're just absolutely obsessed with the timing, the experience of driving doesn't diminish that much, plus the maintenance can go through the roof! Also, the first gen Z3 3.0 was THE car to have!
The funny thing is that someone actually did swap a McLaren SLR's engine into an SLK 55, tuned it further and added slightly modified hood for cooling (cut holes essentially).
It's stupid fast you can see here: th-cam.com/video/OVDlx9qsq0w/w-d-xo.html
@@aaryeshg.6526 I also just saw someone motor swap an SLS with a M113k engine and 722.6 transmission so it's more reliable! 🤣
Oh sure, they’re “almost” the same thing, because of acceleration times.
Keep telling yourself over and over. Still won’t be true.
Ed I can’t thank you enough for having a platform for these stories. I’ve learned so much about supercars and other cars in general, things that I’ve never heard in my life that blow my mind and I can’t thank you enough for bringing light to the stories!
- very satisfied VinWiki subscriber
$58K for Rear Brakes , 😂 WC Field’s was Right , “ There’s a Sucker Born EVERY MINUTE “
WC Field said..."Never give a sucker an even brake" (sic). Which is more appropriate in this case than what PT Barnum actually said.
Cool I’ll try that with my 98 Silverado when the brakes start grinding. 10/10 will work.
Just make sure to get it up to 180mph. Anything less and the issue might persist.
I think every car guy can attest they have had similar stories to this guy. I can definitely say I have with my 64 Mustang.
Part of me is envious that I’ll never be able to afford such a car but also part of me is also glad that my brakes only cost less than a $100 for all four corners.
@Yippee Skippy that’s also a great point.
Very cool seeing people who have true passion for automobiles and actually Drive them...
I feel like 90 percent of the time Jay Leno never complains about his cars giving him trouble is because he just repairs them inhouse Compre to taking them to dealerships. I mean, aren't there videos of him literally taking the engine out of his McLaren F1 and cleaning it and putting it back?
I thought a F1 Tech was flown out to him to do the Work if I remember correctly
@@Stefuu_ Could be, but I've seen videos of him removing the engine, removing and replacing the fuel tank by himself in his garage. Maybe McLaren just told him how to do these things since he's such a big customer?
Complaining about car reliability goes hand in hand with lack of ability to work on your own cars it seems.
@@benjamin7114 lol
I was talking to a DeLorean owner a few months back. He had bought it from a celebrity who had let it been sitting for 10 years. As a result, the oil and gasoline had turned to gunk, completely destroying the engine. The new owner had to spend $15,000 to get the car running again.
It's another reason to not let these super/hypercars sit. It really makes me wonder what's happened to the internals of the last "brand new" McLaren F1 that's never been driven by its owner.
You would think after finding out the brakes were 58k per axle and then also getting away with not having to change them yet that he would get rid of it 🤣
Once you're on this level, it's not about the money.
@@maraudingmerc9381 yea and plus it was his dream car so he could probably care less about the cost.
I maybe getting my wires crossed, but aren't conversions to the lower spec steel brakes a thing with these? I could have sworn I saw a video with someone planning to do that until they were ready to sell it on.
That car is a hot collector item
he was in too deep
I knew a guy who owned one. It was a sight to see. Black on black with chrome…
I’m not superstitious, but I owned a bmw once that would make you change your mind.
It's so satisfying to listen to a story teller that is as good as Ed.
These brakes are obviously race-car technology (hence the high cost, the difficulty in obtaining them and the fact that pushing them HARD makes them better)
carbon-ceramic brakes ain't no rocket science. It's been around long enough. The only reason they charge that much is that someone is willing to pay for that. Too many dumb supercar owners pay that because they think it is worth it. It is not. Get a set of giro disk, change the pad and call it good.
This reminds me of an old vinwiki video on the McLaren F1. Parts on that car "time" out. Weather you drive it 1,000 miles a year or 0 things like the tires, fuel tank, fire extinguisher, etc. MUST be replaced per McLaren.
The most expensive Mercedes to maintain and one of the most expensive to buy is the CLK GTR and not the SLR
True, but those cars are absolute unicorns, I think there are only 10-20 of them in existence.
It was my dream car from the time I purchased it in nfs most wanted 2005.
Just sounds like another used Mercedes story 🤣🤣🤣. I love Mercedes. Ever since I was a little kid and first laid eyes on the 1955 500SL Gullwing. That car was and is my dream car. When I was a teen I was lucky to look at a 57 up close and sit in it. So beautiful, so simple.
So it’s like a hundred bucks every time you go to the break pedal?
pretty much........
not necessarily. the carbon ceramics need to be used to last. the more they’re used the better they work. they wear out like all brakes do, but the pads die before the discs
There’s a reason why these won’t appreciate in price much, how much it cost to run does that to price
Thanks for letting us come and tell our stories Ed!
BRO GOOD STORY TELLING
I guess if you don’t count the CLK GTR
Manny Khoshbins service bills must be insane
Ed, YOU DODGED A BULLET!!!
Giving your German/British supercar an "Italian tune-up".
$58K? What did you do? Buy yourself a Golf R?
Renting a track is cheaper!
the price would still be laughable. For a fucking Golf.... geeez
"Laughs with a duck voice "
Buys a SLR-McLaren and expects Lexus like reliability and Hyundai Accent servicing costs.
I’ve known a lot of people who hate their Mercedes because of constant breakdowns. I can’t imagine having McLaren and Mercedes do a car together because I’m sure it would be fun for the short times it works.
Funny how he was happy that took care of the brakes but eventually it’s gonna cost him the $58,000. Brakes don’t last forever. Probably even more with how everything is going up.
The weird part, I'm sure their are aftermarket brake companies that have hat/rotor setups that would fit exactly. As for brake pads - they made to fit the calipers which I'm pretty sure are not 100% custom.
Seems like poor engineering all around. I mean if Brembo has a caliper that is 99% of what you want, but takes 14mm bolts and you are insisting on 12 mm bolts - the smart thing to do would be adjust your design for the off the shelf 14mm mounting bolts. The dumbest thing would be to insist that Brembo redesigns its caliper to use 12 mm bolts.
Porsche used to do this. They were Brembo's No. 1 customer in the 1990s - but when the calipers came in, Porsche would disassemble and rebuild them with their own seals and customization. Never dawned on Porsche to talk with Brembo and discuss which seals would be actually better for a street car and have Brembo deliver the calipers ready to go. Porsche was of the thought that since they build limited production cars, cost was of no concern. Porsche was the model of inefficiency.
Man I'd take those ceramic brakes out and put them in my china cabinet for display. Then, put steel rotors all around.
@@zxggwrt funny you say that because that's exactly what people who own gt3s do with their brakes. Then when it's time to sell the vehicle they threw the ceramic brakes back on.
@@confuse9 It's possible one could fit standard Merc 230 brakes on that car
This car can do 200mph do you want to try and stop at that speed with standard Iron rotors and road spec pads?
Also regarding the 12mm Nuts.
Essentially you're buying the brand - hence the steep parts prices.
But your also buying McLarens racing knowledge.
The carbon brakes are most likely race car spec and designed for one purpose only: high performance braking and lightness.
Hence the 12mm bolts. .
Every gramme counts in racing.
I do think McLarens have build quality issues....
But good this guy drives the car ..
Damn...you pay the cost of a 911 every 5 years just in running costs :) :)
Same here, but with a mainstream model merc gle 350 2019 .. first year had the small spring pop off which led the vehicle to loose all acceleration, towed it to dealership, got it worked on.. (initial diagnosis was the turbo failed, but an inspection revealed the spring issue) got the vehicle 2 days later..
Then aroud 6months later sent it in for a routine servicing, got the vehicle back, and the silencer fell off while dropping my kid to school, had to be towed to the dealership again, Then a yr later had all sorts of lights pop up, turned out a rat had gotten into the electricals... and at the last month of warranty had the front and rear airmatic fail. All credit to mercedes though for not charging a dime for those repairs. But it would be always when i left for a long trip so the wife would be mentally ready for the car breaking down every time. Other issues with tyres had it loosing pressure in hills so had to chase down a tyre supplier 2 districts away, and get all the tyres replaced.. another time had the brakes replace light turn on (which comes on 200ish km before) in the middle of a 1200 km journey..
had a bad experience at that dealership; messy service, bad communication, and couldn't even get a salesman to look at a car on their lot. (the salesman was there but sent an email 5min after we left). ended up having the service redone a week later somewhere else after 2 unsuccessful trips there
The issue with the brake price quite is correct and realistic: I work with a number of specialist engineering firms in aerospace, and keeping certain airframes in the air once they are decades out of production is an exercise in ultra low volume customized manufacturing of complex parts with stringent performance requirements. And that means insane money, often 10 times what you can expect to pay for the equivalent OTS part. I imagine it's pretty much the same with high performance cars that are many years out of production.
When we used to change pads on my rally car in the 80s i used to drive in 1st with the brakes pressed a little to clear glaze and bed the new pads, if you didnt do that brake fade would be experienced in first few miles of hard driving. seems like the car was never driven hard enough to bed them in and de glaze them.
“Because it sat too long, the seals…”
Therein lies the BIGGEST problem with a lot of supercar and classic car owners. They don’t drive their cars like they’re supposed to do. Instead, they let it rot in a garage… literally
Stories like this make me happy to listen to these stories but drive a boring 5 year old korean sedan that's still under warranty and has only needed a thermostat and a repaint of the roof and hood covered under said warranty, plus oil changes, 30k, and 60k checkups (with some brake work at 60K) and gasoline to keep it rolling on its first 74,444 miles. I bet most of the guys with exotic cars are relieved that they have at least one trusty boring miler in their collection (usually a Toyota or a Honda) that they can count on to just work.
Nothing can justify charging 60k for a fucking brake job...
that brake procedure isn't specific to this car, I've done the same in the past to fix material transfer on brakes just at lower speeds as my car didn't have carbon ceramic brakes.
Where are you getting up to 192 MPH in Lancaster, PA? Is there a secret Amish track hidden in the corn?
Absolutely have you heard of it 6 o’clock Sunday morning on 285 westbound 😂😂😂
Shhhh 🤫
Just goes to show that even a supercar shouldn't be taken to the Mercedes stealership. Find yourself a good indie that loves German cars and save yourself a ton of time, money, and headaches getting the dealership techs to work way above their heads. Those guys are just used to bolting accessories onto nearly-new cars, not diagnosing a 20 year old precision machine.
i think some owners think that dealers should be able to " fix " anything well the first time. not knowing how much of a mess the place can be interinally
It's crazy these cars turn 20 yrs old next year
So to sum up this video please make sure you get a PPI done before you buy any expensive exotic and avoid most of the issues discussed here. Who would have thought.....
This reminds me about what Jeremy Clarkson said about Mercedes ownership. Something about it breaking, going into the shop, and coming back more broken, then going back into the shop.
When he said the cost of the rear breaks replacement I was like 😱 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯💀💀💀
It's always cool to see people from the place you live on channels you watch regularly.
I was a detailer at a Mercedes Dealer, master tech was doing the brakes on a SLR, literally tells me to stand back because the brakes cost 3x the Nissan Xterra I had just bought
$58k for brakes.... the dealer was trying to take him for a ride and figured he was an idiot with money
I can't help but hear Hoovie's voice saying "Just look at the quality....". 😆
Would've been cool if he kept his. I was anticipating those videos
Sounds like you've stumbled across the most frequently used secure parking option for these cars... Dealer lot has better liability insurance than anywhere else 😁
This is one of the greatest cars ever produced. It is a truly special machine.
Ferrari owners and Porsche owners have known about the immense cost of CCM brakes for years.
Often it is a 'sales advantage' to learn that a car has 'steel brakes.' The good thing about carbon brakes is that they can be rough on the edges, but still within spec. Before replacing, they should be measured, especially at $58,000. Also - German car owners often use rubber treatment for seals for cars in storage - or leave the doors partly opened only to protect the seals. Finally, almost all exotics have a battery conditioner connection and owners are religious about keeping their cars plugged in while stored. Eliminates a lot of headaches later on.
We had a customer come in wanting a quote on pads and rotors for some sort of AMG Mercedes, I cannot remember which model. We quoted him $5,000 for front pads and rotors only, he jumped on it. Im assuming he had been calling around and we were the cheapest price. The car had the two piece front brake rotors with some kind of Kevlar or carbon fiber, maybe ceramic??, rotors and the parts had to come from the Mercedes dealer. That the most expensive simple brake job Ive ever saw, Ive saw some that need all new brake lines, hoses, master cylinder and ABS module cost more, but never for just pads and rotors. Now I have.
I'm surprised this wasn't Ed, talking about how great he is.
No better ad for Mercedes than to get the front spot, all those eyes & cameras. Then for it not to start & get a tow
This story reminds me of my 97 Max that I had. Dead money pit. 5 years of hell. Got an 02 Avalon now. Much better reliability.
Manny Koshbin owns like 8 or 9 of these and one is a heritage edition
That’s crazy expensive for brakes but it actually makes sense. The cars brakes are so good they aren’t meant to be replaced. Just drive it like a race car and they repair themselves.
We better get the ONE, because as long as Mercedes are in F1, spares will be handily available and cheap :-D
That Mercedes is the the new Range Rover in Repairs...a mechanic Wet dream
You can get rear rotors for like 5 or 6 grand for that car.... That's crazy they wanted almost 60k for rotors and pads....
What brand makes them for that price? (5k-6k)
I’d def say a clk gtr is more expensive to fix/maintain
Every "exotic" car story makes me glad I bought a Porsche 911.
For someone that drives Ferraris and Lamborghinis and stuff he seems very unfamiliar with what is normal characteristics of carbon ceramic brakes. The fact that the dealer didn’t know either is shocking! He needs another dealer.
My local Benz dealership, Carlton Motorsports Greenville SC, still has a brand new SLR on their floor that's roped off with a "not for sale" sign on the windshield
I had a Sony Discman that broke because I left it on a shelf for at least one year, the laser head refused to move. McLaren must have that same level of quality.
Remember seeing this car on someone’s IG story from Philly and I was like no way is that an SLR being towed 😂😂
It's even crazier to think of this price for brakes if the car market *hadn't* blown up on the past few years. If these things were on normal depreciation curves and the car was only worth $200K, that $58K would be even worse.
Changing the brakes with any cross referenced BBK or other brand Ceramics would be easy & cost at most $6,000-$12,000
Manny khoshbin has 9 of them, he barely drives them. He was telling the shocks for the doors keeps breaking too
Hey man that video of it while it was being towed it looked really good! Maybe it be cheaper just to have someone tow you around on the dollies!
Let's see, a rear brake job and a set of rotors and pads for the fronts or a New C-8 corvette? Thats a tough one.
Sounds like owning this car is gods way of saying you have too much money ~)
This is why my Mercedes has a Ford engine in it LOL!👌
Very nice timing with the premier financing adds. Can't imagine even they would finance this car though.
“Closed course” HA sounds like a dream when they tell you to speed
I’m really interested in how the brakes could have costed so much. I work for Mercedes and work on the SLRs but a brake job on that car wasn’t even in the same universe as 58k. Granted it has been a few years since ive done brakes on an SLR so there could be supply issues as stated in the vid.
And this is why you need to drive these cars, not let them sit and treat them like investments
Had exact same window seal problem on a Gwagen. Was during August in Texas, so traded it.
Knowing the price for replacing the rear brakes, I want to know why you haven't sold the car.
Thing's that car manufacturers often forget to tell part 1
I’m sure the Car Wizard or the Car Ninja could do it cheaper. 😎