Own one supercar can be expensive, even if you have the means. The technique and the parts that make these cars work the way they do can be shocking expensive. Let’s take the example where a dealer charged a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren owner a brake fee.
When creating the SLR together, Mercedes and McLaren developed a new braking system called Sensotronic Brake Control. Essentially a brake-by-wire system, it eliminates many of the mechanical components used in conventional brake systems. Mercedes says the carbon-ceramic brakes are fade-resistant at temperatures of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re massive, measuring just over 14 inches for both front and rear discs, with the front wheels using eight-piston calipers. while the rear wheel has a 4-piston brake caliper.
It’s no surprise that brakes like these, especially on a car with the SLR’s performance, come at an equally high price when they need to be replaced. This particular 2005 SLR is owned by @humped.my.importerOne Car collector and enthusiast who took to social media to tweet his frustration over how much he had to pay for his brakes. He took his SLR to Mercedes-Benz in Knoxville, Tennessee for service. Whatever number you have in mind probably doesn’t prepare you for the actual cost they charged this man to do the brake job: 120,462.79 USD. No, that number is not a mistake.
I mean sure, the SLR cost almost half a million dollars when new and there were less than 3,000 made. But it still can’t be that expensive, right? Wanting to know more, I called a few local Mercedes dealerships in Southern California to see if that’s what it actually costs to do brakes on this supercar.
I started with Mercedes of Downtown Los Angeles. After leaving me waiting for almost 10 minutes, the service advisor came back and told me: the front brake will be $67,219 while the rear wheel will be slightly cheaper at $65,283. He also informed me that the rear brake was out of production and they had to order it from Germany. Wanting a little more convincing, I called another agent.
Next, I contacted Mercedes of Beverly Hills, a dealer who should have had pretty good experience dealing with SLR cameras. The strange thing is that I got the same quote for the SLR as I would any other Mercedes, as he quoted me a price of only $3,350 for the front and $1,858 for the rear. If true, this could have been a theft, although I seriously doubt the guy misunderstood me or something.
Since that didn’t seem right, I called Mercedes in Ontario, who were more than happy to help me. Customer service was great but it went to another level when I told them what car I was calling about. Their prices are almost on par with Downtown LA’s: including parts and labor, it would be $64,840 for the front brakes and $62,840 for the rear brakes, so the figure is just under $128,000 for the entire set of brakes . It seems like that’s actually the right ratio for a brake job for one of these, so the original Twitter poster actually got a bit of a deal. Even if you have deep pockets, it still comes at the cost of tightening the sphincter.
