Whether for vehicles long out of production or for modern ones, your best source for Genuine Mercedes-Benz Parts is Mercedes-Benz.

Maybe there’s little chance that your customers will ever abuse their brakes enough to get them up to cherry-red point, but that doesn’t relieve you of the responsibility of making sure that their hydraulic systems stay uncontaminated with water, ash and grit.  As you know, the only way to do that is to perform brake fluid flushes at least every two years.

We’ve gone on and on about this before (see the September, 2004 issue of STARTUNED, which you can find online through www.MBWholesaleParts.com — click the appropriate tab, then search the archives), and with good reason.  It seems that this is the most neglected maintenance item there is.  Many shop owners we talk to still don’t offer brake fluid flushing even bundled with other brake work, such as a reline.  To us, that’s dereliction of duty, and a poor business attitude to boot.

Fresh fluid of the proper DOT rating is not only crucial for safety — moisture in the system can increase stopping distances and the resultant corrosion and deposits can interfere with the operation of ABS — but is also important from a financial point of view.  Have you priced a replacement ABS unit lately?

Brake fluid flushing becomes especially important with summer coming.  Think vacation trips at high speeds in hot weather, perhaps in mountainous terrain.  Then there’s the high humidity encountered at this time of the year in most of the country.

So, now’s definitely the time to promote this worthwhile maintenance, which will benefit your customers, your reputation and your bottom line.  Using Genuine Mercedes-Benz brake fluid, which is conveniently available at a very reasonable price from your local M-B dealer’s wholesale parts department in one-liter and five liter steel containers (Part Numbers A000989080701, and A000989080711, respectively) will give you peace of mind because you’ll know it’s specified, tested and approved by Mercedes-Benz.