Rear brake pad wear

[Docsu]

Another 2017 Cali with excessive brake wear! 13970 miles, generally light brake foot. However......Near side inner pad non existent, outer down to 1mm, offside around 2-3mm, both rear discs heavily corroded & pitted. Front discs & pads ok. Rear discs & pads replaced today, callipers checked - ok, sensors cleaned & checked - ok, at a loss to explain the state. He was so concerned he has kept all the bits for me to show to VW.
My local VW van man never seen wear like it at such low mileage. Who should I contact & how?

 

[andyinluton]

Sounds like you are doing too few miles. The corrosion builds up on the face of the disk & then rips the pads to shreds, The less you use the van the worse it gets.

Yours does sound exceptionally bad, do you wash it yourself & then leave it parked. Or worse still do you have a local hand wash place that sprays the wheels & brakes with a highly corrosive concoction.

 

[Kmann]

I changed both sides rear pads and disc at around 50 tkm. Inner pads were slightly more worn than the outer ones. But discs were trash. Changed it to Brembo. Now close til 90 tkm and still looking great.

 

[Docsu]

Sounds like you are doing too few miles. The corrosion builds up on the face of the disk & then rips the pads to shreds, The less you use the van the worse it gets.

Yours does sound exceptionally bad, do you wash it yourself & then leave it parked. Or worse still do you have a local hand wash place that sprays the wheels & brakes with a highly corrosive concoction.

Never use local hand wash place for van, always hand wash myself. Longest van has sat was one period of six weeks in Jan/Fen 2019 otherwise max 10 days without being out. Odd that rear so damaged compared to ok front. Car sits out for just as long and never any problems. But in case of use issue going to use as daily for foreseeable.

 

[flying banana]

Correct me here if I'm wrong. The reason for excessive rear brake pad wear is due to calis generally not doing the mileage of a car or builders van. High mileage keeps the disc clean. Brake force must be heavier in the front due to momentum. So.. If low mileage the rear discs start to rust more than the fronts as they have a lighter brake force generally applied to them. This rust then accelerates the brake pad wear which makes it look odd that the rears wear quicker. So perfectly normal. As for 1mm on 1 side I would be taking the wheels off myself and checking that.

 

[TripleBee]

Had to change my rear brake pads due to the warning light. That was on 130 000 km. The inner pads were worn (hence the light), the outer just over halfway.
The discs have a quite deep edge on the inner side, making the new pads tend to stick more, so they will wear even faster now, but bought some Ferrodo's for €40.
The front pads now have about 25% left (at 142 000 km).
I will possibly have to change front pads and discs when the light comes on. The front brake pads will be hardened, causing the discs to wear faster. I'll see what happens when the light comes on.

I blame the wear on the rear on the weight distribution.
As the van is much heavier from middle to rear, the very small pads have to work much harder to make the vehicle stop in the right way, causing more wear at the rear than on the front.

I kept my rear pads so I could change the inner pads (if they wear faster again) to the old outer pads (but then without wear signal. Will see what happens when the time is there.

So, yes, it looks like the rear wear is normal, but I wouldn't take 18000 miles as normal, unless you really have a very, very sporty driving style?

 

[Borris]

Mine needed rears pad at 27k.

I have the similar issue on the JCW. Rear pad life appears to be no more than 20k.

Same here ....and discs!

 

[Borris]

Wind back tool £7 eBay
Red grease £3 eBay
Pads Lucas OEM with 60% discount carparts4less or it might have been GSF £9
40 minutes start to finish. Hardest part was that the offside alloy didn't want to leave the disc hub.
The inner pad on nearside was down to a few mm. Discs all smooth. I'll take a look in a thousand mies or so to assess the wear again.
Thanks for all the advice.
Cheers

Ed

I did mine as well and at a fraction of the garage cost. Easy peasy.

 

[Borris]

Hi everyone,

I have to change my pads every two years and the rears also wear faster than the fronts by approx 40%

This year, the disks are due.
What size is the star bolt holding the front disks on please (i.e. what size star bit do i need) Also, am i right in thinking the allen key required to remove the caliper is a 7mm?

And finally, do the rear disks require the same, or different tools? I watched the autodoc video to find out, but i couldn't see the sizes on the tools he held up. (I'm not worried about doing the job, would just like to have the right tools ready. (I've already a windback tool).

Thanks in advance, Chris.

PS. exported mine in a container to Melbourne. There's about two inches spare either side with the mirrors folded back! And last minute i decided to add a roll of loft insulation at either corner as a buffer .. glad i did, had imprints of the packaging text on one side where they used a forklift to move the container around at the docks / yard where i picked it up.

If I remember correctly there us a very good Autodoc tutorial video on Youtube of the whole process. The sizes of the tools required are given.

 

[pjm-84]

I have new rear discs and pads to go on. May do them this weekend but after the rear tie rods on my Disco (MOT time)

 

[jqp]

I'm another case of premature pad wear. I am somewhat relieved to find that I am not alone.

First service Oct 2018 - 12000 miles: front pads 10%, rear pads 10%, estimated by dealer technician.
Second service Oct 2019 - 21000 miles: fronts 20%, rears 80%, estimated. Pads replaced for ~£170.
No pad wear indication. No comment by dealer technician about disk condition.

This does not seem right to me. There could be a sticking caliper piston, I suppose.
IMHO the comment by VW guru is most probable: "dealer upselling". The services were paid for by VWCV under a service plan as part of the purchase deal. I suspect the workshop gets a reduced payment from VW compared to normal customer-funded services, so they need to make up the shortfall.

I shall be swapping to winter wheels soon, so I'll take the opportunity to check the rear calipers and disks.

 

[Docsu]

I'm another case of premature pad wear. I am somewhat relieved to find that I am not alone.

First service Oct 2018 - 12000 miles: front pads 10%, rear pads 10%, estimated by dealer technician.
Second service Oct 2019 - 21000 miles: fronts 20%, rears 80%, estimated. Pads replaced for ~£170.
No pad wear indication. No comment by dealer technician about disk condition.

This does not seem right to me. There could be a sticking caliper piston, I suppose.
IMHO the comment by VW guru is most probable: "dealer upselling". The services were paid for by VWCV under a service plan as part of the purchase deal. I suspect the workshop gets a reduced payment from VW compared to normal customer-funded services, so they need to make up the shortfall.

I shall be swapping to winter wheels soon, so I'll take the opportunity to check the rear calipers and disks.

Sadly not dealer up-selling in my case. The independent VW commercial van mechanic was so appalled by the state of the discs and pads he boxed them up for me to take to the Cali dealer who had done the first service in April to ask for an explanation & compensation. On my to do list!

 

[sbmcd]

At 76k I am now needing my third set of rear discs and pads on my 2014 180 California, I am tempted by the Kwick Fit offer of lifetime guarantee, they replace them FOC if they wear again while you own the vehicle. Has anyone had any experience with this route?

 

[sbmcd]

Just bought a set of rear Bosch discs and pads plus pin lube for £74.01 from Eurocarparts, they have a black Friday deal on with almost 50% off. Local garage will fit for £80.00, at that price not worth me scratching around under a van at this time of year.

Quick fit price was £250 - £260.

 

[Blue Yonder]

Hello all
Just had our 2017 Beach through an interim service. 15k miles on the clock.
Rear inner brake pad down to one millimetre. Outer pad has lots of life left. Is this normal?
Always drive gently. We'll get all the rear pads changed but wondered if this was usual.

Thanks

Ed

No! Pads should last much more than 15k and second each pad on a should wear out about the same amount. I would suspect one of the caliper pistons are sticking or a hydraulic line fault causing one of the pads to drag on the disk and cause the pad to wear as you decribed. If I were you I would ask this to be replaced under warranty and of course to make good the caliper. I would also want a replacement disc(s) or if they object a detailed report on the discs condition then check if the amount of wear reported is consistent with similar vans of the same mileage

 

[DM]

Just had rear pads (and disks) replaced at 1mm at 4 years / 36,000 miles by local independent. I still have 8mm on the fronts. The garage doesn't have a lot of experience of Calis but he does plenty of Transporters and observed that anything over 30,000 for the pads is reasonably respectable.

 

[Borris]

Just had rear pads (and disks) replaced at 1mm at 4 years / 36,000 miles by local independent. I still have 8mm on the fronts. The garage doesn't have a lot of experience of Calis but he does plenty of Transporters and observed that anything over 30,000 for the pads is reasonably respectable.

For some reason Calis can be hard on rear brakes. I had to change the rear discs and pads at 18000 miles on our last Beach and I'm not a heavy brake user.

 

[DM]

For some reason Calis can be hard on rear brakes. I had to change the rear discs and pads at 18000 miles on our last Beach and I'm not a heavy brake user.

Ouch

 

[TripleBee]

Changed my rear brake pads when over 100000km. Haven't changed my fronts yet. I think I am now wearing my disks instead of my pads. Will see when the warning light goes on.

And yes, I do have to stop my van from time to time. Even from over 60mph.

 

[tonyguthrie]

Hello all, just joined the forum and not sure whether this is worthy of a new thread, this one seemed to be a pretty close match for my query... I have a 2017 T6 Ocean (150 DSG), the warranty literally ran out today (1st July) so it was at the Main Dealer for an MOT, Brake Fluid Change and a general check (yes, I did get a Covid extension on the MOT but it was a freebie on a service plan so I figured, let's get it done). This afternoon I had a call from the Dealer to say that the van had FAILED the MOT on rear pad AND disc wear. They were basically calling to say it's a wear and tear item and was I happy to pay to have them replaced... I instructed them to take the rears apart and check the calipers as they must be binding on and therefore it should be warranty work. Long story short, the garage have now said that the discs have corroded, this has caused them to chew up the pads and it's not covered under warranty, the van can't be returned to me (delivered) as it's failed the MOT. After some negotiation I managed to get them down to £320 inc VAT to change the lot so told them to go ahead. As the van has only done 13000 miles from new, my question is "Do I have a case for taking this further, and will anyone be remotely interested?". I also have a 4mo T6 Transporter, about 3 months older than the Cali and that had to have new rear pads after 34000 miles (from the same garage). Incidentally, the Cali is fitted with 18 inch Tolucas and I have also had to change the front tyres after 9000 miles because the tread in the centre (not the edges) was below minimum, could be totally unrelated but thought I would mention it..!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[WelshGas]

Hello all, just joined the forum and not sure whether this is worthy of a new thread, this one seemed to be a pretty close match for my query... I have a 2017 T6 Ocean (150 DSG), the warranty literally ran out today (1st July) so it was at the Main Dealer for an MOT, Brake Fluid Change and a general check (yes, I did get a Covid extension on the MOT but it was a freebie on a service plan so I figured, let's get it done). This afternoon I had a call from the Dealer to say that the van had FAILED the MOT on rear pad AND disc wear. They were basically calling to say it's a wear and tear item and was I happy to pay to have them replaced... I instructed them to take the rears apart and check the calipers as they must be binding on and therefore it should be warranty work. Long story short, the garage have now said that the discs have corroded, this has caused them to chew up the pads and it's not covered under warranty, the van can't be returned to me (delivered) as it's failed the MOT. After some negotiation I managed to get them down to £320 inc VAT to change the lot so told them to go ahead. As the van has only done 13000 miles from new, my question is "Do I have a case for taking this further, and will anyone be remotely interested?". I also have a 4mo T6 Transporter, about 3 months older than the Cali and that had to have new rear pads after 34000 miles (from the same garage). Incidentally, the Cali is fitted with 18 inch Tolucas and I have also had to change the front tyres after 9000 miles because the tread in the centre (not the edges) was below minimum, could be totally unrelated but thought I would mention it..!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated

I think you have answered your query.
13,000 miles in 3 years. Brake discs corrode when not used. The corrosion scores the brake pads which in turn can damage the discs.
my 2014 4Motion had rear pads and front pads + front discs changed at 77,000 miles. Pads were 90%+ worn all round. Front discs were my decision to change as there was some scoring on the inner faces. The Dealership were happy to just change the pads.

Tyres, if wearing centrally is basically due to over inflation and excess wearing on both edges due to under inflation.

 

[jts46]

Not surprised with such a low mileage on cali

 

[tonyguthrie]

Thanks for your quick replies guys. Understand what you're saying ref corrosion on the discs, my question is should they corrode that badly that they fail after 3 years..?? I guess my real question here is, is it worth my time and effort to complain to VW Customer Service or am I going to be facing a medical bill when the person on the other end of the phone falls off their chair laughing and does themselves an injury (and I think I can probably guess your answer..!!). One other question, shouldn't the pads have wear sensors???

 

[flying banana]

Ask them if they took photos. It is normal for standing discs to corrode. The back ones are always worse as the front pads clean up the discs more when used due to more braking force there

 

[tonyguthrie]

I've asked for photos and also asked for them to return the old discs and pads to me, when I get them I'll post pics on here