Vibration when braking

Stewart MCG · Jul 5, 2014

Hi I have been experiencing vibration whilst braking, as if the front discs are warped, I took the Cali to the dealers to check this and they have said it requires new discs/pads and these are not covered under the warranty, the mileage of the Cali is 13000 thousand and the Cali is a 2011 I have contacted VW customer services and am awaiting their reply (not hopeful )
Has anyone else experienced this fault ?

Martin · Jul 5, 2014

Not had this problem on our Cali yet but had exactly the same problem on our Jimny which has only done 15,000 miles, replacing the discs did solve the problem.

KernowLad · Jul 5, 2014

Martin said:
Not had this problem on our Cali yet but had exactly the same problem on our Jimny which has done only 15,000 miles, replacing the discs did solve the problem.

Our Jimny did the same too! Also replaced.

We had it on our 335d too - never completely sorted it despite three sets of disks.

Ours have ALWAYS squealed on the Cali almost from brand new - the response to my query was pretty lame. It still squeaks.

Stewart MCG · Jul 6, 2014

Cheers, yes checked other VW forums and a few issues with discs warping, a tad concerning as I am mechanically sympathetic and don't drive the Cali hard. Maybe large company's are buying consunables from Asia.

sbmcd · Jul 6, 2014

Interesting that VW put bigger discs on the front of the 180 California when there is only 11 mph difference on the claimed top speed and negligible difference in weight.

Has anyone experienced warping issues with the bigger discs?

beardie · Jul 6, 2014

The energy that brakes need to deal with is proportional to speed squared so an extra 11 mph may make a big difference

WelshGas · Jul 6, 2014

Also I would presume the 180 has more weight up front?
Is yours a Manual or DSG model?

sbmcd · Jul 6, 2014

My 180 is manual, but my comment was more related to the question of warped discs and if this was also an issue on that model with the bigger disc size.

barry · Jul 7, 2014

Stewart MCG said:
Hi I have been experiencing vibration whilst braking, as if the front discs are warped, I took the Cali to the dealers to check this and they have said it requires new discs/pads and these are not covered under the warranty, the mileage of the Cali is 13000 thousand and the Cali is a 2011 I have contacted VW customer services and am awaiting their reply (not hopeful )
Has anyone else experienced this fault ?

Our 57 plate 174 4Motion had similar symptoms and had its two front discs replaced after 55K miles of quite tame driving - warping.

briwy · Jul 7, 2014

One reason that discs distort and cause vibration is that so many people sit with the footbrake when stopped instead of using the handbrake.
If the discs are hot the pads touching the discs prevents them cooling evenly with the result that they warp.

Freeley · Jul 7, 2014

briwy said:
One reason that discs distort and cause vibration is that so many people sit with the footbrake when stopped instead of using the handbrake.
If the discs are hot the pads touching the discs prevents them cooling evenly with the result that they warp.

That's interesting briwy I never knew that. I must admit I do tend to do that luckily our discs are ok. Perhaps time to change my driving habits!

Larkrise · Jul 7, 2014

This is news for me. With my manual cars I would always engage the handbrake but with the Cali dsg I always sit with foot on brake when stopping for lights or in traffic- is this bad practice re disc distortion?

culprit · Jul 7, 2014

sbmcd said:
Interesting that VW put bigger discs on the front of the 180 California when there is only 11 mph difference on the claimed top speed and negligible difference in weight.

Has anyone experienced warping issues with the bigger discs?

A friend of mine has a 180DSG LWB t30 4motion panel van (converted to camper) and the front disks on his are considerably smaller than the California, his is a 62 plate and mine is a 13 plate; this seems very odd, a possible answer would be the lower speed limits of the panel van?

Anyway, my breaks have had an intermittent mild squeal from new but no run out issues, van has now done just under 16k of mixed miles - the one saving grace is that being a van chassis the cost of replacing the breaks with OEM is relatively low, you could consider an aftermarket alternative from a reputable manufacturer.

I certainly will be along with dampers and springs - I also fancy a Siekel lift kit with Bilstein dampers....and a conversion to 4motion along with a colour change to white :laugh2 :upsidedown

Squealing breaks and disk run out seem to be common across VAG...

teeboy · Jul 7, 2014

Before you go mad an change the discs. I had this problem on an old car (on which I changed discs and pads and had the suspension looked at) - it turns out being wheel balance, which only became noticeable when braking.

Might not apply to you, but worth a go at only £10 per wheel?

T