I've changed the front discs on my MK1 2004 Octy 1.9TDi 3 times this year. They last for about 2-3000 miles and all is fine and then the braking judder starts accompanied with alot of steering wheel vibration. The garage who has changed them in the past is refusing to change them again as they say that it's not the discs fault, something else is causing them to warp, maybe a hub problem.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to cure this once and for all?

Many thanks.

Theres a good article on the myth of warping here: StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades

hi, i suffer from the same problem, but it's not as bad as that, i use probably 2 per year. ironically, this only started 1 or 2 yes ago

i find it really strange

Find a garage that can skim a small amount off them whilst they are on the car.

Are you buying good quality disks and bedding them in after fitting?

I had this on a Pug 306 I had. It went on for 2 years until I asked a friend who used to work for a different dealership. He recommended upgrading to heavy duty disks, I think they came from a 406 but may be wrong.

Not surevif there is a heavy duty disk for the Octy but I had my hubs checked and they were always bedded in properly.

I found with my octy 2001 TDi that I used to get a braking vibration which I initially through was due to warped disks, but turned out to be knackered shocks on the rear.

Do a few high speed stops with no other traffic around from 70 down to 10mph and do it about 10 times in succession.

Then drive for a while and try to avoid using the brakes until they have cooled down. Once you've done this make sure you avoid standing on the brakes at lights etc for any period of time as the heat difference may lead to "warping" or pad deposits.

Brake pad bedding in procedure - SELOC TechWiki

i did this and managed to get loads of smoke pouring out of the arches on the final stop!!! did work very well though and was very happy with them afterwards

As lummox said, what disks are you using? Also, how many miles have the calipers done and were they rebuilt? Sticky slides and not fully serviced calipers will press more on one side of the disk than another, warping it.

The break in procedure, well, maybe.... I have seen hard braking on new disks warp them as well so.... I advise gentle braking for 200 miles when I do brakes, always had 100% brakes after than. Check the rotors with a dial gauge when fitted with the nuts torqued on spacers up to wheel spec. Use quality disks & pads EG OEM or ATE (ATE make them for OEM so same thing).

Greg.

PS check they are not dragging, after a hot drive come back and turn off, in nuteral jack up each front wheel check it spins easily. A slight drag easily overheats disks.

The break in procedure, well, maybe.... I have seen hard braking on new disks warp them as well so.... I advise gentle braking for 200 miles when I do brakes.

Always been the method I use too.

I've replaced mine for the same reason, followed the bedding in instructions to the letter, and now am getting a slight vibration again, but it goes away if you brake really hard. I think its something else wearing out, probably a steering bush somewhere, but the neither I nor the garage could find anything. I can't afford to keep randomly replacing parts on the off chance it works so will put up with it until something breaks properly!

apparently knackered bushes can cause braking wobble too.

apparently knackered bushes can cause braking wobble too.

But which ones?

suspension bushes so wishbones, trailing arm and tie bar bushes amongst others

In the front it will be the quick fail rear wishbone bush. Due to price just have whole new wishbones fitted - come with 2x new bushes and new ball joint all installed. Unless you want to go poly bush which are more durable, but you'll get 50-100k miles from a new wishbone!

Do them in PAIRS, like brakes.

Greg.