Hi all - One of my front brake pads fell out this morning! Fortunately only as I was reversing out the drive. Had a good trawl of the site and figured I'll have a go myself on replacing all the pads (probably do the disks aswell while I'm at it 'cos had an advisroy on pitted discs on the MOT a couple of months ago)

So schoolboy question how do I know which ones to get, when I looked on gsf just for Brake system (Friction) I got this list (none of the codes I can find are relevant to my car 'cos they're not on the sticker inside the service book).

List from gsf:

60192 BRAKE DISC-VENT 312mm OCTAVIA RS PR-1ZN 39.50 Add

62374 BRAKE DISC-VENT 312mm OCTAVIA RS PR-1ZN 34.80 Add

62428 BRAKE DISC-REAR VENT 256mm OCTAVIA RS PR-2ED 27.90 Add

60180 BRAKE DISC-VENT 256mm OCTAVIA 14" PR-1LQ,1LR 25.90 Add

60185 BRAKE DISC-VENT 280mm OCTAVIA 15" PR-1LS,1ZM 26.90 Add

60190 BRAKE DISC-VENT 288mm OCTAVIA PR-1LE,1LN,1ZE,1ZH 27.50 Add

60345 BRAKE DISC-RE SOLID OCTAVIA PR-1KK,1KP 17.50 Add

K62228 BRAKE DRUM-RE OCTAVIA PR-1KG,1KN 36.00 Add

62367 BRAKE DISC-VENT 288mm OCTAVIA 1Z4 000 001> PR-1ZE 32.50 Add

62368 BRAKE DISC-VENT 280mm OCTAVIA 1Z4 000 001> PR-1ZF/1ZM 29.40 Add

62373 BRAKE DISC-VENT 256mm OCTAVIA 14" PR-1LQ,1LR 25.80 Add

62373C BRAKE DISC-VENT 288mm OCTAVIA PR 1LE,1LN,1ZE;1ZH 27.50 Add

62415 BRAKE DISC-RE SOLID OCTAVIA 1Z4 000 001> PR-1KF 23.90 Add

62416 BRAKE DISC-RE SOLID OCTAVIA 1Z4 000 001> PR-1KD 23.90 Add

63176 BRAKE SHOE SET-RE OCTAVIA PR-1KN,1KG 29.20 Add

64327 BRAKE PAD SET-PAGID OCTAVIA 1.8T NO SENSORSPR-1LE,1ZE 31.50 Add

64330 BRAKE PAD SET-PAGID OCTAVIA PR-1LQ,1LS & SENSORS 34.20 Add

64330A BRAKE PAD SET OCTAVIA PR-1LQ,1LS & SENSORS 29.50 Add

64331 BRAKE PAD SET-PAGID OCTAVIA 1.8T,RS PR-1LE,1ZE & SENSORS 36.50 Add

64332 BRAKE PAD SET-JURID OCTAVIA 1.8T,RS PR-1LE,1ZE & SENSORS 35.00 Add

64345 BRAKE PAD SET OCTAVIA PR 1ZE 1Z-4-000001> 42.30 Add

64604 BRAKE PAD SET-RE OCTAVIA 19.20 Add

64604A BRAKE PAD SET-RE PAGID OCTAVIA 18.50 Add

The car is a 2002 1.9TDi Octavia Elegance Estate 81KW

Thanks for any advice!

Should be the same as mine; 280mm vented fronts with FS III calipers.

16" alloy wheels with 205/55 tyres?

Front should as Ken says be 280mm FS III, you will see FS III stamped into the calliper face if it is these.

If you phone GSF with your reg plate they will be able to tell you the parts you want and supply them.

HTH.

I think the caliper type is cast rather than stamped in, but either way it's clearly legible on the outer face (even through the standard 5-spoke alloys).

Thanks Guys - definitely looks like vented fronts which are bigger than the solid rears. Will call GSF rather than just try and order online.

By the way, not near the car at the mo, anyone know if there are sensors on the front pads or not?

C

1 sensor, on the LHF inner pad.

The rears are solids and utterly titchy, I think 232mm or so, not that they do much other than give the HB something to act on.

Cheers for that Ken, will call GSF

Sorry this is of no help, but how on earth did the pad fall out?! Has the caliper come loose?

Technically put - the "stony" bit came unstuck from the Metal bit, so not the whole thing.

As to how . . . buggered if I know ! !

the pad material fell off my rear pads aswell. but the broken off bit got jammed between the disc and set fire to itself on mine!!

I think it's cos the rear brakes get very little use if your not driving hard. Remember the brakes were designed by germans, and they do love heavy braking!

If one of my front pads fell off I'd probably go mental, because that could kill you if it went wrong at the wrong time. How old were the pads, under warranty? Very scary.

Technically put - the "stony" bit came unstuck from the Metal bit, so not the whole thing.

As to how . . . buggered if I know ! !

Ah I see.... That's slightly less worrying than the whole pad dropping out I suppose!

I'd have said the pad delaminated rather than falling out then.

Backing has come unstuck, fairly bad that, were they OEM pads?

On the off chance that this has occurred from excessive heat, I'd check the calliper is sliding properly and clean it all up plus do a fluid change if you have not done one recently.

Thanks Ken - will add delaminated to my (limited) technical know how!

Cheezmonkhai - not sure whether OEM or not, will have a look when I take them off. Fluid change about 4 months ago at last (local garage) service. Caliper appears to slide cos when it delaminated (see . . learning!) the pedal went to the floor and then firmed up again as it pressed the metal backing plate against the disc! But will give is a good clean anyway. May well be an overheat problem caused by a stiff caliper as I had noticed a high pitched squeal much like a stone trapped but couldn't see anything when I looked, I didn't think to check whether the pad pressing too hard on the disc (i.e. didn't jack the car to see how free the wheel was) . . will do in future!

Any tips as to what I should lubricate the caliper with?

Copaslip. As little of it as possible.

OK. thanks guys - will start dismantling, cleaning, lubing and putting back together!

Last quick question (for the moment . . .until I get half way through the job and it all goes pear shaped!)

Should I put a smudge of copaslip behind the disks before I put the new ones on?

And . . . daft question I know but . . . I have an old small tube knocking around in the garage called "Copperease" I'm assuming that's the same as copaslip?

You mean between the disc bell and the hub? It can't actually hurt, but making sure the faces are clean (and that the disc rotors are thoroughly degreased) is more important.

Copperease is a different brand name, but they're both ultra-high temperature copper based brake greases (and absolute bu99er$ to get off clothing).

Copaslip. As little of it as possible.

You can buy a dedicated spray on lube for the callipers and this might be worth using instead if you can find some.

Thanks for that Ken, yep that's where I meant - and as always just when you think you don't need to ask anything else something else comes along!

Best way to degrease?

I, in my amateurish way, on 'all metal' parts would probably just give a good scrub with a bit of petrol. Any other (more appropriate!) options?

And I'm certainly not planning on wearing my Sunday best when I attempt this!

Petrol, then dry with a clean rag or piece of absorbant paper. Do not bin this until the petrol's evapourated though!

Excellent - nice to know I do something the same way as those who know!

I'd use brake cleaner spray rather than plain petrol. Mainly because of the large number of seals in various places down there.

Don't forget to clean the oil off the brake discs before fitting

Another thing - not sure about how firmly attached the front discs will be to the hub, but when I changed my rear discs the services of a a BFO hammer were needed to get the old ones off :D

I stuggled to get one of holding screws out, even with the aid of an impact driver, so I drilled it out instead. I don't recall the disks being that difficult to remove, nothing more than a gentle tap to get them off.