After picking up the car last week from Motorpoint in Peterborough I noticed some vibration under braking so booked it in to Rivervale for a check over. In addition there was an annoying rattle coming from the LH dash which needed looking at.

Turned out the nearside front disc was warped! Cue automatic replacement of both front disc's under warranty.

The rattle took the garage several hours and much removed trim to locate but find it and (hopefully) cure it they did. Explanation was one of the Czeck spanner monkeys dropped a washer into the box section during build...........or something..........

Looks like the PDI at Motorpoint was carried out with due dilligence

While there, I had it changed to fixed servicing.......

Ouch.

My first 24hours on the Mk2 comprised of BOTH rear window mechs failing in the down position, and Skoda Assist breaking one of them as well as both rear door cars and speaker grills. Week without car whilst Skoda got new window assys and glass. 2 days after this the wiper motor failed during a heavy downpour on the motorway!

P***ed didnt cover it. Got a full tank and some bits from the dealer though. I think I only got immediate response as I kicked off at the lease co.

I should have heeded the warnings about the Motorpoint "experience"!!!

Still, love the car but this better not be indicative of future ownership :eek:

To be fair to Motorpoint I don't think you can blame them at all. A washer inside a box section, and even a warped disc, are not the sort of things that would be picked up at PDI. I've heard of quite a few people having problems with discs on VAG cars. We have two newish Skodas and the discs seem to skin-over with rust very quickly (one day) if the cars are left outside - not had this with other brands. Also the discs seem to be wearing fairly quickly, I think the metal must be soft.

I agree, a Skoda dealer would not have picked those things up either. How do you identify a warped break disc until the car's been driven?

Silly question from me - if a car is brand new and therefore the brakes havent been subjected to the hot and cold of being used - how can they be warped? :confused:

Im sure now the car is sorted it will be fine. Mines certainly been the most reliable car Ive owned.

We have two newish Skodas and the discs seem to skin-over with rust very quickly (one day) if the cars are left outside - not had this with other brands.

This isn't a skoda or VAG specific problem; go down to any car brand car show room and you will see a lot of cars with rusty disks. Tis the very nature of the beast.

Our local BMW garage has some go round and clean the rust of the disks to create the illusion it doesn't happen...but it does!

My old rover was terrible for it and the wifes ex-Ka took a good 10 miles to get rid of the rust (brakes were frankly crap!)

One of the problems of steel disks, a costantly changing surface and water.

Perhaps its just me but I would expect a dealer to road test a vehicle prior to delivery. Always have in the past and have owned several new vehicles with no issues from day one.

The only reason I didn't take it straight back to MP was that it would have been a complete waste of time and on the day, my partner had received news of a death in the family meaning that we needed to get back "down south" to Brighton ASAP and not wait around in a supermarket watching Tiff bunny on about how good MP are!

If VW group cars are suffering disc issues such as this then something is wrong - either the manufacturer of the discs isn't producing them to tolerance or their QC is crap. Seems to me to be a pretty fundamantal "known problem" if you ask me!

Perhaps its just me but I would expect a dealer to road test a vehicle prior to delivery. Always have in the past and have owned several new vehicles with no issues from day one.

So you want some young spanner monkey at MP driving your £18k car on a road test as part of a PDI? Im guessing that the car would come back with more faults that it went out with and will be thrashed to within an inch of its life....not good on a brand new car.

What I would do though, is drive the car MYSELF before signing on the line at point of delivery.

And, as you say, even if they or you had picked up the discs on delivery day, MP couldnt of done anything there and then could they?

Steve

a full test drive should be carried out on Pre delivery inspection its part of the tick list, warped discs is not very common on brand new cars, more so used, I'd say the car has been haning around for some time.

Regards,

Jason.

Could it have happened DURING the PDI test drive?!!! Maybe being thrashed about, then waiting at traffic lights with the footbrake on? Or driven into deep puddles with hot discs?? Just an idea.

I wonder if the discs were actually 'warped' though? When I took delivery of my brand new Octavia there were slightly rusty patches on both discs where it had been stood and moisture had been retained between the pads and discs. Remember that it can be some months between the car leaving the factory and a customer taking delivery... You could feel this slightly when braking. It was not until the car had about 600 miles on it that they 'cleaned up'. The dealer didn't think this was a problem. I also noticed that the discs had some 'machining' marks on them - again they disappeared with a bit of use.

My previous car to this was a Subaru and was delivered with perfectly clean and smooth discs - they also didn't rust quickly like the Skoda ones.

This isn't a skoda or VAG specific problem; go down to any car brand car show room and you will see a lot of cars with rusty disks. Tis the very nature of the beast.

Our local BMW garage has some go round and clean the rust of the disks to create the illusion it doesn't happen...but it does!

My old rover was terrible for it and the wifes ex-Ka took a good 10 miles to get rid of the rust (brakes were frankly crap!)

One of the problems of steel disks, a costantly changing surface and water.

Indeed. But I have owned many cars and not had the discs film over with rust with the speed with which they do on the Skoda.

The discs on my last Passat, wifes SAAB, daughters MINI all rust over after washing. Hit the brakes a couple of times & it goes. Its a non-issue to me..

The discs on my last Passat, wifes SAAB, daughters MINI all rust over after washing. Hit the brakes a couple of times & it goes. Its a non-issue to me..

Brake discs are made of steel and the surface that comes into contact with the pads can't by it's nature be protected and any rust usually gets removed quite quickly. They do have to be replaced sue to wear after a while but in 11 years/72,000 miles I only had to have them replaced once.

Brake discs are made of steel and the surface that comes into contact with the pads can't by it's nature be protected and any rust usually gets removed quite quickly. They do have to be replaced sue to wear after a while but in 11 years/72,000 miles I only had to have them replaced once.

I work in engineering, so I know a bit about metallurgy. Brake discs are not made of steel, they are manufactured with what is known as 'grey cast iron'. There are many different grades (with different parameters, such as hardness and tensile strength). Various chemicals are added to give wear resistance and corrosion resistance. I've owned and worked on cars for over 30 years, and I maintain that the current VAG discs wear more quickly and rust more quickly than on other brands I've owned. This may be because the iron is softer (to give better frictional properties with modern asbestos-free pads).

Anyway, my original point was that warping of discs on a new car is very unusual, and rust patches (caused by disc corrosion where the pads contact the disc during shipment/storage) can give symptoms of vibration similar to a mildly warped discs.

My Passat B5.5 was on its 4th set of front disc and 3rd set of rears at 140,000miles. I put it down to the constant rusting of the discs and abrasive disc pads. I never had pads changed before discs. My new FL Octavia seems to be going the same way and the discs are covered with fine corrosion pits.

35k is a good distance for front discs IMO. Works car had new fronts at 38k and all at 80k.

And braking on VAG Cars is set very heavy biased to the front, much worse than some other manufactuers. This will contribute to fronts wearing quicker than rears and driving style will also dictate how long the fronts last.

I squeezed 48k out of a front set of pads and disks on the Toledo but most of my driving is motorway/fast A-road and I use a lot letting off and bringing the car down to speed that way and with the 'box contributing to less brake wear

The nearside front disk was "out of tolerance" - in effect warped so both fronts were replaced,

My 1.9 Punto Multijet HGT while lighter had a similar power to weight ratio due to the remap and not to put to fine a point on things, I drove it like I stole it. I use brakes quite hard yet the pads lasted 45K and it still had the original discs on it when I sold it three weeks ago with 59K on the clock. Yes they were starting to "lip" but it passed a MOT with flying colours.

IMHO 35K is a pitiful lifespan from a set of discs and should mine last that long I would be looking to replace them with Tarox, EBC or Brembo. There is no excuse for disks only lasting 35K...............

And braking on VAG Cars is set very heavy biased to the front, much worse than some other manufactuers. This will contribute to fronts wearing quicker than rears and driving style will also dictate how long the fronts last.

I squeezed 48k out of a front set of pads and disks on the Toledo but most of my driving is motorway/fast A-road and I use a lot letting off and bringing the car down to speed that way and with the 'box contributing to less brake wear

my passat on 23k is in for some new pads on the rear, front pads have still nearly 50% left

IMHO 35K is a pitiful lifespan from a set of discs and should mine last that long I would be looking to replace them with Tarox, EBC or Brembo. There is no excuse for disks only lasting 35K...............

I tried telling someone the other day on here when they bought their unragged VRS with 20k, which had had new disks, pads, and tyres all round