Glazed Brakes Octavia VRS TDI

[col1972]

Has anyone had problems with brakes glazing over due to salt, our dealer say's this is what happened to our car, but customer care and technical support disagree with dealer.

Would like to hear if anyone else has has similar problems.

[dstev2000]

I thought glazing was caused by overheating and not salt.... :| It's usually when brakes are caned before they are allowed to bed in properly.

The only thing salt does is speed up the rusting you get on the friction surface of the disc but that happens anyway as its bare steel.

What exactly is the problem with the discs anyway?

[GAFF]

tbh I had a big issue with this, although "Glazing" has never really washed with me. Mine are much better since its last service....Fluid changed, it was changed before but after an initial good bite the lost there bite after a while.

I found that I wouldn't really pull up the handbrake fully when stopped/parked so dunno if that affected it, as I found that after application of handbrake during driving made them perform much better.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/55707-new-octy-vrs-brakes/page__hl__brakes

[col1972]

I thought glazing was caused by overheating and not salt.... :| It's usually when brakes are caned before they are allowed to bed in properly.

The only thing salt does is speed up the rusting you get on the friction surface of the disc but that happens anyway as its bare steel.

What exactly is the problem with the discs anyway?

HI during the bad weather, my brakes failed had to stand on the pedal to stop it, took it to my local skoda dealer, they said that tech support had sent them a report saying that they had come across another skoda doing the same, the report said that the salt had built up on the pads/discs, causing all 4 breaks to glaze over, as mine did.So they cleaned up the disks/pads they took it for a test drive and said that they were ok, though i disagreed, they were nowhere near as strong as they were. Contacted customer care and as a good will gesture they changed the brake fluid, then they took it for another test drive to find that the brakes worked ok breaking at 30 but at 60 they didnt, checked the brakes and found them to be glazed over again. The dealer now wants to change the disc and pads and are waiting for customer care to get in contact with them as they wanted photos of the discs/pads, before they decide weather i have to pay for them. The car hasnt been hammered my wife uses it just for driving up and down the motorway. i have had other vag cars before (seat) but never had this problem before.I have a copy of the report that tech sent to my dealer.

Colin

[dstev2000]

This might be worth a read - http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=64545

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/general-alfa-discussion/151874-potential-danger-from-road-salt.html

Although not directly linked to glazed brake discs there is a link between failing brakes and salt on the roads - they add mollasses to the salt mix so it sticks to the road better. Maybe the coating of crud on the discs and/or pads caused them to overheat. There may be heat glazing on the discs but its the cause that needs to be established. Manufacturers tend to be very funny when it comes to replacing discs and pads under warranty.

Theoretically, if the discs and pads are cleaned sufficiently you should have decent braking unless the metal in the discs has altered its composition due to overheating then cleaning the surface will do little to help, the same thing can happen to the pads as well, any improvement from cleaning will most likely be short lived.

[col1972]

This might be worth a read - http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=64545

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/general-alfa-discussion/151874-potential-danger-from-road-salt.html

Although not directly linked to glazed brake discs there is a link between failing brakes and salt on the roads - they add mollasses to the salt mix so it sticks to the road better. Maybe the coating of crud on the discs and/or pads caused them to overheat. There may be heat glazing on the discs but its the cause that needs to be established. Manufacturers tend to be very funny when it comes to replacing discs and pads under warranty.

Theoretically, if the discs and pads are cleaned sufficiently you should have decent braking unless the metal in the discs has altered its composition due to overheating then cleaning the surface will do little to help, the same thing can happen to the pads as well, any improvement from cleaning will most likely be short lived.

Cheers for that, what you say seems to make sense, as my wife was driving down the motorway everyday during the bad weather, there could of been a build up of salt/mollasses on the brakes, and when she did have to break, maybe the brakes had to work harder to stop her, and cause the damage.

Edited 14 February, 2010 by col1972

[furn]

my brakes have been shocking since the bad weather , the first few brake applications are terrible sounds like grating for a few operations, also ive noticed they arent as good as they used to be, they dont seem to want to stop me anymore from high speed.

i know discs rust up a bit when damp and havent been used but mine do it overnight !

i havent noticed any sticky residue around them either , i dont think the road salt we have up has molasses added to it like the reports on the other websites.

i get a bit nearer to road salt than most people, the following pic is from where i park my car in relation to a bloody big pile of freshly mined road salt.

i actually work underground and mine the stuff!

up to now every car i have owned suffers rust issues!

[dstev2000]

http://www.safecote.com/usage.asp

[skomaz]

THis all sounds familiar to me as well. Travelled back from Reading just after the heavy snows in January, using the A34/A43 when there was a lot of salt around. On the approach to a couple of the roundabouts the car just didn't want to slow down, despite standing on the brake pedal... gave me quite a scare at the time and I took it very steady for the rest of the journey. The brakes seem OK now though so it all ties in...

[dan_the_v8man]

try giving them a bit of abuse. plenty of heat in them should be sufficient to get rid of any crud id have thought

[kprida77]

try giving them a bit of abuse. plenty of heat in them should be sufficient to get rid of any crud id have thought

Thats exactly what I had to do to the missus fiesta. Brakes were terrible, had trouble locking the wheels (no ABS) when standing on the brakes. Did a couple of high speed stops on a nice long straight road (leaving time between stops for the brakes to cool) and they now work a lot better. Not saying it'll work for all but might be worth a go.

[roynhayley]

Thats exactly what I had to do to the missus fiesta. Brakes were terrible, had trouble locking the wheels (no ABS) when standing on the brakes. Did a couple of high speed stops on a nice long straight road (leaving time between stops for the brakes to cool) and they now work a lot better. Not saying it'll work for all but might be worth a go.

I agree with this although the hard breaking from 70 should not bring you to rest totally ideally to around 10mph, do this a couple of times and the brakes should be fine, this also cures the brake judder sometimes experienced. I am usually very light on my brakes but surprisingly the brakes on my Honda FR-V are a little lifeless and do not respond to this technique. It must be said though that these replacements are "motor factor" discs and have now lasted over 18k, with minimal wear or dust generated whereas the honda discs and pads were shot in 21k with black dust everywhere.

Edited 19 February, 2010 by roynhayley