I have seen slotted disks and drilled disks but I think you will be starting a whole new trend with your fully floating two-piece nobbly disks.

I seem to recall an item a while ago on either 'Watchdog' or 'The One Show' that talked about 'fake brake parts in Ireland - the parts themselves were crap and highly dangerous but the packaging in which they came did look like genuine parts - I might be wrong but I think VW were one of the manufacturers mentioned - since found this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...reland-10846035

If they are original parts they should have a 2yr warranty for manufacturing defects (not wear and tear).

That looks like a manufacturing defect to me!

They don't look like an OE part, which would have been rigorously tested before released for vehicle production, and since rotors are safety critical they have to pass a pretty high safety margin for endurance testing, though you can't completely rule out an isolated quality issue. Seems you were lucky they stayed in only two pieces.

I am quite shocked at those pictures, I have never seen discs in that state and I've took many, many battered, tramlined, scored, knackered and warped discs of cars! Looks like a major manufacturing issue there!

yeah i know, quite scary when you think about it, will hopefully hear back from dealer monday tuesday will let you know if i get any info.....just glad for now that it is sorted.

certainly dont look like discs that were changed 15k miles ago or genuines.

sounds ike a classic dealer spin "yeah dont worry about the brakes, we'll change those before you take the car"...bet the dealer makes an excuse as to why he cant tell you what was fitted!

Edited 14 July, 201213 yr by o_ptic

well when i picked the car up there was, what appeared to be, new discs and pads i.e. silver undamaged so unless they were all removed and polished i would have said they were new brakes. We will see...............

If you have a look on the braking surfaces, see if you can see a small drilled dot on them.

It won't go all the way through the disks, but is used to identify how much usable disk remains.

I've never even heard of a disk doing that!

I thought disks were forged in a single piece. that likes like posts of weld all between.

Is it just me or do many of those little welds/columns look corroded?

Even if the garage has been innocently conned into buying fake parts they'll still be liable. Plus if they've fitted one set they will have bought many more, or even if they were genuine but defective they'll need to check any others from the same batch.

I would hope they'd be bending over backwards to sort this considering the potential for bad publicity. something I'd remind them of. I wouldn't let those disks out of your hands.

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by Aspman

Ok another update, waiting to hear back from the UK Service Manager for the Dealer, the customer service department so far have been very good in trying to find information.

So i was generally searching on the internet and found a very interesting page:

http://www.pellonaut...om/blog/?p=2119

A 2008 Octavia, with the same problem. So i phoned the garage and spoke to the mechanic, an absolutely great helpful bloke. He told me the details and they are identical, same car model, year, symptoms, no identification on the disc ect and he has given me permission to send my photos along with his to Skoda to see if this is a problem that can be traced, will keep you posted, might be a bit sketchy for 2 weeks as i am away to work offshore so will all be by email, anything i get of interest i will be sure to post for all.......

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by Graeme B

I'd say let VOSA and BBC Watchdog know too. If it has happened to two cars of that age then I'm sure there are plenty more that are yet to fail or have failed and are not documented.

This is a serious brake failure and could lead to fatalities if there are other cars affected. Act now!

VOSA will have access to the DVLA database and would be able to contact current owners if required.

Watchdog will just brand all Skodas death-traps.

Ok so phoned skoda uk spoke to customer services and was quite shocked that the agent basically couldnt care less. After finding that the brakes are infact the originals and done 47k miles approximately same mileage as the car in the link above.

I explained that i wasnt expecting any compensation ect i just wanted to do the responsible thing and let skoda know as i would think there may be a lot of 2008 octavias in the 50k mile range that are coming due for a brake change and it could potentially be a problem with a bad batch of brakes at the factory.

So after explaining all this she basically said thanks and what do i want them to do. I asked that could they maybe send out a bulletien to dealers ect and she said she would see what a master tech would say. She came back saying its not a common problem so nothing they feel they need to do. I offered the master tech to contact me and i could sent pictures and details i have on both cases but as of yet not been contacted.

So i dont know what they are planning on doing but do you think i should speak to vosa?

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by Graeme B

I have sent an email to vosa to get info from them as before will keep you all posted.

And dont worry the disc will not leave my possession!!

Update,

Received email back from VOSA asking me to read their guide, read it and think this comes under their jurisdiction so will send in a report to them and can only see what they say.

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by Graeme B

So these were the original discs despite a Skoda dealer telling you they had replaced the discs??

If that was a condition of sale and they have not done it you have them by the short and curlies on this one as they are in breach of contract, as well as selling you a car that could have killed you, your family and other motorists. Time to name and shame :-)

By my reading these were not manufacturer supplied original discs, but replacements fitted by the selling the garage of unknown provenance that have now failed before time.

Will be interested in the results as I got a new front caliper plus set of discs and pads earlier this year following a binding caliper. All fitted at our local Hi-Q. I can't help but think they might be warped too, easily within 9 months and less than 15k miles, when the previous Skoda set lasted nearly most of the life of the car before the caliper seized and I haven't suddenly started driving any harder!

If there are counterfeits in circulation, being fitted in good faith, this is a much more worrying set of circumstances than simly a car garage lying about whether they fitted new discs and hadn't.

Niall

The counterfeits don't come through the normal distribution channels (Dealer or TPS). I thought the OP said SUK stated they were still the original discs (i.e. they had no record of the dealer replacing them)?

So to clarify, it would appear that the discs are the originals to the car as mentioned above and covered 47k miles. The independant dealer that i bought the car from has been bought over by a national chain so all the information is sketchy regarding the history of work carried out on the car. The national chain have confirmed that the exhaust was changed (another condition of sale as the tips were bent) but no record of brakes being done on the database.

I have also had no word from SUK after offering a master tech to contact me for all the info and photos and also offering to take the disc to a dealer to be examined by anyone they want. In all honesty i am still quite shocked at how skoda really were uninterested in what i was telling them.

I have also sent a report to VOSA with the information of my disc and the disc removed from the octavia in England, photos ect.. I got an auto reply saying i can expect a response in 2 - 5 working days so will see what happens. As i also mentioned before i am away offshore for 2 weeks on nightshift so details might come through slower than normal.

Just seen thread WOW! Lucky man GB! Good to see you not sitting back on this and chasing them id fire an email into watchdog too and let them know issue and what you have had to do so far in chasing it all up and lack of care from SUK. If you email Skoda rather than talking to them they might take it more seriously as there is then a record of the conversation they cannot brush off so easily. This if just a bad batch that went threw the factory one week back in 2008 could still present a risk to another poor customer with them on or anyone around them on the roads.

If you have anything in writing from buying car reference them agreeing to change discs regardless of being taken over there will still be someone accountable as if they said they were and didn't they ripped you off I would be fuming at that alone!

I shall follow this thread with great interest.

*** ADMIN *** Is it worth this thread being a sticky as a precaution? I know if I owned a similar aged car I would be wanting to know about this possible issue and have a check just to be on the safe side. Even just temporarily.

Thanks mate. Well i am still waiting to hear from vosa and the dealer. Off to work 6am tomorrow so will be emailing again to see if i can get any more forward and also as suspected aint heard a thing for a SUK master tech :/

It's pretty poor that skoda can't at least confirm if they are genuine or non-genuine parts.

If the first that's a worry for them.

If they are after-market, then is a worry for customers, but I am sure would convince a lot of people to buy OEM disks rather than after market.

i can not find any identifying marks on them. I have contacted the dealer to find out where the parts came from as the brakes were replaced as part of the deal of me buying the car so will see what they say. The weird thing is the VW garage have told me the discs and pads had another 10K approx in them so they couldn't understand the disc splitting.

If it was a Skoda dealer & transpires they have fitted non approved parts contact SUK, cheating on wiper blades etc is one thing but these are critical parts

If it was a Skoda dealer & transpires they have fitted non approved parts contact SUK, cheating on wiper blades etc is one thing but these are critical parts

I know mate. They are stalling at the moment i have asked them all to deal through email as i am workign nightshift in the North Sea at the moment so not really in a position to be calling all the time but they seem to think this is an easy way to ignore me........giving them till friday before i start making more moves.

Keep us updated please GB.

Very interested in this one as I've never seen disks do that.