Hello,

Has anyone else had to replace their Yeti rear brake discs on car less than 2yrs old and less than 24k miles ?

Skoda told me that this was wear and tear and not covered by warranty. I have never ever had a car where I have had to replace brake discs this early on in the cars life.

My Yeti needed new rear brake discs and new rear pads at only 23.5k miles and 2 years old. I took discs away with me from the dealer and they have 80% corrosion on one side and 40% corrosion on the other.

Car was used for mixed driving including high speed motorway trips where braked would have been applied hard.

Dealer did not flag up a problem when it was serviced 5 months earlier.

I suspect this is down to:

1) faulty discs

2) rear brakes seized and therefore could not 'clean' the rear brake discs and this remained undetected by dealer

I'm trying to collect other experiences before sending a serious letter to Skoda.

Any help would be appreciated.

High speed + hard braking = poor fuel economy as well as brake wear. Slower speeds + less braking = cheaper, safer and probably a few minutes slower.

Its probably caused by sticking pads not keeping the discs dry and thus accelerating corrosion. This has been mentioned by the Plumber amongst others as a fault with the rear brake callipers.

I'm sure Tim will be along later with a more erudite explanation--he had the same problem

My experience is that over the last 25 years brake disc material has changed so that they rust very quickly. Before that they seemed to last a lot longer.

Now of you leave the car parked over night and it is damp weather you find they are covered in rust the next morning.

On the Yeti the only way to keep them more clean is to apply the handbrake while driving so that they may clean up a bit.

(As an aside, my Jaguar which is always garaged, still has the same discs with no corrosion all round after 14 years but only 25,000 miles)

Edited 11 February, 201313 yr by Norry

Our car is 13 months old now on 14k miles.

Last week I had the rear pads out to check if there was a problem with sticking pads. All looked fine, the sliders were s/s spring and the pads were completely free. I used a touch of copaslip? on the moving bits and replaced, satisfied that all was well.

I think the caliper is based on the Golf Mk4 rear caliper which is favoured by kit car makers for it's reliability and efficiency.

I also have noticed that discs on high end cars seem to keep their discs cleaner - if this is because of their weight making the brakes work harder I don't know.

My other two cars suffer from rusting discs, which is highly annoying. Perhaps the iron (Fe) element is higher in "cheaper" discs in more common vehicles?

Although the trend is towards maintenance free motoring, I'm old enough to appreciate that vehicles like a little TLC from time to time. My son, like a lot of younger people, tends to drive and never check oil, tyres, water .................., and treat a car like any white goods in the house. The look on his face when a wheel falls off is amusing and expensive - (I am of course exagerating here)

ps, just an edit. Worst case scenario is that cleaning the pads up and checking piston movement will clean most "rusty" discs in a brutal way. I can't imagine that the discs are truly rusty, ie like something you would find in a scrap yard. Surely you would have noticed the "rusty" discs through the wheel spokes before the service was due and taken advice?

Just my view.

Edited 11 February, 201313 yr by Yety

My rear disks showed big signs of corrosion on the outer surface due to pads not meeting with the disk surface properly (sticky piston?). The top surface of the disks are all pitted and corroded. It was like this at 18 months old and 15,000 miles! I meant to discuss it with the dealer and never did but the whole lots coming off next week for something slightly different so hopefully that'll be the end of that. Ive seen this issue on a few lowish mileage Yeti's sitting at dealers also.

Since the advent of non asbestos pad material,I understand that the discs themselves, are seen as part of the wearing system on the brakes and they are expected to wear with use as well as the pads--you will have your work cut out with SUK in getting a warranty claim . They will just say that its fair wear and tear.

To avoid the problem you will have to do what others suggest i.e. take the pads out, clean the sliding surfaces and apply a smear of copperslip[less is more here!]

I would like to do this myself--could anyone in the know, post a quick guide please? I accept the usual disclaimers.

Edited 11 February, 201313 yr by yetiscot

Since the advent of non asbestos pad material,I understand that the discs themselves, are seen as part of the wearing system on the brakes and they are expected to wear with use as well as the pads--you will have your work cut out with SUK in getting a warranty claim . They will just say that its fair wear and tear.

That's right. When asbestos was banned, the only available replacement for use in brake pads resulted in a harder pad. To maintain braking performance, that meant a move to softer discs. On several of our cars, the discs last less long than the pads. It's the price one pays for putting less asbestos into the environment, and there is no getting away from it.

However, that's not to say there might not also be a problem with sticking calipers.

On two of our cars the handbook actually recommends applying the handbrake while the car is in motion to clean up the rear discs, and repeating this every few weeks, especially in winter. It helps a bit.

Barring caliper faults, you will very seldom see corroded rear discs on a car with a really high annual mileage, as they get cleaned up too well. So the more miles you do, the longer the discs last, paradoxically.

When rusty rear discs are removed, the inside face is normally a lot more corroded than the outside, so that in itself is not proof of a fault.

My octy is just over 4 years old & 41k on the clock & my rear disc's are still as new (slight rust on the non contact surfaces)my front disc's are showing signs of slight corrosion on the inner surface,i wouldnt be happy replacing mine at only 2 years old due to corrosion with 24k on them,id want them replaced under warranty.

Maybe another factor here is whether car is garaged or not? Certainly if my car(s) have stood out unused for a few days the discs show a rust film and the usual scrapping noise on first application. My previous Qashqai discs only lasted 15-20k mls..

Skoda told me that this was wear and tear and not covered by warranty.

The Skoda warranty that I just re-read classifies brake pads and linings as wear-and-tear items but not brake discs. If you were to show them that page in the warranty book, it would be interesting to see what they'd say.

My indie engineer said, re my previous X-Trail, that it was not alone among recent cars in needing new discs with every third (at most!) set of pads.

My indie engineer said, re my previous X-Trail, that it was not alone among recent cars in needing new discs with every third (at most!) set of pads.

Thats nothing unexpected, I tend to change my disks once to every second set of pads but its the level or corrosion and piting that I think indicates a weakness in the design of the factory rear calipers. I'll try to get a photo of mine. They've been that way since just over a year old as mentioned earlier. Never had the issue on any other car including my other new Skodas.

The rear discs are due to be replaced on mine at the end of this month, when the MOT is due.

Having done 60k in 3 years I have nothing to complain about.

My car is kept outside and often isn't used for a several days so I expect the discs, front and rear, to show some corrosion, but this very quickly disappears. As others have said, now that asbestos has been removed the brake discs, and drums, are expected to wear out more quickly. Heavy braking can make the wear rate worse.

I think the OP is on a hiding to nothing trying it as a warranty issue.

Had issues with the Bosch rear brakes form early on, they appear to 'stick' in the sliders and make uneven contact with the disk particularly the outer pad. The result has been heavy corrosion to the outer circumference of the outer disk face and double the wear on the inner pad to the outer pad.

So far not involved the dealer, as for starters my three local dealers often try to say it's not warranty for everything, plus they couldn't fix a back yard go kart if they tried :S

In 27k miles I've had the rear pads out three times to free them up but to no avail. Think I will need new disc's pads at the 30k service

Will be taking her to another dealer further afield for this next service, so will ask them to investigate the operation or lack of in regard to the rear callipers, before splashing out for new discs (have pads already waiting).

First Yeti had Lucas rear callipers, which appeared much more reliably but Sokda switched to these useless Bosch things in November 09, from the Golf VI

TP

Edited 11 February, 201313 yr by The Plumber

Had issues with the Bosch rear brakes form early on, they appear to 'stick' in the sliders and make uneven contact with the disk particularly the outer pad.

First Yeti had Lucas rear callipers, which appeared much more reliably but Sokda switched to these useless Bosch things in November 09, from the Golf VI :swear:TP

As suggested in my post 5, a bit of TLC goes a long way.

I also looked at the sliding guide pins, which if sluggish/sticking, would give rise to uneven pad wear. I lubed mine as the OEM lube looked a bit sparse, and then worked them to and fro to spread the lube.

No noticeable improvement, but then there wasn't a problem :wonder: I've found that these calipers are very reliable if looked after.

I use a set of Golf Mk4 calipers on my MG TF using Focus ST 170 rear discs with no problems at all. The pads are on s/s sliders as mentioned, so should be no problem. More likely the guide pins need a good seeing to

Discs corrode, it's what the material that they are made from does. The pads are assembled in the calipers at the factory without any grease and they stick in the carriers due to the environmental operating conditions. Exposed to the elements through open alloy wheels, under use during light braking and worst of all the lack of requirement for the wheels to be removed, pads removed cleaned and greased during service just to make the ownership costs appear more attractive.

In my opinion the specifying of rear discs is often overkill, just so the car appears to be up with modern technology. Drums are often adequate, require less maintenance and often give a better hand brake and when they do go wrong are cheaper to fix.

In my opinion the specifying of rear discs is often overkill, just so the car appears to be up with modern technology. Drums are often adequate, require less maintenance and often give a better hand brake and when they do go wrong are cheaper to fix.

Yes, the fact that a bit of rust gained overnight on the rear discs takes a quite a lot of driving to clear proves that the rears are not doing much and should be drums.

We had a Felicia for 12 years and about 60,000 miles and the rear drums were never off but they still worked well.

The Skoda warranty that I just re-read classifies brake pads and linings as wear-and-tear items but not brake discs. If you were to show them that page in the warranty book, it would be interesting to see what they'd say.

This is an interesting observation. I checked my warranty booklet and it is exactly as you say. In my letter to Skoda I will include this observation. Skoda up to now always come back with the comment that pads and discs are wear and tear items without addressing the cause so lets see what they say now.

The fact that I needed new pads and discs at 24k miles seems wrong. The Yeti has been driven hard some of the time including harsh braking going down a hill EVERY day and lots of longer dual carriageway/motorway type trips. If the rear callipers had seized then why have the pads worn out. If pads were intact and discs corroded then the light use argument would hold more logic to me.

Had issues with the Bosch rear brakes form early on, they appear to 'stick' in the sliders and make uneven contact with the disk particularly the outer pad. The result has been heavy corrosion to the outer circumference of the outer disk face and double the wear on the inner pad to the outer pad.

First Yeti had Lucas rear callipers, which appeared much more reliably but Sokda switched to these useless Bosch things in November 09, from the Golf VI

TP

Thats exactly the issue ive experienced on mine. Its nothing to do with light use, surface rust etc etc. Its as above and the result is badly pitted, corroded disks on the outer edge.

I've just been through the same disc and pads issue at 30K. The original issue was brake noise which when I inspected looked like the inside rear offside pad had worn away, whilst all the other pads looked fine. The dealer changed the rear pads and said the discs were badly worn / corroded so should be done at the same time. There was no acceptance of the argument that the disc wear was most likely caused by the worn pad due to a possibly sticky piston.

My yeti has 18k on the clock (21 mths old ) just had it serviced 20k on the notes the discs have been pointed out as badly corroded

Me thinks I need to contact Skoda !

My two-year old Yeti that I  traded in recently with 19000 miles on the clock was going to need new pads and discs on the rear very soon.  Not good, really - one of the cost issues factored into my changing it.  The dealer 'blamed' it on my keeping the car on a driveway rather than in a garage - I think not!

I read an idea somewhere that to free up the pads in the callipers a bit, is to find somewhere safe , drive in reverse and apply the brakes firmly. This pushes the pads upwards in the carrier in the opposite direction to normal. I gave this a go with my last SM when I noticed uneven wear on the OSR disc and I think it helped. The only other thing to do, is to takes the pads out and apply a smear of copper grease to the pad carriers

My last car did 40k on the original pads and discs and the original Dunlop tyres. 4mm when I traded it.[ I did have a set of winter tyres though] :clap:

18800 miles, 4 years old in May, kept in garage overnight, rear and front discs still as new. I suppose it must be down to environmental issues, usage, fault, or luck!