My vRS has recently been serviced and has come back with an advisory on the front disks. They have said that the inner surface is heavily corroded and that they will need replacing. 

 

Is there anything I can do short of replacing them? Also, why have the inner surfaces corroded? Surely the pads use both the inner and outer surface of the disk?

Yes, the caliper grabs on to both sides of the brake rotor. Two possible causes as far as I see it - either your caliper is sticking, or you don't brake hard enough often enough. 

 

I don't know off of the top of my head how expensive RS brake rotors are, but I'm 99% sure that they aren't expensive enough to warrant having them restored by a specialist. By far the quickest, simplest and cheapest way is to put new ones on. This goes for all normal cars where parts are readily available and reasonably priced. Brake rotor restoration is something you do on cars where parts are difficult to source.

 

And you should have the rest of the brakes looked at too, while you're at it. There is probably an issue why your brakes aren't grabbing evenly.

If I were you, I'd be getting the car off the ground and have a look. I could imagine the dealer just saying it to get some extra £££.

It is possible though, if the pistons aren't pushing the pad onto the inner disk surface

Either way, have a look

"..or you don't brake hard enough often enough."

Interested to know what you mean by that. What good does regular hard braking do for the discs?

"..or you don't brake hard enough often enough."

Interested to know what you mean by that. What good does regular hard braking do for the discs?

Cleans the crap off them. Some good heavy braking is good.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Makes sense. How often should this be done?

To the OP. I have recently replaced my front discs and pads. I got them from Carparts4less.co.uk and they only cost £85.

Makes sense. How often should this be done?

Depends on the car and driving style. I used to do it every few weeks in my mkI octy but my mkII seems much better. I used to get a bit of judder when braking and then I would do 4 or 5 stops from 50/60 down to 10 on a long straight road near me which is quiet.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

If you wash some cars then leave them sitting, the wet disks rust (or so I am told). Once washed, take them a run and brake a few times to heat and dry the disks. If there is a rusty lip on the outside or inside edges of the disks, chip off all the way round with a hammer, if its very bad on the inside, it may cause a weak spot on the disk. If its just surface rust on the disk face, as stated above give a few good hard brakes to clean the disk surface. If it doesn't clean the surfaces then the calipers may be sticking or the pads have a problem.

Edited 3 December, 201312 yr by FatblokeVRS

This excellent, extremely useful advice. Thanks.

Many thanks for all of the replies. I have found it odd that the inside of the disks has rusted but I don't think that it is the lack of heavy braking. I may be wrong, but I think it may well be a problem with the calipers. If the disks and pads are a reasonable cost, I think I'll get them replaced and get the garage to look at  the pistons to make certain they are working correctly. To be fair, I've had the car for 25k miles (it's done 53k total) so I don't know if the front disks have ever been replaced. 

The pads can stick in the carriers so that they don't move evenly, they sort of pivot instead and so touch only part of the disc leading to corrosion on the untouched part of the disc.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Take your pads out, clean everything up with a wire brush, put some copper slip or silicon lube on the sliders, clean the metal part of the pads that sit on the slide (if there is plenty of pad left) and refit them, go out and drive the car like it is supposed to be and they should be fine after.

 

 Also, if you like washing your car a lot, after you have washed it get out for a run to heat the brakes and dry them out to prevent corrosion build up.

I just had exactly the same thing happened to me right now My Vrs is in Mitchells skoda main dealers in Chester For its second service When I get a call from the service department saying a couple of things are flagged up on the safety checks.

First thing was near side front tire is worn which I knew about and is due to be replaced tomorrow along with the offside front tyre as well. But then he started telling me that the front discs are badly corroded on the inside and have a lip on them and then started to give me a price to replace the disks and pads on the front. But as I'd already read this topic a week ago I questioned it and said that for the disks to be worn on a car that hadn't even done 18,000 miles and was most Definitely not driven like a race car and wasn't even 18 months old yet was absolutely crazy And that there must be a problem with the caliper sticking As Had previously been suggested on this topic.. To which he replied he would go away and speak to the technician working on my car and come back to me. 10 minutes later I get another call from Mitchells saying sorry he was mistaken The disks don't need replacing and the brakes are absolutely fine there is a very slightly lip on the inside but nothing to worry about. Absolutely unbelievable Had I not questioned it I would now be out of pocket to the tune of a couple of hundred quid for replacement disks and pads on the front That were clearly not needed in the first place. Which kind of brings into question the whole reason for taking your pride and joy to a main dealership in the first place. Firstly It's not unreasonable to expect a main dealership to know exactly what they're talking about and not have any breakdown in communication between the technician and the service desk. And secondly as you are ready paying a premium labour rate You have to hope that they will not try to squeeze even more money out of you unnecessarily. This is has kind of shattered my confidence and trust in Mitchells I have to say whatever their reason for this mistake

Edited 6 December, 201312 yr by Bigboy

This is classic dealer tactics, they always try to get you on brakes and if you don't know cars and don't know what to look out for it's very difficult to say no thanks for such a safety-related component.

 

Brakes are especially good money makers for them as the labour costs normally far outweigh the (at cost) parts costs.

 

****ers.

I had an advisory on our Octavia Scout two years ago for corroded inner disc surfaces.

 

Took a look when I got home, sure the clean surface area was reduced compared to the outer surface but no way enough to warrant replacement discs.

 

No reduction in brake performance and it has passed two more MOT's at the same garage since with no additional advisories.

 

Ignore the advisory.

Just replaced the front discs and pads on my 2010 vrs. They had a heavy lip on the inside compared to the outer. Car has done 51k miles on original discs and pads. Replaced with pagid items from euro for £96

Interestingly passed mot at skoda dealer with no mention of the brake condition

Take your pads out, clean everything up with a wire brush, put some copper slip or silicon lube on the sliders, clean the metal part of the pads that sit on the slide (if there is plenty of pad left) and refit them, go out and drive the car like it is supposed to be and they should be fine after.

 

 Also, if you like washing your car a lot, after you have washed it get out for a run to heat the brakes and dry them out to prevent corrosion build up.

sound advice    re MOT a pass doesn't mean your brakes are in good condition only "sufficient"  as I believe the efficiency rating has not been altered since the sixties    but will confess to not knowing how it's calculated -----anyone??

I replaced my front discs & pads on my 58 plate octavia vrs in july this year due to corrosion on the inner face of the discs,car had covered approx 46,000miles. The inner face of both discs was very badly corroded,if i was you i would take a wheel off & inspect the discs yourself,the dealer may well be telling the truth that they are corroded,brake discs have to be in very poor condition to fail or even get a advisory on a mot so the fact that a car passes a mot doesnt always mean there is nothing wrong with your discs,a heavily corroded disc can still pass a mot.

If there is a rusty lip, chip it off with the edge of a hammer. It will just ping off and the lip will disappear. Wear goggles.

Edited 6 December, 201312 yr by FatblokeVRS

Well I'm off to collect my car now from Mitchells So I will do as suggested and check the car when I get it back home and let you know my findings. As strange as it may seem I really do hope that when i do check I do find some at least some evidence of a lip or corrosion. which will then at least Restore some of my confidence in the main dealership. WATCH THIS SPACE

Under their fixed price maintenance offer, dealer fitted pads are £99, front pads and disks £209 (£249 VRS).  I've done 63,000 miles so far and still have 20% of the original pads left. 

we are WE ARE

sound advice    re MOT a pass doesn't mean your brakes are in good condition only "sufficient"  as I believe the efficiency rating has not been altered since the sixties    but will confess to not knowing how it's calculated -----anyone??

The test station finds out the weight of your car, then puts it onto the rolling road where they measure how much braking effort is applied by the brakes. They then divide how much braking effort is applied by the car on the rollers by the weight of the car and multiply the result by 100. Anything below 50% for the footbrake and 25% for the handbrake is a fail on a car built after 1968. 40% efficiency on a car built before Jan 1 1968.

Ian