At my car's last service (Last Tuesday) I was warned the front disks are gone a little thin, mostly worn from the back side rather than from the front, which is why they looked okay to me. I replaced the disks on my previous Octavia without any great difficulty, so I plan to do the same for this car and save €60-70 in labour.

 

What sort of money should I be paying for front disks and pads (In Ireland) and is there any brand to avoid or specifically look for in buying or fitting them? I'm satisfied with the OEM brake performance, so not looking to upgrade unless the cost is minimal.

 

 

There's a useful thread in the Octavia section with the disk specs, so I'm looking for 312 mm disks for the front and will also check that the disks are worn to the 22 mm minimum thickness in case there's some safe life left in them and the garage was preempting their wearing out since I'm on variable service intervals: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/240509-rear-brake-discpad-change/

 

When winding back the pistons, is it a good idea to bleed the excess fluid from the caliper as the pistons go back rather than let the (Probably contaminated) fluid get pushed back up the brake lines towards the reservoir? If the reservoir has been topped up while the pads and disks were worn, the fluid level will be too high after this, but I figure adjusting the fluid level at the reservoir is less likely to give me grief than going at the bleed ports since I won't need to open any pressure holding seals at the reservoir end.

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by psycholist

I didn't think you needed to wind in the pistons on the front calipers, only the rears?

They have to be pushed back, but the pistons don't turn in the front calipers, but the winding tool can be used for this. I was quoted about €110 for disks and pads at my local motor factors. Micks garage is potentially cheaper but the parts aren't in stock: http://www.micksgarage.com/search.aspx?ffBrand=Quinton%20Hazell~~~Mintex~~~FREMAX~~~FERODO~~~A.B.S&fffDepartment=Brake%2BDiscs&fffMake=skoda&fffBasemodel=skoda%20superb&fffModelDescription=superb%20estate%202009%20onwards&ffftd_car=2.0%20tdi&fffBHP=170 

 

Also I presume that to be sold as disks for a particular car they must meet OEM spec at a minimum. 

Approx  60euro is the trade rate for a good pair of discs, 

Where would I get parts at trade rates? €60 sounds like an exceptional price for ventilated disks.

If you get time please take a few pictures during the job, a quick how-to-guide would be useful as I'll be attempting this one day too!

It's not a difficult job once you work out how the calipers come off (The bolts that hold the caliper are in behind the disk, so hard to see). The disk is held in place by the same bolts that hold the wheel on and one small torx head bolt so it stays in place when the wheel is off. I'm hoping the disks won't be seized in place like one of the disks on the Octavia I had before, which needed some careful prybar use to remove. There are a few videos on youtube showing the process, but nothing specific to the Superb - If you look for anything in the VW range the process will be very similar though.

I did the disks and pads on my old Peugeot 306, it was a breeze.

 

The only thing I am unsure of is this winding tool and the caliper pistons I hear referred to a lot. Never noticed these on the Peugeot.

 

I'll head off and check YouTube though, thanks for the tip 

On cars with disk brakes the pistons of the rear calipers (Some Citroens, Alfas, Saabs and a few others most likely have front wheel handbrakes however) twist as they move out. The handbrake uses this screw thread to mechanically push the pads out when you put the handbrake on, while the piston is moved hydraulically when you use the brake pedal. What this means is that to back the pistons in the rear calipers off for thicker disks and pads, you need to turn the piston as well as push it back. The front calipers can just be pushed back directly.

 

Also it appears the reason for bleeding the fluid out of the caliper when pushing the pads back is to stop brake dust/water contaminated brake fluid from being pushed through the ABS/ESP pump and possibly harming the pump internals, so there is a reason for this even though it's more work.

I bought the pagid items from Euro Car parts are they in NI?

 

Big improvement over stock think front pads and discs were £140 ish , not sure been a while and i no longer have the car

 

Big improvement over stock , straightforward to do as well

 

Is that copper slip on the back of the pads? I read somewhere this is now no longer recommended?

Is that copper slip on the back of the pads? I read somewhere this is now no longer recommended?

I've been doing that since tyres were solid so unlikely to change now

On some brakes frequent application of coppaslip is the only thing that will stop the squealing

Provided it doesn't get near the ABS sensor or the toothed wheel that spins with the tyre to send a signal to the sensor, copper grease is still fine AFAIK. There are 'ABS compatible' versions of this grease available, but if there's an abs fault it's just a matter of cleaning the grease off the sensor or toothed wheel to get everything back working. Never had a fault with this in the previous car.

Provided it doesn't get near the ABS sensor or the toothed wheel that spins with the tyre to send a signal to the sensor, copper grease is still fine AFAIK. There are 'ABS compatible' versions of this grease available, but if there's an abs fault it's just a matter of cleaning the grease off the sensor or toothed wheel to get everything back working. Never had a fault with this in the previous car.

From my understanding its also to do with some piston seal materials not getting on with it! I use Ceratec non metallic grease nowadays.

I haven't heard anyone mention the piston seals might have compatibility issues with copper grease. I'll use it anyway - still looking for a good price for pads and disks in Ireland. It'll be the weekend after next by the time I get to go at it by the looks of it. 

I haven't heard anyone mention the piston seals might have compatibility issues with copper grease. I'll use it anyway - still looking for a good price for pads and disks in Ireland. It'll be the weekend after next by the time I get to go at it by the looks of it.

its fairly well known on some forums but some seals are more susceptible than others. On here people usually mention the Porsche NQSBBK monoblock caliper seals needing to be used with Ceratec for instance. Depending on how much abuse you give the brakes, I'd personally avoid the eurocarparts specific Pagid disks - trading on the brand name imo and I managed to warp a set very quickly. Far better to go Mintex for similar cost. TRW are ok from experience but if you want the best I think the plain Brembo disks offer the highest casting and material quality from what Ive seen

I'm pretty sure the closest a Porsche caliper has been to my car was at a cars and coffee meet I went to last year :P. In terms of brands to go for Brembo is the only one I've heard of before I went looking and their pricing looks ridiculous, though possibly if I was doing track days it might be justified until I realise I should be driving something about a ton lighter instead. Even when driving back roads I tend to keep it smooth and stay off the brakes rather shaving off a few more seconds with hard braking into the bends, so fading or other issues improved by high performance parts isn't a big worry. I'm just looking for the same braking performance as I have now .

I'm pretty sure the closest a Porsche caliper has been to my car was at a cars and coffee meet I went to last year :p. In terms of brands to go for Brembo is the only one I've heard of before I went looking and their pricing looks ridiculous, though possibly if I was doing track days it might be justified until I realise I should be driving something about a ton lighter instead. Even when driving back roads I tend to keep it smooth and stay off the brakes rather shaving off a few more seconds with hard braking into the bends, so fading or other issues improved by high performance parts isn't a big worry. I'm just looking for the same braking performance as I have now .

If you have OE, factory or dealer supplied parts then the Brembos are comparable or cheaper on cost. You said youd have an upgrade of additional costs were minimal. The Brembos are probably a superior product though. If you are happy with OE then buy OE - haven't you just answered your own question?

I know Skoda aren't making their own brake systems, so to buy OE I'd have to know who is making them. This is probably what me asking what people recommend boils down to. The second question is whether all disks sold to replace a particular part number are legally required to meet the OE spec, in which case this is the best deal I've seen so far: http://www.mister-auto.ie/en/front-brake-discs/bolk-bol-d011526_g900007_a999BOL-D011526.html 

Of course there is the assumption that OE stuff is of top quality which is rarely the case , OE stuff is very much built to a budget