brake pads worn out with less than 14 thousand miles?

[kupony]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to briskoda.net and also a new owner of Skoda Octavia III Combi 1.4 TSI G-TEC (CNG) version.

 

I purchased a one year old car from the Skoda dealer - they run a program in Czech Republic, where you can purchase 1 year old cars (up to 18 months or 30 thousand km) and get a full remaining warranty on the car at pretty significant price cut. The cars were owned by Skoda and used by the Skoda managers before being sold.

 

Anyway, I purchased this car on Tuesday. It's been sitting on the dealer's lot for good 6 months, as it was way overpriced and there isn't such a huge interest/demand for CNG models. Only after they applied some rather large Christmas price-cuts was the price reasonable enough for me to take it. I have test-driven the car a week before purchase and the brakes seemed loud. It was as if the pads were rubbing on the drums. If you turn off the radio and go slowly, you hear them when you're slowing down to stop (ie red light, or backing out of a parking spot). As I've never owned a car before (but I've driven tens of thousands of miles using car rentals) - I was too excited about it the possibility of buying it - and so I forgot to ask the dealer about it. I asked my brother later on when I remembered and he said, that if the car sits without being driven for a long time, then the brakes rust and take a while to scratch off the rust. That I shouldn't worry about it - it will go away.

 

Well, I bought the car, didn't mention the brakes to the dealer since I expected that the noise would eventually go away. I've driven it for almost a thousand kilometers since Tuesday - and they still sound the same. Is it possible that these brake pads need to be replaced?

 

The car itself had 21,000 km when I bought it - it has 22,000 now. That's not even 14 thousand miles. That seems extremely too soon for the brake pads (I'm assuming) replacement, doesn't it?

 

I'm not sure what I should do.

 

They put brand new wheels on the car when I bought it (as I ordered new rims and new winter tires) and they're storing the summer wheels at the dealership. So they must have had a good look at the brakes when they replaced the wheels. However, nobody mentioned anything. Obviously, I didn't talk to the dealer over Christmas... I'll call him on Tuesday, but I'm just wondering if I am worried about nothing or if I should really worry.

 

When (mileage-wise) should I normally expect those brake pads to wear out, or any brake-related service?

Edited 25 December, 2016 by kupony

[the rooster]

14 K miles appears short. My last MK2 Vrs had over 51K when sold and still had plenty of pad left. It all depends on the type of driving, motorway has lots of miles/Km with little braking, urban less distance with more braking. 14K miles I would guess is way too short on genuine pads considering the initial thickness. On previous cars I have worn pattern pads in 10K. Having said all of that, I had virtually no brake dust on the MK2 but the MK3 is shocking as is my sons Golf so maybe they are now using softer pads and they are wearing out faster. I am around 9K on this Vrs and reckon the front tyres are good for 10K, so will look at the pads then. Maybe VW group have followed the pattern manufacturers and are making them out of sawdust, straw or whatever eco friendly material.........................

Have a nice day.

[KenONeill]

That mileage seems way low for worn out pads to me too; your brother may well be right, but it's not hard to inspect discs (which should be a silvery colour, not yellow, orange or red) by taking the wheels off, or even by looking through the spokes on some alloys.

[Ootohere]

If a Used car or Demonstrator (ex Demonstrator) sits for a long time then it sits with Brake Discs Corroding as the car is washed ever day or 2.

The car gets taken for an Italian Tune Up quite regularly to clear the Cosmetic Rust off the discs and the pad wear is greater.

6 months can have quite a few Italian Tuneups even if only taken out once a week.

 

Do not accept a car not fit for purpose as the Dealership Employees in Sales and the workshop know the story, after all they work there week in and week out.

Actually they drive the cars.

 

Ask the Dealer Principal about getting your brakes sorted out properly and fitting new pads, or pads and discs if required.

?

Really used by Skoda Managers or is it just Employees & others borrowing cars.

If every 'Management car' is driven by 'Managers' Skoda have thousands and thousands of Managers.

Edited 25 December, 2016 by Offski

[ednmra]

With my last Octavia I once had an MOT by a big firm who also do work on cars and sell parts (Halfords). They told me though the car had passed MOT they gave advisories for the pads on 3 wheels, meaning I ought to get them replaced right then or very soon. I didn't.

A year later I had the next MOT at a local outfit called Just MOTs. As they do not do replacements they get no work from advising any maintenance needed.

I related the story from the previous year, and they told me that was rubbish - all the pads had at least 3/4 of their original thickness still.

The moral is perhaps to get a second opinion.

[trundlenut]

Try some enthusiastic braking from 100kph to say about 30. Hard as possible before the abs kicks in, repeat 5-6 times and see if things improve. The brakes should smell hot afterwards. Hopefully this will clean up the discs and get rid of the noise.

[firefox2]

I had to replace disks and pads all be it on a fabia tdi at 18000 miles so I belive it to be possible. This was due to corrosion when I bought the car it was 1 year old with 5000 miles on the clock.The brakes were bad with rust and although they did seem to get better at first about 1 year later the disks were done. The adice given to me when I got new pads and disks was to drive at 50mph do an emergency stop once a week when there is no one behind me to keep the disks corrosion clear. £420 lighter but on 45k now dealer advised disks are lipped need replaced at service . Three weeks later I take the car to vauxhall as it's very close to my house (dealer is 30 mile away )for its mot. Vehicle report says brakes good 80 % left. If I was you I'd get it back sharp and get them fixed for free.

[brettikivi]

I would consider the idea of emergency stops - several of them, hard stops, to get front and rear definitively clear of rust. It's also possible the pads have glazed over, but again some stops should clear the worst of it. Important: don't just brake lightly, it's not helpful for all systems. 

 

 - Bret

[silver1011]

We don't know the brake pads are worn out, the thread title is a little misleading.

 

The bottom line is that if the car has been sat on a dealers forecourt for "6 months" then it is likely the brake discs will be heavily corroded.

 

The discs on my Skoda's rust over after less than a week when the weather is damp.

 

As has been suggested finding a closed road and performing some emergency stops might clean them up. However as you'v now been driving for some time with little or no improvement the discs are likely too badly corroded.

 

Brake pads should always be replaced when changing the discs.

 

Try asking the selling dealer to renew them for you for no charge, you should be able to use the fact that the car has very low mileage and has been stood still for 6 months as justification for a genuine warranty claim.

 

Take some pictures of the brake discs through the wheels and post them on here for us to see.

 

[glosrich]

As people have said, probably rusty due to being sat around for a long time.

They will be aware of this so ask them to sort it out.

I know this sometimes isnt easy in Czech Republic, the customer doesnt come first, and is just someone to rip off.

Terrible generalisation of course, not every company is like that, but after living there for a while I found a lot are.

Maybe involve skoda zakaznik centrum if the dealer wont help.

Edited 26 December, 2016 by glosrich

[kupony]

I am actually on a vacation at the moment. I emailed the dealer and his advice was also to brake hard multiple times. And also to brake hard when in reverse. As the roads are mostly wet around here and I haven't really been on a long stretch of a road without any traffic, I only had couple chances to brake hard. So I still hear the "rubbing" sound.

 

Here are the pictures of the brakes through the wheels, taken today.

http://imgur.com/a/E6BGI

 

The dealer said - if the sound doesn't go away, I should bring the car in and they will inspect it (and possibly clean the brakes). He also said that it would be extremely too soon for the pads to be worn out. That it must be due to the fact that the car has been sitting on a lot for so long. I won't be back until late next week. Until then I guess, I'll try to brake hard every chance I get.

[KenONeill]

Cheers. Yes, the discs look a bit scabby, but we can't actually see how much pad is left in those shots.

 

Since no-one's mentioned this so far, if you can't get the discs cleaner, you may need new ones, in which case you also need new pads.

[silver1011]

Mentioned here...

 

Brake pads should always be replaced when changing the discs.

[silver1011]

The dealer said - if the sound doesn't go away, I should bring the car in and they will inspect it (and possibly clean the brakes). He also said that it would be extremely too soon for the pads to be worn out. That it must be due to the fact that the car has been sitting on a lot for so long. I won't be back until late next week. Until then I guess, I'll try to brake hard every chance I get.

 

They don't look too bad. Take up the offer from your dealer to have them cleaned-up and see if that improves things.

[flybynite]

The problem is that if the disks get too badly corroded and you do an Italian tune-up the pad will just collect the rust and it will be embedded into the face of the brake pad.

 

From then on is all you are doing is pushing rust against the disk. It will be noisy, overheat, stop like a wet fish and score the disks, possibly wrecking them for good.

 

If a couple of presses on the brake don't fix it completely then the pads need to be dressed (usually on a bench with some good emery paper being careful to keep them flat) and the disks cleaned (usually with an angle grinder cup wire brush or grinding plate)

 

Some careful bedding in (especially if there is any scoring) and they should be fine with little loss of useful life, if caught early enough.

 

Dealers that have actual mechanics left would be able to do this. Others will just fit new disks and pads.

[trundlenut]

The problem is that if the disks get too badly corroded and you do an Italian tune-up the pad will just collect the rust and it will be embedded into the face of the brake pad.

From then on is all you are doing is pushing rust against the disk. It will be noisy, overheat, stop like a wet fish and score the disks, possibly wrecking them for good.

If a couple of presses on the brake don't fix it completely then the pads need to be dressed (usually on a bench with some good emery paper being careful to keep them flat) and the disks cleaned (usually with an angle grinder cup wire brush or grinding plate)

Some careful bedding in (especially if there is any scoring) and they should be fine with little loss of useful life, if caught early enough.

Dealers that have actual mechanics left would be able to do this. Others will just fit new disks and pads.

The OP's discs don't look that bad though.

[flybynite]

The OP's discs don't look that bad though.

 

There is pitting on the edge of a few of the shots. If the corrosion has pitted the face it is enough to clog the pad.

 

They don't look that bad but personally I would at least check the pads given the symptoms the OP is reporting. Cleaned pads on those disks should be fine, but there is some evidence of scoring and if it is caused by contaminated pads it will just get worse.

[trundlenut]

There is pitting on the edge of a few of the shots. If the corrosion has pitted the face it is enough to clog the pad.

They don't look that bad but personally I would at least check the pads given the symptoms the OP is reporting. Cleaned pads on those disks should be fine, but there is some evidence of scoring and if it is caused by contaminated pads it will just get worse.

I've had worse.

[toni8b]

Dont you get warning brake pad light on dashboard when this happens?

[PetrolDave]

Dont you get warning brake pad light on dashboard when this happens?

Only when the pad thickness is low enough for the wear indicator wire to be exposed, there is no indication for reduced disc thickness.