Rear disc condition

[Whenwillilearn]

My car is a 66 plate and covered just shy of 9000 miles.

 

Attached is a picture of one of my rear discs. The other disc is the same. Is this level of corrosion on the surface and disc edge normal and acceptable for the cars age and mileage? 

 

Aesthetically the discs look awful for a car thats not used heavily but aside from this im concerened that once the cars 1st MOT is due i will receive an advisory regarding the deteriorating condition of the rear discs.

 

Are all other superb suffering the same?

[RGKTSi]

Based on what mine looks like this is not great if I am honest.  I see that this is a Sportline Superb, not that that makes any difference.

 

Maybe a lack of use hasn't helped on the discs face on the edge, always a good idea to use the brakes hard now and again as the rears never do much work anyway.

 

I haven't got a picture of mine but mine is a 17 plate and is now 12 months old.  Done about the same mileage, 8.5k approx if I remember correctly.

 

I'd be a little more concerned why the brake caliper and hub of the disc looks as it does

 

Did you purchase the car second hand, if you don't mind me for asking?  This has tell tale signs of a steam cleaner been used and they have taken off the protective surface of the hub and caliper!

You see many cars second hand that look like this, with low miles from all manufacturers, because of how it has been prepped.

[RickTT]

This has been covered before here -

 

 

To be honest, as time goes on I have found that the condition improves with use.

[Whenwillilearn]

Yes it was second hand ex dealer principle car 6 months old.

When the car is used i brake heavily but never appears to 'clean up' the discs at the rear. 

This car is just a bad example. Was really cleaned up when purchased but shortly after the corrosion was as bad as it is now. I took the car back and questioned that im concerened about the level of corrosion but was typically informed "its normal for those parts to corrode". I.e. we have your money sir so please go away.

 

[Boxerdog1]

Most modern brake hubs and caliper surfaces seem to corrode quickly and are much more visible now due to the design of alloy wheels.   Your image shows an unusually high level of corrosion mind you for such a newish car and as RGKTSi mentions above , there has possibly been an over zealous use of cleaning product used during previous ownership.   My own 280 Sportline purchased at 5 months old  / 5000 miles was beginning to show some light corrosion in same areas and the swept disc area also does not seem to 'clean up' under use to same level as front discs.  The latter issue seems to be common and difficult to prevent but the hub / caliper issue can be overcome with a bit of restorative work . I have cleaned up the hubs and applied a coating of Silver POR15 paint and have cleaned caliper surfaces and protected them with a light coating of ACF50 , which I have also used to protect a lot of the alloy components in the engine bay which unfortunately seem prone to oxidisation.   The rusty hub / caliper problem is not confined to Skodas  - I have seen same issue on fairly new 'prestigious' brands many times.

Edited 22 March, 2018 by Boxerdog1

[teebs]

Mine were replaced last week due to this issue, 65 plate covered 73k.

[Whenwillilearn]

Replaced due to the mileage? Or other reasons.

 

 

 

 

[teebs]

12 minutes ago, Whenwillilearn said:

Replaced due to the mileage? Or other reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

Corrosion. My car is still on the original front pads and discs, so the rears were very lightly used and corroded badly.

[Whenwillilearn]

MOT failure?

[teebs]

9 hours ago, Whenwillilearn said:

MOT failure?

 

No, picked up during a service 

[Q102]

My rear discs look worse than that, dealer noted on its first service but lease company wouldn't replace

[Whenwillilearn]

My point here is that i dont particularly wish to pick up the bill for parts which indeed are lifed but in my opinion rot away within an unreasonable time. 

Thanks for the info anyway

[loadswine]

Mine is only a year old and my hubs are possibly worse in places. Funnily enough, a neighbour who has a Golf R, also fairly new, said to me the other day, that his discs were the same.

[4StringBass]

My rear discs were replaced at just over 17k and nearly 2 years old.  They were in a worse state than yours.  Luckily mye parts and service plan picked up the tab for the replacement but I doubt they'll last much longer than the originals.  I put it down to commuting outwith peak times and the DSG box of doing a pretty good job of engine braking meaning I don't have to use the brakes much.  Next time they'll be getting replaced by me for hopefully something of a higher quality/corrosion resistance.

[xman]

Decent aftermarket discs from most suppliers have painted or plated surfaces in the non friction area to stop corrosion.

Skoda OE discs are obviously cheap jack rubbish that skimp on pennies. When I eventually get round to taking off my alloys (probably in summer) to clean/grease everything, I probably paint up the hubs to stop them looking like sh#t.

 

[Whenwillilearn]

Next service i will push to have them replaced under warranty. I know it will most likely be rejected but i will make an issue of it. No previous car i have owned suffered with this level of corrosion to the rear brakes.

 

[xman]

Sorry brake pads and discs are specifically excluded from warranty after 6 months/6000 miles.

[Whenwillilearn]

Yes i was made aware of this warranty after my dealer failed to rectify a rattling component within my sunroof. After two attempts which were done 'free' even though my 6 month warranty had expired, the dealer changed its stance and quoted the warranty exclusion to me thus refusing any further attempts to solve that problem.

Point is that 6 month warranty is not worth the paper it is printed on. Some dealers are helpful some less so. This dealer used the warranty to avoid any further remedial work knowing the problem was going to be a relatively big fix for them. So based on this prior performance i will use another dealer and argue the case for the discs. Or lower my standards more befitting with the marque.

 

[Sagalout]

2 hours ago, Whenwillilearn said:

Or lower my standards more befitting with the marque.

 

Cry foul.

Rust/corrosion on rear discs is not limited to Skoda or VAG. Loads of info out there to support that.

 

The most common reason given is that since the prohibition of the use of asbestos the specification of the metal discs had to be adjusted and this has increased wear/corrosion rates. I dont know whether that is the case but it sounds plausible.

 

The fact that not all cars, in a particular marque or model, suffer this degradation at the same rate also suggests that conditions in and of use are more important than the marque or model.

 

We had personal experience of this with an S type Jag some years back. I had a specialist examination made (metallurgical) only to find that there was no evidence of material defect. (i.e it was to spec)

 

So I might support an argument that car manufacturers should improve the quality of these components but to suggest that it is a cheapskate approach because it is Skoda misrepresents the reality IMO. 

 

Edited 24 March, 2018 by Sagalout

[SuperbTWM]

I don't think the brakes are an issue at all. I bet if you took a sample of cars that were say 5 years and had all done 100K, and put them on a ramp some would be like new and some would have obvious signs of rust setting in.

 

Its just how the conditions stack up during use.

 

If you look at the picture in the first post you can clearly see the caliper is rusting and the brake disc surround. If you go look at a car that still has a tidy looking caliper and a fresh disk surround you can bet your life the disc will be in good nick as well.

 

 

[Whenwillilearn]

To purchase a sportline which is ultimately a bit more aesthetically pleasing (to some not all) than the lower spec cars why do skoda choose to fit very poor quality components or finish bare steel/alloy with a poor paint finish.

The sportline must attract a lot of sales due to its looks so when visible parts deteriorate quickly i think owners have a right to grumble as this detracts from is visual aspect.

 

 

 

[SuperbTWM]

1 minute ago, Whenwillilearn said:

To purchase a sportline which is ultimately a bit more aesthetically pleasing (to some not all) than the lower spec cars why do skoda choose to fit very poor quality components or finish bare steel/alloy with a poor paint finish.

The sportline must attract a lot of sales due to its looks so when visible parts deteriorate quickly i think owners have a right to grumble as this detracts from is visual aspect.

 

 

 

 

At the very least you should be given a small tin of black Hammerite with every new Skoda so you can go around and paint the calipers, disc surrounds and the centre of the discs to keep it looking smart.

[Boxerdog1]

7 minutes ago, Whenwillilearn said:

To purchase a sportline which is ultimately a bit more aesthetically pleasing (to some not all) than the lower spec cars why do skoda choose to fit very poor quality components or finish bare steel/alloy with a poor paint finish.

The sportline must attract a lot of sales due to its looks so when visible parts deteriorate quickly i think owners have a right to grumble as this detracts from is visual aspect.

 

 

 

As I've said earlier in thread , this is not a problem unique to Skoda.  I've had same issue on a VW Golf GTD and a few BMWs plus noticed it on other Marques.  It's purely cosmetic of course and has no effect on performance or safety although I personally remedy matters with POR15 paint on brake hubs and a light coating of ACF50 on the Caliper Bodies.  These areas have always deteriorated with the elements but used to be covered up more with wheel design .

[Whenwillilearn]

49 minutes ago, SuperbTWM said:

 

At the very least you should be given a small tin of black Hammerite with every new Skoda so you can go around and paint the calipers, disc surrounds and the centre of the discs to keep it looking smart.

A great idea. 

[MCG1975]

The brakes on my 26 month old car aren't too badly worn/pitted but then the majority of my driving (currently just over 66,000 miles) is on dual carriageway and hence little braking to wear the surface down.

 

I have noticed, however, in the recent wet/snowy weather I was getting a lot of grinding from the brakes at the start of a journey, which I put down to salt corrosion.  Used to get this on our Polo's front brakes if it had stood for a few days so seems surprising to have it overnight on the Superb, but I haven't noticed it in the last week so am putting it down to salt.

 

Managed to take photos of the brakes in the dark for what its worth...front nearside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rear nearside: