Hiya

Had a quick search & can't see anything on this so hope no-one minds me asking.

 

I have a 2007 1.2 petrol fabia in need of new front pads. Pads online seem to vary - 17mm to 19mm thick. Don't want to buy the wrong thing so googled a bit,

 

It looks like there are "Teves" or "VWII" brake options for this model. I've put every code on the options sticker into /vag-codes.info/ but none seem to relate to brakes. Can't find any other useful info on the car.

 

Any thoughts how I can be sure of which pads I need?

 

Thank you :)

 

For reasons known only to VW Group, the front brake PR code rarely if ever appears in the list on the car data sticker.  If you have a good relationship with your local dealer, you could ask them for a full listing of all the PR codes, which they could supply as a pdf file of "Car data" from your VIN. This would include all the codes, rather than the small subset that is on the sticker.

You can get this data from erWin Skoda yourself, but it'll cost you getting on fro a tenner to do it that way.

 

Failing that, look at the outward-facing part of the caliper casting, It will probably say FSIII in large stamped lettering. This is the 256mm disc set-up detailed here: https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2007-608/6/615-615016/

 

If it says FSII in much smaller lettering you have the 239mm disc set-up detailed here: https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2007-608/6/615-615015/

3 minutes ago, Wino said:

For reasons known only to VW Group, the front brake PR code rarely if ever appears in the list on the car data sticker.  If you have a good relationship with your local dealer, you could ask them for a full listing of all the PR codes, which they could supply as a pdf file of "Car data" from your VIN. This would include all the codes, rather than the small subset that is on the sticker.

You can get this data from erWin Skoda yourself, but it'll cost you getting on fro a tenner to do it that way.

 

Failing that, look at the outward-facing part of the caliper casting, It will probably say FSIII in large stamped lettering. This is the 256mm disc set-up detailed here: https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2007-608/6/615-615016/

 

If it says FSII in much smaller lettering you have the 239mm disc set-up detailed here: https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2007-608/6/615-615015/

Much appreciated thanks! They say FSIII.

Take the front nearside (passenger side) wheel off and see it has FSIII stamped on the caliper. That will be the "Teves" system  with 256mm discs, the most common setup.

 

Check if the pads on the nearside have a wire going to a connector on the strut. That shows it has a wear indicator. Some cars have, others don't.

 

Based on that information, select your choice of brand, all pads are ECE R90 certified under EU regs, meaning, among other things, that they are dimensionally the same as the OE pads.

Edited 5 October, 20187 yr by xman

5 minutes ago, xman said:

Take the front nearside (passenger side) wheel off and see it has FSIII stamped on the caliper. That will be the "Teves" system  with 256mm discs, the most common setup.

 

Check if the pads on the nearside have a wire going to a connector on the strut. That shows it has a wear indicator. Some cars have, others don't.

 

Based on that information, select your choice of brand, all pads are ECE R90 certified under EU regs, meaning, among other things, that they are dimensionally the same as the OE pads.

Thanks. It's definitely FSIII and has the wear indicator because that came on this morning. The outer pads are really not worn so I want to take a look at the inner ones. Unfortunately and embarrassing I have to wait for someone stronger to get home and undo the locking wheel nuts for me, my arms aren't cutting it lol.

Buy a telescopic wrench https://www.screwfix.com/p/rac-telescopic-wheel-wrench-17-19mm/7182r handy if you have a puncture.

 

Good to have a torque wrench which will do instead

 https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-torque-wrench/6879v

 

Good breaker bars about £12 on ebay/amazon

 

Edited 5 October, 20187 yr by xman

4 minutes ago, xman said:

Buy a telescopic wrench https://www.screwfix.com/p/rac-telescopic-wheel-wrench-17-19mm/7182r handy if you have a puncture.

 

Good to have a torque wrench which will do instead

 https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-torque-wrench/6879v

 

Good breaker bars about £12 on ebay/amazon

 

I have a telescopic wrench - works fine for the other wheel nuts but can't shift the locking one.

Lent the car to a family member for the last 18months so no idea who last messed with the wheels!
Thanks again appreciate the advice and fast replies!

So, recruited my partner to undo the wheel nuts, inner brake pads have plenty of life in them but the wear indicator was undone. Looked a bit f*****. Some electrical tape that was holding it together had lost its stick and it seemed to have lost some outer plastic casing.

 

Reconnected the pins, wheel back on etc and unfortunately I still have the warning light for brake pad wear. Does it need resetting? I can borrow a fault reader/programmer thing on Sunday if so.

 

Alternatively... are there any known/obvious faults with these things? I'm guessing the connector might be more broken than it looks and even tho I reconnected it it might not be talking to the car. Never had a car with these on before so not sure - any tips much appreciated!

Short out the plug on the strut, that should put the light out and answer the question if it needs resetting.

 

Next, Drive it around a bit, may require movement before it resets.

 

All the wear indicator is, is a wire embedded in one pad, when it wears down to that the wire is broken and goes open circuit, so you could check with a multimeter.

 

Probably a plug issue, I think.

 

 

Having owned a few VWs with brake wear indicators, these systems do not a bit nasty with time, the plastic on the body side connector does age and harden though so does the brake pad connector - but that one gets renewed when you fit new pads. Also, if I remember correctly, it is the body side connector that locks the cables to the suspension strut, gets covered in road grit, and if handled without consideration will snap off when trying to release the cables from the strut. Next nuisance area is the plug/socket locking tab, I do confess to breaking one, but trying to be a perfectionist I bought a new connector housing from VW and sorted that out!

 

If you have access to VCDS you can just disable brake wear function, though chopping the wires back to clean conductor point and soldering and protecting with heatshrink is good as long as you stay smart enough to check the pads once a year at service time, as you should anyway.

Thanks everyone, light went off of its own accord overnight so thing reconnecting the wear indicator sensor must have done the job. Appreciate all the advice!