Hi there,

 

my Kodiaq (2.0tdi 150 SE L 7 seat auto box) was in for its 2nd service today (it’s 18 months old) and I’ve been advised that rear brake discs are corroded and pads are worn above 80% - and they definitely are. 
 

I do however find this very odd. The car only has 19000 miles, 80% of them were motorway miles and my wife who is the main driver is a very cautious driver (drives like a granny ha!)

 

my questions are:

 

1. is this normal? Seems odd to me so early on

2. why the rear brakes and not the front? It’s not an AWD version. 
3. is it likely that there’s potentially a sticking calliper causing the problem as an underlying route cause (which would be a warranty repair)?

4. Is a price of £374 to have rear discs and pads replaced a normal price? Seems extortionate to me. 
 

any assistance would be gratefully appreciated!

 

 

My last car had an electric handbrake as well this one. Both wore out the rear brakes before the front.But, 19,000 does seem a little soon. Do You have hill start assist switched on?

Easy repair for a small (cheaper) independent  garage to carry out.

 

10 minutes ago, Manc-Fletch said:

My last car had an electric handbrake as well this one. Both wore out the rear brakes before the front.But, 19,000 does seem a little soon. Do You have hill start assist switched on?

Easy repair for a small (cheaper) independent  garage to carry out.

 

thanks - yes the auto hold function is turned on as default - does this have an impact?

 

funny, i tried local Indy earlier too and they were like “defo we’ll be miles cheaper than that - give me 2 mins and I’ll price it up” - he came back out 2 mins later looking rather sheepish saying it would cost £310. So only £60 cheaper than the franchised dealer. I was expecting more around the £200-£220 Mark!

 

I’m just worried we get them done now and then end up needing them done again in another 10000 miles because there’s an underlying problem!

@Cranester1983

?

Have you checked them & is that how you can say they are 80% worn?

 

It is normal that Technicians and the Service desk staff try to upsell.

 

I would ask the Dealership Principal tomorrow what the new Disc thickness is and what the technician measured your discs at today.

& is that 80% worn.

 

Offer to come in with the car so that the Master Tech can check the discs again.

 

Fair Wear and tear and brakes needing replaced is fair.

Premature corrosion and then technicians exaggerating the actual wear is par for the course a Skoda Main Dealerships sadly.

 

PS

Was this at West End Skoda Stirling?

Edited 25 August, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

I think the auto hold only uses the rear brakes, and every time you set off some wear must occur before the parking/rear brake has fully disengaged.

Also you can just set off from the red traffic light without disengagement of the handbrake with your hand. Both will contribute to rear brake wear.

I don’t usually use the auto hold as I have to creep slowly into my garage and it makes this more difficult .😬

 

With such a low price differential I would probably go with the franchised dealer  🤪. 

 

That is how it should be, and then the cosmetic rust would be getting cleaned off the rears and the old days of needing to pull the Parking Brakes on for a few hundred yards would be over.

 

Yet the rubbish OEM discs that VW / Skoda fit are rusted out and wearing quicker than brake pads do.

The good old days of a brake pad change or 3 before discs are needed are over.

Vorsprung Durch Technik. 

6 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

@Cranester1983

?

Have you checked them & is that how you can say they are 80% worn?

 

It is normal that Technicians and the Service desk staff try to upsell.

 

I would ask the Dealership Principal tomorrow what the new Disc thickness is and what the technician measured your discs at today.

& is that 80% worn.

 

Offer to come in with the car so that the Master Tech can check the discs again.

 

Fair Wear and tear and brakes needing replaced is fair.

Premature corrosion and then technicians exaggerating the actual wear is par for the course a Skoda Main Dealerships sadly.

 

PS

Was this at West End Skoda Stirling?

Hi there,

 

I don’t know for sure it’s 80% - just going by what they told me and my own visual inspection that confirms that they “look” worn out. 
 

that does seem like good advice so thank you for that - feels a bit confrontational but I’ll give it a try. And yes, it was West End Skoda in Stirling...

 

it just doesn’t feel right to me. Being that done in at 19,000 miles with the type of driving the car gets is very odd. Her last 2 SUV’s (non Skoda) have never had issues like this till 25/30k miles at least.  My other car, a G20 BMW 330e MSport, gets driven much more spiritedly than this me Skoda and is on nearly 30k miles and brakes are perfectly fine as of service a few weeks ago. 

Apparently corroding rear disks are now becoming common (with DSG cars especially) as the gearbox handles most of the gentle deceleration and the front brakes take most of the wear when braking. But yours seem rather early. My Golfs had to be replaced at its 5th year service (45,000) while the front disks are still fine. I'm told that drum brakes are starting to come back on the rear wheels to cure the problem. 

If you can’t inspect them and make your own judgement then I’d look for a trusted independent inspection.

 

I’ve had dealings with Stirling & Glasgow dealers and am convinced that they often make poor decisions and are always seeking ways to relieve us of our cash via unnecessary or “early” servicing of parts, as do most dealers. Of any description.

 

As has been suggested above.
 

19,000 miles is a bit early to trash a set of discs. 3 years / 30K maybe.

 

But there may be an underlying brake fault. Or you’re really Colin McRae.

 

My 2017 car needed 2 sets of rear discs & pads under warranty, but some early ones came with cheese for brakes.
3rd set still looked good when the car departed.
 

I think newer cars use an improved spec.

 

 

@BoxerBoy

 

thanks for that. I agree. I think they exaggerate a bit for effect. Over and above this they were trying to punt me an air con recharge at £149 today for a car that’s 15 months old. 
 

I can categorically assure you that this car is not ragged or brakes stamped on - it’s a 36yr old mother of a 3yr old that drives it to and from work at 60mph on the motorway the whole way and waits until there’s a 3 mile gap in traffic before pulling out 😂

 

my fear isn’t that I have to replace the discs & pads - they probably do need done... my fear is that there’s an underlying fault or issue that’s causing it and that it will just be the same again in a years time - surely more likely to be a warranty issue than big standard wear and tear at 15 months / 19k Miles. 
 

doesn’t feel like a good spec to me😩

Hi

 

Pretty straight forward job - probably less than an hour on ramps.

 

Would be suprised if they need to be done at that mileage... but as been said there was some issues previously

 

Would suggest you ask about warranty IF they need to be done... 

 

Cost of parts from Skoda Ireland

 

 

 

So seems they are charging you £180 to fit...

 

 

My personal opinion - most cars don't actually need discs on the back, old fashioned drums would be fine, but they put discs on because they look shiney. The flipside of this is that they hardly do any work compared to what they're capable of stopping. Modern cars are built cheap, so they use cheap steel on the discs, which rusts over easily and rips the pads up. We've had this with a caddy van that doesn't do many miles when I put cheap discs on it, I replaced them for a set of (second hand ) Brembo's and it's not been a problem. 

I've sent the dealership an email to run through my concerns - will let you know what they come back with.

Thanks everyone for your assistance, it is appreciated!

 

 

I would be wanting a corroded item at only 18 months old being replaced under warranty....

 

Corrosion being quite different to wear and tear.

dont go to a dealer for discs and pads. a good indy with the equipment to reset the electric handbrake will be much cheaper

>   don’t usually use the auto hold as I have to creep slowly into my garage and it makes this more difficult .😬  <
 

I struggled with this choice for ages:  have the convenience of the auto-hold, OR have the convenience of “creep” and easier manoeuvring.

 

Occasionally, I’d turn off auto-hold in a difficult manœuvre and then forget, later relying on the brakes to have come on, when they hadn’t ...

 

After ages (over a year!) I realised I can have “the best of both worlds”.  Leave auto-hold on, then when manoeuvring put foot on brake and press down the handbrake release ( the “P” button).  Auto-hold goes off - but only this once!

14 hours ago, Manc-Fletch said:

I think the auto hold only uses the rear brakes, and every time you set off some wear must occur before the parking/rear brake has fully disengaged.

 

 

Auto-hold and parking brake are different things.  Auto-hold retains pressure in the hydraulic braking system, so keeps ALL the brakes on, until released.
 

The parking brake is physically engaged, electrically, on the rear wheels only.

 

When you’re on auto-hold (green light on dash) and then turn off the ignition, the car THEN engages the parking brake (you can hear it), and the light goes red.

That makes sense Dave - i have never manually engaged the parking brake - just put the car in park - it's a DSG box so does it automatically.

I am surprised that the rear pads lack meat when new. 

@Cranester1983

Without the e-Brake applied manually or automatically and without Autohold enabled the car in P has the front wheels locked with no brakes applied.

As some might do in winter when they do not want the pads and discs in contact.

9 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

@Cranester1983

Without the e-Brake applied manually or automatically and without Autohold enabled the car in P has the front wheels locked with no brakes applied.

As some might do in winter when they do not want the pads and discs in contact.

 

I think the car automatically applies the e-Brake when you switch off the ignition. I could be wrong though. But if not - that would be even more of a reason for my brakes not to have failed so early!

@Cranester1983 it does apply the e-brake as you say when P is selected, drivers door opened etc, what I am saying is it can be then put out of the e-brake / parking brake applied when still in P and the engine off.   The brakes as are they are because of being rubbish OEM as fitted, you parking and driving in Scotland be there mild or wild winters or scorchio days where you wash the car after parking.  There are so many threads on how bad some can be.  Also how they are always according to Main Dealer techs and fitters 80,% worn. Never 70% or 75% or even actually what they might be which can be 20% and in the old days could be 'skimmed'.  Only reason not to Skim them is they are so crap and actually dead cheap to replace with ones from a motor factors.  Even cheap after market ones are better than the OEM as fitted.

Edited 26 August, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

Some say ACC wears out rear pads. I had them changed at 60 000 km service if I remember correctly. Previous Superb without ACC needed this change at about 200 000 km.

I said:

 

”

 I have some concerns around the advisory you issued for my rear brake discs and pads – I do know a little about cars, so I’d like to have some clarity issued on a few elements please:

 

1. It is very surprising for rear brake discs to be in the state that they are in after only 19,000 miles. And with the pads worn to 80% it appears this has been an issue for some time. Between us we’ve had 5 cars in the last ten years and not one of them has needed rear discs replaced until 30k miles or beyond.
   1. I feel there must be something underlying causing this issue such as a sticking caliper – which would potentially be a warranty issue
   2. Clearly this has nothing to do with driving style as the front discs and pads are in excellent condition and my wife drives very cautiously and the 19,000 miles have had at least 70% of them covered on the motorway.
   3. Regarding the 80% wear on the pads – what is the thickness of them new and what did the technician measure them at during our service yesterday? This isn’t noted on the paperwork. It seems like the discs are wearing out before the pads and causing the issue – this suggests sub standard OEM parts to me – as this shouldn’t be the case.

 

Please could you look into this for me with the master technician and let me know your position once you’ve heard back? I have no problem replacing parts due to fair wear & tear – but 19,000 miles is very early to trash a set of brake discs – so I feel there must be an underlying fault somewhere… my wife is no Colin McRae!

 

And finally – regarding the pricing of this. You quoted me £370 odd for this job – I can buy genuine OEM Kodiaq rear brake discs and pads for £123 and £62 resepectively suggesting you are charging £185 or more to fit? (I presume you can get them cheaper than me!) I have had both D&G Autocare and National quoting under £230 for the same job after I took the car round to them yesterday.

 

I’d appreciate a response when you get a chance”

 

and they said:

 

”Thank you for highlighting your concerns with me and I have raised this to my Service Manager.  With a seized calliper this would be noticeable whilst driving the vehicle: your brakes would be seizing/sticking on. There would be heat damage to the brake discs and either very hot to touch after every journey or a burning smell may occur too, the calliper is also an electrical component and this would show up as a fault on the diagnostic machine.  These signs were not visible at time of the brake inspection.  

 I will concede that in general due to the different compounds used in modern brake pads they are much harder and usually more resilient than previously but less able to inhibit corrosion. This is industry wide and no more prevalent on SKODA than on any other manufacturer that we have experience of preparing for sale as a used car. 

  

It is impossible to mitigate the effects of corrosion on a brake disc as it is made from steel and again due to the nature of the operation it is impossible to coat or cover the disc to prevent external influences. The inner face of the discs tends to deteriorate more than the outer face you can see and if the face is corroded it will grind down the pad much quicker. 

  

We have had a higher incidence of corroded brake discs reported recently due to the fact that most cars have been doing significantly less mileage and much shorter journeys than normal due to pandemic and lock down. 

  

We do also find that the rear brakes do less of the work than the front in slowing the vehicle down so if you a considered and careful driver it is likely you will never brake hard enough to effectively clean and maintain the brake disc. 

 

 

The price quoted for the brake discs was £329.54. 

The Pads are £70.06, Discs £141.48 inc VAT. 

Retaining Screws for the Discs £1.01. 

Labour is £117 all-inclusive of VAT.  

These prices are from Skoda. 

 

I can discount the parts down to: £176.28 and that is from, £211.54. Our labour rate is fixed as part of our Skoda brand which is £75 plus the vat per hour. I can discount this to £69.56 plus the VAT.

This would be a total of - £284.79. 

If you need any more information or assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch. ”

Look on euro car parts for price of discs and pads.

Probably not to hard a job to do yourself provided you have an understanding about what to do.

I have changed them on my car (not a Skoda) and took a couple of hours. Just need to remember you have to turn the brake piston as you compress it to get it to retract on the rear brakes with discs. You should be able to buy a tool for helping you do that.

I think 19000 miles is a bit quick for them to need replacing, have they said the fronts are ok.
Remember they say 80% gone not 20% left so still some life in them yet.

It might be worth taking the rear wheels off to have a better look at the discs and pads to judge for yourself how worn they look.