My rear discs are awful, admittedly I don’t do many miles at all (shouldn’t even have a diesel by the miles I do) but having read on here many people seem to have the same problem.

 

My car is in for MOT now and hoping they won’t fail on the discs as i’ll have to replace with same quality plus they said £350 for discs and pads in a video I was sent during an inspection.

 

Normally i’d change these myself but as I do not have VCDS etc it seems I can’t replace them with just spanners, sad times.

 

What make of discs and pads are people using to replace the OEM parts?

 

thanks

Mine were pretty bad and the nearside had even started to thump, but they would have passed:
 

I went with Pagid (£98) for the zinc coating and general quality, but I could have got cheap Eicher pads and discs for around £50. If I didn’t have a friend with a garage I would have done them myself and you could get Carista for a one month sub... much cheaper than VCDS obviously.

EBC. Never use anything else on my own vehicles. 

Mintex discs and pads have never disappointed.  

Why is VCDS required for changing pads and disks.

I have always used a friends garage for all my work, but they don't have VCDS, so can they not do this job when the time arrives?

2 minutes ago, Shugmo said:

Why is VCDS required for changing pads and disks.

I have always used a friends garage for all my work, but they don't have VCDS, so can they not do this job when the time arrives?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be VCDS but you need something similar because of electronic parking brake. I believe it either disengages or winds back a little then wind in manually I believe (if someone knows, do you still have to wind the piston back after EBP has been deactivated/whatever it does?)

 

My car has passed thankfully so will either DIY or independent to do it for me.

 

My lease is up soon and still pondering wether to buy it at end of PCP or get another but I need a job for the latter if not balloon payment it is.

The EPB (electronic parking brake) needs to fully retract the pads in order to have adequate room to fit new discs and pads. So it needs to be placed into a special brake service mode by VCDS, OBDeleven, Carista or several other such diagnostic tools which can access and activate this mode.

 

Releasing the EPB from the internal handbrake control lifts the pads off the discs by just a small amount so if the pads and discs are worn there would be insufficient room to replace them with new full thickness parts.

 

After replacement, service mode has to be reset and the EPB will adjust positions automatically to the new parts and resume normal operation.

 

Hope that explanation helps.

1 minute ago, xman said:

The EPB (electronic parking brake) needs to fully retract the pads in order to have adequate room to fit new discs and pads. So it needs to be placed into a special brake service mode by VCDS, OBDeleven, Carista or several other such diagnostic tools which can access and activate this mode.

 

Releasing the EPB from the internal handbrake control lifts the pads off the discs by just a small amount so if the pads and discs are worn there would be insufficient room to replace them with new full thickness parts.

 

After replacement, service mode has to be reset and the EPB will adjust positions automatically to the new parts and resume normal operation.

 

Hope that explanation helps.

So that means you don’t need a piston rewind/pushing on the rears?

Afaik, for rear EPB, no winding back or pushing pistons is needed. Its actually quicker and easier to change the rear pads and discs than with old fashioned manual handbrakes. Provided you can trigger service mode with an appropriate diagnostic tool that is.

 

 

Edited 15 February, 20215 yr by xman

17 hours ago, Danoid said:

So that means you don’t need a piston rewind/pushing on the rears?

From videos I've seen, even with VCDS/OBDeleven/etc putting the EPB into service mode, you still need a rewind tool to push the cylinder all the way in to accommodate the new pads. I'll try and find the video I watched. 

Here's the video.  He's working on an Audi A6 but the procedure should be the same.  It's a long video but very informative.  I'm going to be doing my rear discs and pads after being quoted over £300 for new when I've just purchased Brembo discs and pads for £77, I already own OBDeleven and I've got access to all the tools required.

 

 

Over £300 sounds a bit steep!  I paid a main dealer £78 + VAT with me supplying the Pads and Discs.  The only downside is that you have to waive the guarantee if you are supplying the parts.

You do have to push the pistons back after putting the EPB into service mode. It's a straight push, no need to wind them back.

 

The video shows TRW calipers on the Audi, it's quite a bit easier with the ATE calipers on the Superb - no need to remove the carrier for a start.

 

 

On 15/02/2021 at 14:12, Danoid said:

My rear discs are awful, admittedly I don’t do many miles at all (shouldn’t even have a diesel by the miles I do) but having read on here many people seem to have the same problem.

 

My car is in for MOT now and hoping they won’t fail on the discs as i’ll have to replace with same quality plus they said £350 for discs and pads in a video I was sent during an inspection.

 

Normally i’d change these myself but as I do not have VCDS etc it seems I can’t replace them with just spanners, sad times.

 

What make of discs and pads are people using to replace the OEM parts?

 

thanks

I paid £309 inc. VAT recently at a Skoda dealer.

18 minutes ago, D402 said:

You do have to push the pistons back after putting the EPB into service mode. It's a straight push, no need to wind them back.

 

The video shows TRW calipers on the Audi, it's quite a bit easier with the ATE calipers on the Superb - no need to remove the carrier for a start.

 

 

When you say the carrier doesn’t need to be removed, does that mean the disc slides in and out with carrier in situ or do you still need to remove the bottom screw and lift the carrier up then the disc comes out?

 

Pretty sure when I done the tears on my b5.5 Passat it just slide in which was nice

you can do it without setting the brake into service mode electronically but its a bit of a faff. 

 

you have to take the motor off the back of the caliper, then using a female torx socket, manually wind back out the parking brake 

 

i am sure this will void all sorts of stuff if you do it this way, but it is the method of last resort if you are really stuck 

We know who we would recommend https://ebcbrakes.com/where-to-buy-ebc-products/

This made me look closer at my own rears. At a year and a half old with just turned 15k they are heavily worn and the discs are showing signs of scoring. 
Guess what’s getting a set of BSD’s and yellowstuff pads this summer? 😂

Since passing MOT i’ve been using the eco mode and I must say my rear discs have cleared up dramatically, still grim though 

Looks familiar.

 

The disc comes out with the carrier in situ 

 

Now my front discs are looking and sounding bad after a long period of little use 

4 minutes ago, Danoid said:

Since passing MOT i’ve been using the eco mode and I must say my rear discs have cleared up dramatically, still grim though 

Does eco mode use rear brakes more? 

13 minutes ago, amateurdad said:

Does eco mode use rear brakes more? 

Energy is normally wasted when braking but either using Eco mode or the Adaptive Cruise Control this energy is harvested and stored as electricity to run ancillary electrical systems and to top up the battery. My diesel is always set to Eco and seems to work judging by a recent commute where I hit 113mph and still averaged 59mpg.

2 hours ago, amateurdad said:

Does eco mode use rear brakes more? 

I certainly brake more with it in eco as there’s very little engine braking or DSG magic going on

On 19/02/2021 at 13:38, D402 said:

Looks familiar.

 

The disc comes out with the carrier in situ 

 

Now my front discs are looking and sounding bad after a long period of little use 

 

Never knew that! I thought it would be a a case with all cars that the carrier would need to be removed. 

 

So before I take the wheels off soon to change the brakes, what do I need to be aware of? Do I just put EPB in service mode, take the wheel off, take the caliper off to change pads, and then just undo the disc and remove? I thought I'd got this all planned out with what I needed to do 😂 

Yep, it's a simple as  that with solid discs, you might well have to remove the carrier if you have vented discs. The only trouble I had was that one of the discs took some persuading to come off the hub, turned a 20 minute job into 30 while penetrating oil did its job,