Hi hope everyone had a good Christmas, Octavia mk2 1.6 Diesel Greenline 2010.

The problem I have is the car judders when braking, just seems like a warped disc, I have had a warped disc before but on a different car, and I could feel the brake pedal going up and down, but on this car it doesn't do that, it's not from the back I went down a steep hill and pulled the hand brake on and that was smooth. I am going to have a look as the weather is supposed to turn warmer, just wondered if anyone could help with what the problem might be. Thank you. 

Could be a brake disc, likewise, it could also be a tyre or a driveshaft. It might be worth swapping the back and front wheel round, one side at a time to see if it lessens the issue. 

If you drive the care carefully and not like you have stolen it then likely the front discs will be glazed which gives exactly the same symptoms, the cure is to go against all your instincts on a quiet road, preferably fast and downhill and repeatedly abuse the brakes doing high speed emergency stops to the point of them smoking.

 

My MK2 for some reason was far worse than the MK1 or the Yeti, if I didn't do the above it would eventually no longer do an ABS stop. Changing to Ferodo Eco Friction pads improved matters but they would still glaze to a degree.

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

If you drive the care carefully and not like you have stolen it then likely the front discs will be glazed which gives exactly the same symptoms, the cure is to go against all your instincts on a quiet road, preferably fast and downhill and repeatedly abuse the brakes doing high speed emergency stops to the point of them smoking.

 

My MK2 for some reason was far worse than the MK1 or the Yeti, if I didn't do the above it would eventually no longer do an ABS stop. Changing to Ferodo Eco Friction pads improved matters but they would still glaze to a degree.

Hi

Yes I am a careful driver, the last car I owned the pads lasted 10 years I'm not a hard driver and yes it would be against all my instincts, but I think you are right I will try that tomorrow if the roads are dry and it's not raining. I changed the discs and pads last year for Brembo ones all round and I also changed the brake fluid.   

It's very hard to be as abusive as you have to be when you see smoke from the brakes and the pedal becomes spongy but when its all cooled it will be firm again and hopefully if you dont go that far you will have seen a little improvement and be encouraged to do it again.

 

Its been like that since the advent of asbestos free brake linings, I only saw my retired father once a year and he always asked me to take his car out to fix the brakes as he called it!

 

I bought a Galaxy and the brakes were appalling, vibration and juddering to a halt, huge kickback through the steering wheel, all the discs were massively scored, I was going to replace them all the first chance I had but was busy on contracts so it got loaded up with all my gear and driven to and from sites in London, i drove like the road was my personal racetrack back then.

 

Within a few days it was braking better, within a week no more vibration, juddering or kickback, within 10 days no scoring on the discs, they looked like new and believe me they were really really scored.

On 29/12/2021 at 01:34, J.R. said:

It's very hard to be as abusive as you have to be when you see smoke from the brakes and the pedal becomes spongy but when its all cooled it will be firm again and hopefully if you dont go that far you will have seen a little improvement and be encouraged to do it again.

 

Its been like that since the advent of asbestos free brake linings, I only saw my retired father once a year and he always asked me to take his car out to fix the brakes as he called it!

 

I bought a Galaxy and the brakes were appalling, vibration and juddering to a halt, huge kickback through the steering wheel, all the discs were massively scored, I was going to replace them all the first chance I had but was busy on contracts so it got loaded up with all my gear and driven to and from sites in London, i drove like the road was my personal racetrack back then.

 

Within a few days it was braking better, within a week no more vibration, juddering or kickback, within 10 days no scoring on the discs, they looked like new and believe me they were really really scored.

Yes that has fixed it, it is so much better now, thank you the cheapest "fix" ever.

I also had a similar issue.

 

Brakes squeaking a lot on the rear and a slight judder/pulsing.

 

Also a careful driver and plan ahead a lot with lights etc.

 

I took it the other day down a quiet country roads and did a few emergency stops from 100kmh+.

 

For a start I'll say how amazed I was at just how quick the car came to a stop and not even a hint of ABS. I'm on all season Hankook tyres and very impressed with them.

 

Well anyway the squeak and judder have gone.

 

Have to just be more abusive with them from time to time it seems.

2 hours ago, Phil-E said:

I also had a similar issue.

 

Brakes squeaking a lot on the rear and a slight judder/pulsing.

 

Also a careful driver and plan ahead a lot with lights etc.

 

I took it the other day down a quiet country roads and did a few emergency stops from 100kmh+.

 

For a start I'll say how amazed I was at just how quick the car came to a stop and not even a hint of ABS. I'm on all season Hankook tyres and very impressed with them.

 

Well anyway the squeak and judder have gone.

 

Have to just be more abusive with them from time to time it seems.

I have all season tyres on too, and I was amazed how the car stopped. I use the engine as a brake coming up to lights and going downhill etc, a lot of people would say that is the old fashioned way, but I am old fashioned anyway LoL  in every sense of the word. I too will be more abusive too from time to time.    

I'm very pleased to read that the cruel to be kind approach has worked for at least 2 people, being another carefull plan ahead driver I know how horrible it feels to dish out the necessary medicine.

 

One observation, if the ABS did not cut in then the brakes were not working anywhere near their full capacity or you were sparing the rod to use an old fashioned term.

 

You dont need the ABS to cut in to deglaze, indeed its a little counterproductive and ideally you want to be braking to just under that point, however now the brakes feel better and are no longer juddering please try a full on ABS stop, the brakes should be capable of locking up from anything over 40mph on a dry road, you can ease off the pedal force as soon as you feel it pulsing..

The MK2 Octavia seems to be the common denominator here, I wonder if it is because it has such good large diameter front discs and is overbraked, the lower braking temperatute combined with a gentle driving style could be allowing the build up of glaze.

 

Uniquely the year and a bit I had my MK2 I never used my trailer & never overloaded the vehicle, aside from that period my brakes would always get abused from being overloaded and towing overloaded trailers.

 

The Yeti has small front discs that are really not up to the job, its remapped so sometimes brakes from faster speeds and is often towing unbraked trailers well beyond its capacity so glazing has never been an issue.

I literally pushed the pedal as hard as I could and it felt my face was going to fall off. Lol.

 

I'd say a rough estimate I only needed about 50m to stop from about 110-120kmh.

 

The road was dry and it's a very rarely used road as it's closed most days as it crosses through a British army barracks training ground.