Hi All,

 

I'm after some advice, I recently (2 weeks ago) bough my second hand Octavia 2018 Estate from Cinch and since day one, the brakes have made a high pitched squeak when breaking but only at very low speeds and only just before the car comes to a halt.  There is no hint of any squeaking until that point.  It doesn't do it all the time, only when I'm lightly braking.  The car stops normally, I don't have any issue with braking distances and it doesn't feel like its not braking as well as it should.

 

At first I thought this might just be because the car has been potentially stood in a car park for a long time and there might be some crap on the disks / pads that should wear off eventually as I'm braking and effectively "cleaning" them during normal use, but its still there after about a thousand miles of use although most of that has been motorway miles so not much braking.

 

It seems to be coming from the front of the car, but I appreciate sounds like that can be difficult to track down.

 

Things I have tried are:

I've done some "cleaning" cycles of driving at 30mph then slowly applying brake pressure to bring the car down to 5mph and then back to 30 and repeat 5 times, some hard braking / emergency stops (I always do this with a new car anyway as I like to know how quickly it can stop just in case I ever need it) etc.

 

I am not very mechanically minded but I am willing to give things a go if they are achievable with normal average DIY tools (I don't have any car specific tools) , so anything you can suggest that I can look at which may point me in a good direction would be great.  If its something that might just go away over time, then I'm prepared to live with it for a bit.  If I have to take it in to a dealer or someone more mechanically minded than myself, how much would I be looking at assuming its just some crud?  Is there something I can buy and spray in there to help clean it?

 

Any and all suggestions welcome.

 

Its a shame really as its practically the only annoying little niggle I've had so far, otherwise completely happy with the car.

 

Thanks,

Slick2097

Try using the handbrake only. If there's no squeak it could confirm your suspicions that it's coming from the fronts.

@Slick2097 - You might consider treating the front disc backplates with Copaslip. If you're unhappy working with brakes, go to a local garage, not a Skoda main stealer.

^^^^ As above.

 

Brakes are service items but a Full Main Dealer Service History does not mean the brakes get touched only 'inspected'. 

 

So the brake fluid change was due at 3 years, but maybe not done or the brake fluid tested. 

 

Time to get the pads out and the little copper slip on the back  and at some point also the brake fluid tested for h20 content and maybe replaced.

Thanks for your ideas so far everyone.  Really appreciated.

 

18 hours ago, ords said:

Try using the handbrake only. If there's no squeak it could confirm your suspicions that it's coming from the fronts.

 

Thats a great idea, i'll give that a go on a local car park later on and see if I can hear anything.

 

17 hours ago, KenONeill said:

@Slick2097 - You might consider treating the front disc backplates with Copaslip. If you're unhappy working with brakes, go to a local garage, not a Skoda main stealer.

 

16 hours ago, roottoot said:

^^^^ As above.

 

Brakes are service items but a Full Main Dealer Service History does not mean the brakes get touched only 'inspected'. 

 

So the brake fluid change was due at 3 years, but maybe not done or the brake fluid tested. 

 

Time to get the pads out and the little copper slip on the back  and at some point also the brake fluid tested for h20 content and maybe replaced.

 

Thanks both, I've always thought that things like brakes (that I am ultimately relying on to keep me safe) should probably be looked at by someone more competent than myself.  Whilst I am quite happy to have a go at most things (only yesterday I replaced the rear light cluster which I had damaged) I think something as essential as a brake system should probably be looked at by my local garage.  Thanks again for the help.

 

If it was a case of remove the wheel and then squirt something at something (technical I know ) then I probably would have given it a go.

 

Interesting note about the Service History, as its a second hand car and all SH is electronic these days, I don't even know what, if anything has been serviced on the car, or when it was done 🤔.  I've seen some threads on here about some people going to the main dealer to ask for the info and getting it, and some getting nothing (GDPR etc)... Anyway, I digress.

 

Thanks again. 👍

The only thing to squirt at brakes / discs is Brake Cleaner.

But then after doing that you need to use the appropriate grease on pins, back of pads or rubber grease on rubber.

You do not want lubricants on the pads or discs obviously. 

How many miles has your Octavia done? They may due replacement anyway? Recently had my partners old Yaris front discs and pads replaced and the local indie garage where it goes, said Pagid disc pads are renowned for squealing? 

 

Had my Octavias discs and pads all done all round in past 5000 miles and all good. 

Its about 47,000 I think.  Only had the car just over 2 weeks as mentioned in post one.  I would assume Cinch when they checked out the car in the 200 point inspection checked the pads and discs and that they are ok?

 

I think i'll try contacting my main skoda dealer and see if I can get access to any service history of the vehicle, that might help shed some light on what has been done (or not).

 

2 hours ago, threadbear said:

How many miles has your Octavia done? They may due replacement anyway? Recently had my partners old Yaris front discs and pads replaced and the local indie garage where it goes, said Pagid disc pads are renowned for squealing? 

 

Had my Octavias discs and pads all done all round in past 5000 miles and all good. 

I've had the same issue for years and just put up with it. Sadly I don't go through brakes very fast so the pads haven't been out. As others have said, it's likely to be a really simple fix if it really bothers you.

@Slick2097 Assume nothing about inspections.  Read last week's articles on people disappointment with Cinch.     ? Have you checked the tyre pressures to see if those were checked / set for safety?  They might still be at the pressure for transporting a car. Strapping down. 

Edited 13 April, 20224 yr by roottoot

2 hours ago, Slick2097 said:

I would assume Cinch when they checked out the car in the 200 point inspection checked the pads and discs and that they are ok?

 

2 hours ago, roottoot said:

@Slick2097 Assume nothing about inspections. 

Assume = ASS of U and ME 🤩

2 hours ago, roottoot said:

@Slick2097 Assume nothing about inspections.  Read last week's articles on people disappointment with Cinch.     ? Have you checked the tyre pressures to see if those were checked / set for safety?  They might still be at the pressure for transporting a car. Strapping down. 

 

First thing I do when getting a car is take it to a petrol station and set the tyre's to the correct pressures (and reset the TPM).  Don't think they were far off the normal pressures to be honest.

 

I have read previous articles on here from people with squeaky brakes, it does seem to be something with certain octavia's.  If (like @MeteorOcty has stated above) its just something to live with, then thats not too bad to be honest.  Like I said, the car stops when i'm trying to stop and feels like it will stop in an emergency if needed so I will see what (if anything) I get back from the Skoda Dealer.

 

Again, thanks to all of you for commenting and giving me suggestions, very welcome and appreciated.

No need to live with squeaky brakes.

They can be properly serviced and pads / discs that are all good can help with that.  

 

Regardless of getting the service / warranty history of the first 3 years or beyond just as well to get the brake fluid tested.

BUT, Maybe not if there is a record of it being changed last year or at the last service. 

Hi,

 

Just a little update, Cinch warranty have been in contact and its booked in to RRG Rochdale (near my work) on Monday to have the squeal / squeak looked at.  Will let you know what, if anything, they find / resolve.

 

Ta,

Slick2097

8 hours ago, Slick2097 said:

Hi,

 

Just a little update, Cinch warranty have been in contact and its booked in to RRG Rochdale (near my work) on Monday to have the squeal / squeak looked at.  Will let you know what, if anything, they find / resolve.

 

Ta,

Slick2097

Keep us updated. I'm having low speed squeaking as well. Suspect it's the pads wearing out and those are not covered by the Cinch warranty if I read the documentation correctly. Might just pay a mechanic to deal with the problem instead.

15 hours ago, hhcd80 said:

Keep us updated. I'm having low speed squeaking as well. Suspect it's the pads wearing out and those are not covered by the Cinch warranty if I read the documentation correctly. Might just pay a mechanic to deal with the problem instead.

 

Will do.  I also ready that in the Cinch 90 day warranty blurb, they don't cover "brakes" at all so it should be interesting to see what comes of it and if they will just take the hit themselves or try and make me pay... 

 

I guess as I complained on the day I got the car they can't really say i've caused the issue and it must have been there on handover... We shall see.

 

Slick2097.

On 22/04/2022 at 16:18, Slick2097 said:

 

Will do.  I also ready that in the Cinch 90 day warranty blurb, they don't cover "brakes" at all so it should be interesting to see what comes of it and if they will just take the hit themselves or try and make me pay... 

 

I guess as I complained on the day I got the car they can't really say i've caused the issue and it must have been there on handover... We shall see.

 

Slick2097.

Cinch have some good stock. Direct access to all the BCA PCP / lease stock.   And convenient. Bl00dy terrible to deal with though.

 

A year or so back they had a Seat cupra estate 290.  Fair price. Looked good in the photos. Noticed it was mis described in photos, it said it had 19" diamond cut alloys. It didn't have, the photo showed 18" and a tyre size never sold on any leon model full stop.

 

Then I ask about service history and the 200 point check....

 

Turns out, when they say doesn't need servicing within 3 months or whatever their strap line is. They don't mean service schedule items - only an oil change and filter! So after they gave me the stamp history for the last few services that just said oil change I rang the seat dealer for what was supposed be done at 5 years 37,000 miles.

 

Front Haldex

Brake fluid

Air filter

Plugs

Cabin Filter

DSG service

Probably about £650 worth of cost to a consumer!!

 

 

Eventually I worked out the replacement alloys in the wrong tyre size, were from a seat ateca.

 

So, i escalate through the "front line".

 

Eventually after several tries, I got called back by some "manager" in service delivery. I wouldn't say any service was delivered!! He just wanted to position it, that their checks are condition orientated, they don't check their descriptions, or what is fitted and they wouldn't pick up mis fitted items.  He tried to defend the missing service items on basis of they only do oil changes when talking about servicing!

 

After about 2 or 3 follow ups, I still wanted to buy the car but rather than take delivery and then complain about the items to be resolved, potentially wasting time and delivery costs etc to Cinch,  I wanted the missing service items attended to, or an allowance in price to resolve the items.  I wanted some original spec wheels and tyres fitted or an allowance. I was willing to use an ebay price for replacing with second hand wheels and tyres and estimate a resale on the already fitted alloys.

 

I spent several days following up this with the "service deliver manager". You could never get to him directly only when he decides to call back at the most inconvenient times. Said he wanted to check the wheel tyre issue, I took a download on the vehicle pr codes and supplied to him showing it was dispatched with 19" diamond cut alloys. He took another 5 days to come back! Eventually conceding the wrong wheels and tyres were fitted. Yes, I did give you the seat PR code listing for the mfr manifest of the vehicle!

 

After about 1 week and a half of trying to deal with the joker further, he just said Cinch "don't do negotiaiton". I said fine, I'll pay asking price with the faults and mis fitted items that were not as described resolved.....

 

He said no, he'll take off sale and do some due dilligence.........

 

I said this is a terrible way to deal with a customer who wants to hand over money and resolve a few things before taking delivery.

 A customer who has spent hours looking into what needs resolving and endless phone calls to Cinch to try and get resolved before delivery....

He ignored me, took off sale, went back on a few weeks later for £400 or so more with the proper wheels fitted......

 

Probably without carrying out the outstanding service work - chancing that as well.

 

Wrote to customer service director complaining of their approach, mis description un willingness to put things right on a vehicle I waned to buy and underhanded tactics..  No response ever received.

 

So, based on that I've vowed never to consider Cinch for buying a car!!

 

PS. OP -  Long rant but I'm sure the garage will be able to fix your squeaky brake issue without too much cost or hassle. Who knows, Cinch might even feel benevolent and live up to their promises!!

 

On 22/04/2022 at 16:18, Slick2097 said:

I guess as I complained on the day I got the car they can't really say i've caused the issue and it must have been there on handover

Correct, the car was not fit for purpose since day one of your owneship. So, if they try & make you pay for new brakes just tell them NO!

 

They will probably try it on though because they pay Rylan Clark & he has teeth to pay for you know 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭

18 hours ago, TheClient said:

Cinch have some good stock. Direct access to all the BCA PCP / lease stock.   And convenient. Bl00dy terrible to deal with though.

If it hasn't been made obvious already, got my Octavia VRS via Cinch. In my case, there was no brake squeak on delivery. I only really noticed it happening later on. This isn't really a Cinch discussing thread, but long story short, my experience was OK but not great. Delayed delivery meant I would have to reconsider using them, although to be fair to Cinch, their staff were always polite and professional to me and it was a better buying experience than a certain major chain of car dealerships that cover most of Scotland that I've had dealings with before.

From previous experience in other cars I've owned, squeaky brakes usually mean the pads and/or discs are getting to the end of their service life. Not noticed any problems stopping the car but I will probably get it fixed at some point nearer it's annual service or if braking performance really degrades, which ever occurs first. I get the feeling Cinch will be more expensive than literally any other option if the work requires a consumable part.

Well, I dropped it off earlier, the person I spoke to at Skoda said it was just in (according to the notes from the warranty company) for a "Brake Inspection" so i'm guessing they are just seeing if anything is actually wrong rather than attempting to fix it.

 

This could be rumbling on for a while...

 

Slick2097

 

So, they (RRG Rochdale) had the car all day yesterday.  I dropped it off at 8:30am and picked it up at 5:10pm.  This is what they told me when I picked it up (in my own words).

 

Initially, they did a brake check and noticed that there were non skoda genuine pads on the front, and that they had been replaced recently, possibly by Cinch, possibly by previous owner / service (I don't know which thanks to the ever useful electronic service record which I cannot see ... what was wrong with the old paper book?  I understand the need to make it digital but why not have both? Anyway, I digress).  They also noticed a slight lip on the two front discs, again they cannot be sure where this came from, previously worn pads or the new non genuine pads causing the wear... The brakes passed all checks. but crucially they were unable to replicate the squeak in the workshop.  😞

 

As they were parking the car up for me to collect, they heard it squeak .  They then took it back in for another look and diagnosis.  Came to the conclusion that the pads, whilst safe and had loads of life in them, did not fit quite right and were potentially the cause of the noise.

 

Long story short, they then went back and to with the warranty company for the rest of the day, photos, evidence etc and then eventually the warranty company approved them to fit new genuine skoda pads and discs to the front which they did about 4pm.

 

On the drive home yesterday and on my drive in to work this morning, no squeaks at all.  I know it can take a few days for the pads and discs to bed in so i'll keep my ears peeled for a few more days but its looking promising so far.

 

I think, (and i'm only guessing here) that Cinch may have put the new pads on when they got the car as part of the 200 thingy check?, and they have put cheap generic pads on, that when confronted with the evidence from the mechanic that they believe the pads are causing the noise, they didn't really have any option but to allow them to replace. 

 

Total cost: £0

 

@hhcd80 If you are still in the 90 day window, it may be worth trying?  I think because I swapped the garage from a local Halfords auto center to Skoda (just for convenience really, the skoda garage is closer to work) that may have helped me as the garage can basically say "well, its got non genuine skoda parts on it, so we think thats the cause" to the Cinch warranty team .. So if it turns out that they fitted them, then they don't really have a leg to stand on.  Of course, if yours are not new-ish and have been on for a while then as you said it may just be easier to live with it for a bit and replace them at your next service...

 

Hope you get yours sorted. Good luck.

 

Slick2097

2 hours ago, Slick2097 said:

They also noticed a slight lip on the two front discs, again they cannot be sure where this came from, previously worn pads or the new non genuine pads causing the wear

Or corrosion of the lips where the pad doesn't rub on the disc.

@Slick2097Thanks for the update. I am going to be very busy using the car for commuting to work for the next few weeks. My only longish window off is going to outside the Warranty window in June so I might just live with it until I can get it seen to. Also, a Halfords Auto Centre is closer to me than any official Skoda dealership so I am not filled with confidence in where Cinch will send me to.

 

Do you know what brand of brake pads where fitted that caused the squeaking and more importantly, what brand RRG fitted that counts as genuine Skoda parts? Might be a silly question, but I have a VRS which has uprated brakes and from what I have read on these forums, they might be a different brand from the factory as a result of the higher spec. For reference, the car came fitted with what looks like Brembo pads on the front and TRW's on the rear, if the branding on them is to be believed. Also read mixed reviews about Brembo pads on here but not sure what exactly my VRS came fitted with out of the factory in the first place.

 

Worst comes to worst, I know of some local mechanics who have experience with Skoda's I can speak to, along with an indie VAG specialist mechanic who is a bit out of the way, but knows the cars inside out. 

@hhcd80 Sorry pal, I didn't ask which ones were removed. 😞

 

From the invoice, the ones fitted appear to be part: 5Q0 698 151 T (and discs: 5Q0 615 301 E) if that helps.

 

Re: Location.  Halfords was where they initially tried to send me, I simply suggested that Skoda might be better as its closer and they were completely fine with me changing it.

 

Is there nowhere near your work where you can drop it off, work your day and then pick it up like I did?  Could be a good option.

I work mostly night shifts and usually arrive at work when most garages are shutting. It's fine. I'll work something out eventually. Worst case scenario, I'll call off work if needed.