Just been told by Vantage that my rear brake discs are corroded and need replacing. Typically the car is recently out of the 2 year brake warranty. My argument is that they are showing slight corrosion on the edge after just 12050 miles and daily use, albeit low miles. They are blaming the problem on the car standing around and not being hammered from one end of the country to the other. Says a lot for the quality of steel they are using, probably Chinese. They say it’s wasting my time speaking direct to Skoda about the issue. The car is a 1,5 SEL auto. Any ideas, suggestions, comments? Cheers.

Common across the Skoda models.

Easier to do something about with the cars like yours without an e-Brake where you can apply the parking / hand brake a bit to clean off cosmetic rust.

As for spirited / sporting driving or even doing 500 miles a day everyday, that does not mean that the rear brakes are being asked to do much, or even the front ones with people who drive looking ahead, using the gear shifter etc, even with a DSG. 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/510933-brake-disc-rustscoring

 

Edited 21 February, 20233 yr by toot

Thanks for the replies. So I suppose I have to give in and get the discs renewed, but not at Skoda. My “out of warranty” go to mechanic will do the job for a third of the Skoda price. Will ask him to fit Brembo discs as recommmended.

 

Try finding a safe quieter stretch of dual carriageway with nobody on it.

 

70-10MPH firm braking (not quite emergency stop) and do it 4-5 times with suitable time between them to make sure you don’t get any brake fade/heat issues.

 

That should clean up the surface well. 
 

When it’s all cold you can run a wire brush over the very edge of the disc (not the braking surface) to get rid of any there, but that isn’t required.

 

On 19/02/2023 at 17:02, Bobbagreg said:

Just been told by Vantage that my rear brake discs are corroded and need replacing. Typically the car is recently out of the 2 year brake warranty. My argument is that they are showing slight corrosion on the edge after just 12050 miles and daily use, albeit low miles. They are blaming the problem on the car standing around and not being hammered from one end of the country to the other. Says a lot for the quality of steel they are using, probably Chinese. They say it’s wasting my time speaking direct to Skoda about the issue. The car is a 1,5 SEL auto. Any ideas, suggestions, comments? Cheers.

Just a thought, but are the rear brake calipers working correctly?

Brake calipers can get stuck (though it would be unusual on such a recent vehicle) and if they're not working as they should, you might not notice in normal driving, but the brakes wouldn't clean the disks.

A pic of the disks would help.

@cheezemonkhai's idea of careful emergency stops sounds sensible, as the effort of hard braking should shift the caliper piston if they're a bit reluctant to move.

My suggestion was to remove surface rust , as sometimes the rear brakes do very little under light braking.

My car has just been for its first MOT.  Prior to that, I took it in for my trusted independent garage and tester to look at the discs as I was very unhappy with their condition - they appear to be badly corroded and look like ****e.

 

(As previously  mentioned on here, I intended that he should replace them with non-OEM items). I was surprised when he told me that he was certain that the rear brakes would be up to scratch and that he could not see any point in replacing them.  In the event, when I went for the scheduled test, the brake   readings on the test equipment were perfect!  He confirms that rear brakes in general only provide 25% of the braking, and on a lightweight car like a Kamiq - especially an automatic -  they do sod all.  He advised that I should continue to apply the hand-brake from time to time to clean up the surface of the discs to address the cosmetic aspect, otherwise I should ignore what really was not an issue!

I also have the dreaded 12K miles 2 year rear disc advisory.

It's suggested I change on next service in 12 months.

What is the current Skoda price to supply and fit rear discs and pads  Please?

May well go Brembo but need a comparison.

Edited 5 December, 20232 yr by EJB

Cannot answer the question but - as I am sure you already suspect- you can virtually guarantee that a Skoda dealership would charge top dollar to replace with the same crap discs that cause the problem.  I am sure that an independent would supply and fit Brembos for much less money.  If you do get some prices it would be really interesting if if you could post them here.

I agree with some of the comments I have owned quite a few VAG models and they all suffer from this issue if you are light on your brakes which I suspect you are then the rear brakes don't come into play much causing the corrosion if you get to a reasonable speed and apply your brakes quite hard it will keep the corrosion at bay please be careful when yo do this. This goes all the whey back to the GOLF MK2 days so not new hope this helps

The topic of rear brake corrosion is well known. I'm just wondering about the OP's 2yr brake warranty. I rightly or wrongly, was under the impression it was only 6mths or 2500 miles, whichever comes first.

 

Never heard of a 2yr brake warranty but if it does exist then I find it hard to believe it'd include wear and tear.

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by kodiaqsportline

Yes I agree, our younger daughter and husband has a 2019 SEAT Arona and I can see that if it appears up my way from Bromley before it gets its next MOT in April-May, then I'll be replacing the rear discs with Pagid and either Textar or Pagid pads. That will only sort things out for a few years as they are smart enough to not use the car unless they really need to and drive "too carefully"!

 

In the past I've found Pagid rear discs to stay cleaner and longer than VW or SEAT factory fitted rear discs, either coincidence, luck or something else.

Our nearly 6 year old Karoq has never had this issue and our one year old Kamiq is also fine. I suspect salt air doesn't help, but certainly a good dab on the brakes occasionally should keep them from suffering too much.

SKODA_Warranty_Terms_July_2023 (1).pdf

I live on the north Yorkshire coast and on my now three and a half year old Kamiq SEL 1.0 DSG with about 22,000 miles on the clock I have noticed minor rusting on the rear discs at times.  The answer I find is to drive slowly with the brakes lightly on to clear the rust for a short distance, and if rust is a problem I drive the few hundred yards to the main road doing this to clean the discs for a few days when taking the car out.  Recently, much more of my driving has been in town and I have noticed that the rear discs are bright and shiny with no sign of rust without using the "driving with the brakes lghtly on" method being used.

I have this problem on my 2020 1.5 Kamiq but only on one side but badly scored as well as rusty. At last service (21000 miles) was told they need replacing for a cost of over £300 this year. For info I just checked GSF car  parts and a pair of Brembo discs are £35 which is a good deal. Shall be doing them myself with the Brembo discs and check my calipers when I do it. Also I live in Wiltshire and not near the coast and have never seen this on any of my previous cars. 
 

George
 

 

On 09/02/2024 at 08:57, GeorgeN49 said:

 Also I live in Wiltshire and not near the coast and have never seen this on any of my previous cars.
 

 

 

👍  The 'coast' thing is a red herring no doubt dreamt up by those who've never had the problem.  It's cleary a quality issue unique to many VW group cars. In almost 40 years of driving I've never once needed to change discs or pads on any of my cars.  I had to change my rear discs and pads after 3yr / 13k but noway was I going to risk them being replaced by the same OEM parts - I used Bosch this time.

 

What I think would be interesting to know, is that out of those of us VW group owners who've changed the OEM discs + pads for popular named brands, how long have those replacements lasted  - less, the same  or longer than the OEMs. I suspect it may be the latter. Surely they can't be any worse!

 

Edit - I say never had the problem, I did, back in 2002 - 2004 on a Volvo. The difference being Volvo acknowledged there was a quality problem and replaced the discs under warranty -  twice !

 

 

Edited 10 February, 20242 yr by kodiaqsportline

53 minutes ago, kodiaqsportline said:

 

👍  The 'coast' thing is a red herring no doubt dreamt up by those who've never had the problem.

 

 

As someone who lives on the coast - half a mile from it and about 200ft above sea level - I can assure it is not a red herring, salt air adds to any problem of rust even if it may not be the primary cause.  

Edited 10 February, 20242 yr by Seasider

I have had this discussion with service dept every year. They want to replace the pads and disks for corrosion/ wear and the car will sail through its MOT same day. Dealer up selling. If in doubt get a second opinion and, as noted, the Skoda parts are way too expensive

New brake discs has become one of garage industry’s favourite money maker.

 

Both main dealers and independent MOT garages.  It’s an easy job, so popular.

 

Rusty looking discs appear often as a “recommendation” on MOT tests. Not a Fail. Just an observation.

 

I’ve met the challenge myself.  My previous 2 SKODAs got new rear discs under warranty. Made of cheese. Current one doing better.

 

(I’ve been looking at history for lots of cars recently).

And yet I’m on my fourth Škoda from 2004 and none of them have displayed rusting rear discs, just the odd NORMAL light rusting when not driven for a couple of days.  Every single car I’ve driven from Audi to Peugeot to Ford has had this (non) issue.

 

A quick drive applying the brake pedal now and again will resolve it.  It’s superficial surface rust, I don’t get why people are getting their knickers in a twist over it.

 

I’m coming to the conclusion that I must have a really hard life if this is all people have to worry about,  especially when I read posts like this.

 

Jesus.

 

First world problems 😂😂

Edited 2 October, 20241 yr by carefree

I'm sure that most people that comment or complain about this is actually talking about something a lot more serious corrosion wise than the "overnight red rust" that you are referring to, certainly our daughter's 2019 Arona rear discs looks a quite nasty dark colour and it would take skimming/grinding to return them to "normal/acceptable", same for our older daughter's 2019 Leon Cupra rear discs - its nasty looking rear discs certainly helps it get through brake pads. My wife's 2015 Polo's rear discs did look not too good for the past year - then a rear calliper seized and caused a bit extra wear in a rear pad, so as well as replacing that rear calliper and pads, I also considered that a rear disc change was required, so it now has Pagid rear discs. While carrying out a brake clean up at this year's service, I discovered that a "good looking from the outer side" front disc, was really not too good on its inner face, so they and the pads got changed as well to Pagid.

 

My 2011 Audi S4 is still on its second set of brake discs, originals replaced under warranty for causing vibration the paperwork claims, these still VW Group discs are still clean and smooth.

 

It almost looks like it can be a luck of the draw as to which quality/brand or maybe just the actual manufacturer of brake discs supplied to VW Group that causes this variation in "survivability" in service.

Like @carefree have never had to change discs on my cars for many years. Sold my Ford Focus when it was 10 years old and with over 70K on its original discs. Our 6 year old Karoq is on its original discs and my nearly 2 year old Kamiq showing no issues. 

Location location location.

You might live and park and drive in towns or cities, might not get much salting / gritting of roads in winter or not often, or might not live or park near the sea. 

Applying the brakes might do little to clear the rear brakes because really good brakes slow and stop a car.

Light application of the brake pedal might clear the cosmetic / minor rust.   Applying the parking brake slightly can.   Which those with Manual Hand Brakes can, nit so with cars with e-brakes.

 

If you are fortunate enough to not have to change discs as often as brake pads then good for you. 

Skoda disks - just like most cars - are made from cast iron which is one of the best materials for effective braking. In fact the very thin surface rust you see on a disk that has not been used for a while actually enhances the efficiency of the brake - so stop stressing. Stainless steel however will not show signs of rust BUT it is a pathetic brake surface when dry and, efectivelly useless if wet.

The only reason to replace disks if they become warped, or that surface wear is such to reduce the overall thickness of the disk below it safe workable thickness which for a Kamiq is 21mm