Hi all, fairly new to skoda ownership after years of vw. Recently bought a 2015 vrs tdi estate and occasionally I'm getting juddering when braking. Feels like a warped disc but doesn't do it every time I brake. Sometimes does it a low speed and sometimes from higher speed but no real pattern. It's a 2 owner car with fsh. Has had discs and pads replaced fairly recently before i bought it. All calipers are free, I've cleaned everything all pads slide freely etc and there are no ABS fault codes logged. Any ideas gratefully received.

Start with simple things; wheel nuts tight? Tyre pressures correct? Intermittent faults hard to diagnose. Discs don't warp - commonly it's pad material transfer to the disc. Hard braking followed by holding the brake on is how that happens.

Beyond that - since you happy with the calipers / pads - I imagine you'd be looking at all the suspension joints / bushes.

2 hours ago, inspectorman said:

Start with simple things; wheel nuts tight? Tyre pressures correct? Intermittent faults hard to diagnose. Discs don't warp - commonly it's pad material transfer to the disc. Hard braking followed by holding the brake on is how that happens.

Beyond that - since you happy with the calipers / pads - I imagine you'd be looking at all the suspension joints / bushes.

Discs definitely do warp, but to do that on a TDI Octavia you would have to be descending a switchback on Everest.

My money is on uneven pad material - is it during gentle braking, hard braking, or both? Have you gotten up to speed and sat on the brakes a few times?

7 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

Discs definitely do warp, but to do that on a TDI Octavia you would have to be descending a switchback on Everest.

My money is on uneven pad material - is it during gentle braking, hard braking, or both? Have you gotten up to speed and sat on the brakes a few times?

Discs and pads are like new, both borg and beck, fitted shortly before I bought it according to service history. No scoring or uneven wear to any of the pads or discs, no sign of pad deposits on discs. Sometimes it can be felt at low speed and sometimes from higher speeds such a leaving dual carriageway etc. Braking gently or aggressively doesn't appear to have any specific bearing to when it happens.

2 hours ago, inspectorman said:

Start with simple things; wheel nuts tight? Tyre pressures correct? Intermittent faults hard to diagnose. Discs don't warp - commonly it's pad material transfer to the disc. Hard braking followed by holding the brake on is how that happens.

Beyond that - since you happy with the calipers / pads - I imagine you'd be looking at all the suspension joints / bushes.

Tyre pressures all fine, wheel bolts tight and torqued, swapped wheels and tyres recently and had everything balanced etc but no difference. I've replaced warped discs over the years on customer vehicles, usually abused on towing duties. Checked all bushes, hardware bolts, etc but nothing obvious. My mates on holiday currently but next option is to put it over brake tester and try to reproduce it ....... but can probably guarantee it won't do it that day.

3 minutes ago, Supermajor6 said:

swapped wheels and tyres recently

Dir the problem only start after swapping wheels and tyres?

Just now, PetrolDave said:

Dir the problem only start after swapping wheels and tyres?

No, it was there before. I only bought other wheels as they were better than the originals and came up right price locally so too good to miss. Originals have lacquer peel n blisters under the paint.

Might sound odd, but check the engine mounts, mine was doing this and I knew my engine mounts were dead, when I put an insert in the dog bone mount it went away. I guess it was just the engine wobbling about under braking load.

4 minutes ago, Sharpy64 said:

Might sound odd, but check the engine mounts, mine was doing this and I knew my engine mounts were dead, when I put an insert in the dog bone mount it went away. I guess it was just the engine wobbling about under braking load.

Thats something I didn't think of, will check later. 👍