Hi my brake pads seem to be well worn my fabia mk4 has done 2k miles and has DSG transmission

Look to see if there's a wire coming from any of the inner brake pads.

Lar

Every Skoda Fabia Mk4 Owner's Manual refers to there being an orange/yellow warning light for "Worn brake pads".

The light looks like this

and is shown in the "Indicator lights" section near the front of the Manual and in the "Brakes" section further on ("Brake Pads" in the Manual's index.)

I believe it can be safely assumed from this that all Fabia Mk4s have a brake-pad wear-sensor that will trigger a warning light when the pads become unduly worn.

I did check whether that particular warning light would appear on my 2024 Fabia SE L's instrument-cluster when I turned on the car's ignition. It did not, so I presume it only illuminates when worn pads are detected.

(Your forum Profile suggests that your Fabia Colour Edition is a 2022 model, so I'm doubtful about the mention that "...it has done 2k miles..." in your enquiry. Perhaps you meant "...it has done 20k miles..."?)

Edited Friday at 13:354 days by DerekU

@Lar Only 2,000 miles, but over 4 years, maybe the low miles mean your pads do lots of cleaning off surface rust on the discs. Or you just use the brakes lots.

1 hour ago, DerekU said:

I believe it can be safely assumed from this that all Fabia Mk4s have a brake-pad wear-sensor that will trigger a warning light when the pads become unduly worn.

Does yours?

I'm struggling to find mention of the pad wear sender in any wiring diagrams for mk4 Fabia, or mk3 for that matter.

Thanks for your replys guys

My car is on 20k not 2k lol

@Breezy_Pete

Dunno - based on the Owner's Manuals I'd EXPECT all Fabia Mk4 models (or any 2020-onwards car for that matter) to have a brake-pad-wear warning system.

Perhaps you could do as you suggested to Lar and "Look to see if there's a wire coming from any of the inner brake pads" with your Mk4.

This 2019 topic discussed Fabia Mk3 brake pads

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/468756-brake-pad-wear-sensors-on-mkiii/

so some Mk4s may have pad-wear sensors and some may not, depending on the car's specification.

Have a look on yours (anyone with a mk4, please!), I don't own one, or I would. 🙂

Quite likely possible to get a camera phone pic without lifting vehicle, by reaching under bumper in each corner.

Edited Saturday at 08:303 days by Breezy_Pete

Check there is a cable from car to pads. If its there there should be a wear indicator built in to pads and be connected. On my Octavia it doesnt have one but some did so you can get pads with or without indicator. If the pads fitted dont have the indicator built in and theres a cable there for it but not connected the system wont work. From memory when pads wear it makes contact with disk and turns light on.

Alasdair

I carried out several online searches about this, relating to Skoda Fabia Mk4s and to the equivalent-age VW Polos, but the results were inconclusive with it being suggested that a pad-wear warning system might not be fitted to lower-spec or lower-powered cars, but could be fitted to higher-spec or more powerful models.

My own Fabia Mk4 was built in late-2023 and UK-registered in April 2024. It's an SE L model, has the 999cc 3-cylinder TSI motor with a maximum power-output of 81kW/110PS/108bhp and has a DSG transmission. Braking is the UK-specification front discs and rear drums system used on Mk4 models that have the 999cc motor.

I put my car on full right lock and drove the right front wheel up on to a 3-inch wooden block. Lying on my back, I was then able to get my head fully behind the front wheel, shine a powerful torch on to the brake disc and caliper and also feel around the caliper and the area near to it. There was no sensor-cabling and, consequently, no means to warn (via a dashboard warning light) if the brake-pad thickness seriously reduced. Just in case, I then did the same for the left front wheel and there was no sensor-cabling there either.

As my (fairly powerful, fairly high-spec) Fabia Mk4 with 999cc motor does not have front-brake sensor cabling and @Breezy_Pete has said that his wiring diagram for a Mk4 does not mention a pad-wear sender, it now seems that (despite the brake pads-related references in the Fabia Mk4 Owner's Manuals) at least Fabia Mk4s with the disc/drum braking system probably do not have a worn brake-pads warning system that would cause a dashboard light to illuminate.

I don't think Lar has ever said which motor his Mk4 has, so if it has the 1.5litre 4-cylinder power-plant and disc/disc braking system, it's possible it might have a worn-brake-pads warning system. Not too difficult check as suggested earlier, or a Skoda dealership should be able to advise.

Hi Derek thanks for your very informative input I have same engine and brake set up as you do it's a 2nd car and doesn't get used every day and mostly short journeys the brake squeal probably stems from the short journeys etc

Many thanks for your input and very informative info 👍

This link may be of interest

https://www.sunset-derby.co.uk/how-do-you-fix-your-vws-squeaky-brakes/

You said in your original posting "...my brake pads seem to be well worn...". Assuming it's your car's front brakes that are squealing, received wisdom (example here)

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/car-maintenance/brake-pads/

is that, if the pads' thickness has to reduced to 3mm, the pads should be replaced, but that advice obviously depends on a car's annual mileage. My wife's bought-new-in 2009 Skoda Roomster has only covered 27k miles, does under a 1k miles annually nowadays, and its original front and rear disc pads still have plenty of 'meat' on them.

Edited Sunday at 08:372 days by DerekU

Have had well worn pads that I reckond would be ok for a while as car wasnt getting used that much but due to age and wear/heat the pad parted company from the backing plate. You get a definite squeel when that happens. If there well worn as in down to 2-3mm I would change them for peace of mind.

Alasdair

Thanks very informative 👍

Our 2015 Fabia. 1.2 110 bhp DSG, total of 23500 miles, still on the original pads, would expect them to last to at least 50k on the front and over 100k on the rear, based on last 20 years experience, but its very much down to driving style. Garage that does the yearly service always reports on brake pad wear.

With Skoda / VW it is common that NEW DISCS are required sooner than pads or at the same time. Long gone are the days of several sets of pads before the discs need replaced. But then Skoda main dealer servicing might have Brake Fluid changed but not SERVICING of the Brakes, strip and grease pins etc.

The bought-from-new cars owned by me and my wife have included 6 VWs and 2 Skodas. All of these (and the other makes of vehicle we've owned) were all serviced by their manufacturer's main dealerships and - to the best of my knowledge - none of their brakes were ever stripped down, pins greased etc. Brake pad thickness and brake disc condition were checked and reported on, but this was only using a visual inspection and without the road-wheels being removed from the car. That doesn't mean that our cars' brakes were never stripped down, as I used to do this myself on my cars and on my wife's last VW (a Golf diesel estate), but this was primarily when I was replacing the pads to try to improve the brakes' performance rather than me feeling a pressing need to do this.

Do you know which car manufacturers have included (or now include) a brake strip-down as part of their standard servicing? I expect a VW/Skoda main dealership would include brake strip-down/pin greasing as a supplementary task during a service if an owner insisted (despite the pads' thickness being adequate) but current labour charges would bump up the cost significantly.

As it is just an location location location thing and usage. Maybe more necessary seaside or where winter salting is more common. And if you own cars as keepers and not rent / lease them and hand back or trade in every 3 years. Then lack of use or low miles might mean more surface rust on discs when they are moved. A manual hand / parking brake can mean user to get some rust off discs than cars with e-brakes. PS, untill 2019 Skoda UK servicing still showed 'remove wheels' remove Drums'. Some inspection of drum brake cars were done without wheels off. Right they used inspection hols on rear drum plate. Not. So mBy cars never had the alloys off in 3 or more years that it was an effort to get them off. Many a sad tale at puncture times.

Edited 2 minutes ago2 min by Evolution13