2004 Passat Brakes grumble right as car comes to a stop

jlm1414

I just had axles replaced on my passat from non-dealer. (They had gotten pretty bad, cv boots were torn and were clacking whenever I turned the car).

When I picked up the car, I noticed that whenever I have almost reached a complete stop, the brakes give a little rumble/grumble sound, and I get just a little pushback on the brake pedal just before I reach a complete stop. Happens every time I stop.

Anyone have any thoughts about this? Repair shop said car was completely fine when they tested it after replacing axles.

Many thanks in advance

Mr_Shiftright

I'd defnitely have someone check things like the caliper bolts, caliper slides and the torque on the spindle nuts. It sounds like something is moving around in there.

thecardoc3

jlm1414 said:

When I picked up the car, I noticed that whenever I have almost reached a complete stop, the brakes give a little rumble/grumble sound, and I get just a little pushback on the brake pedal just before I reach a complete stop. Happens every time I stop.

Two possibilities. The first one is possibly a basic brake issue the other is the antilock brakes might activating if the system thinks a wheel is locking up.

It is plausible that grease from the failing CV joints made it onto the brakes and has been getting embedded into the pads contaminating them. If that is the case you will need to replace them to get rid of the sensation completely. On one hand that can be an annoying characteristic but it doesn't otherwise render the brakes as failed.

If it is the ABS acting up then there may be an issue with one of the ABS sensor's or its harness. One problem with VW when it comes to analyzing a problem like this is that if you go over 19mph during testing the module will quit communicating to the scan tool. That means all of the testing has to be done while taking that into consideration.

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, a wheel sensor! That's one I didn't think of...that could explain the pushback and also a sensor could be damaged during an axle repair (or it could be co-incidental). I read "pushback" as very distinct but you did say "little", so yeah, the ABS sensation can be subtle.