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However: You are correct that a more thorough inspection is accomplished by removing the wheels. Since a tire-rotation is supposed to be done regularly, while the wheels are off, that is the perfect time peek at the pads too.
The factory pads on my Jetta went about 90K miles.... then the rotors got so rusted from roadsalt, I replaced the pads at the same time the rotors were renewed. (The pads had more life in them... but while it was apart, I replaced them)
Does it not scare you that Meineke "pried" on your calipers?.... dont forget that Meineke does not necessarrly employ the sharpest people. (High-shool kids and mechanic-wannabees) I stopped going to Meineke after they used a torch to work on my exhaust system... AND BURNED THRU THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM!!
You should be greatful that VW is even CONSIDERING covering something that another mechanic 'pried' on. It sounds like VW is willing to work with you on this one... take what they offer and thank them.
From that point forward, I heard the same squeaking noise only when it rained and they mentioned that happens when frost gets in between the rotors and pads so I did not think much of it.
When I drove into the dealership at 31,000 miles they shared my rear brakes were between 2-3; therefore the rear rotors would need to be replaced.
I shared my concerns as a volkswagon owner, (have owned 4 in the last 5 years), that it seemed odd that the rotors had to be replaced at such a young age of 31,000 miles.
They assured me that they did nothing wrong and they assured me that there was not a recall about this issue.
Overall I am disappointed with my dealership in their response considering I have been a long standing customer who does all of my service with them. And I am still left wondering if there is an issue with the making of the car; therefore causing pre-mature problems with the rotors.
What would be a next step to share this information? I wonder how many other people have been affected.
Do I need to take it into the dealer and have them look at it or is this normal??
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.bead436724af02e770f6df102000- 8a0c/
I think I'm a pretty fair-minded guy. I have owned cars for 35 years, mostly Japanese. And just from a layman's point of view, this seems absurd.
They said there was no service bulletin on the problem. I said there was a whole blog section on Edmonds on the problem. No response.
I'm going to ask them to document whether or not they checked on the parking brake. I will go elsewhere to replace the pads and get another opinion. Any other suggestions?
1)jack it up and try to spin the wheels by hand.
-or-
2)Stop in rest-area after traveling at speed. Try to use brakes as little as possible. Check if the lugnuts are hot to the touch.
If the above 2 tests do not indicate dragging brakes, then the calipers are releasing as expected and are not the problem.
In my many years of experience, I can tell you that it is VERY VERY UNLIKELY that both rear calipers have started to stick at the same time.
You need to look for someting in common that could cause this to happen to BOTH rear brakes. Most likely suspect is the emergancy-brake not releasing completely, or cables are too tight.
Also keep in mind that VW has a history of installing 'softer' brakepads on the rear so they get more 'bite' into the rotors. It is pretty common for VWs to wear the rear faster than the fronts. If you do not like this happening, then install brakepads which are harder material. (not factory components)...then you can forget about this issue ever happening again. Here are a selection of pads you can chose from They run about $30 for you 2008...unless you chose ceramic.
I beleive with the above comments, I have coverd virtually every nuance of the problem you are having with the rear brakes wearing faster than you expect...and NONE of them rise to the level of a "recall" which some folks seem to think. Is it even worth arguing over $30 worth of parts?
You mention "soft" pads on the rear, are these organic pads rather than semi-metallic or ceramic...just curious.
I know that pad wear can vary greatly. We have a 1997 Windstar and the first two sets of front pads were OEM and went about 50K mi each. Then I got a set of cheap Motorcraft pads from the ford dealer and way the vehicle was used also changed about the same time. These pads did not last even 25K mi. (and also made the brakes less effective).
I took my Jetta to my mechanic because of squeaking noises and was told my rear pads were low and needed to be replaced. After the work was done and driving for about 20 minutes I smelled something and stopped the car and saw smoking coming out of the rear passenger side. Called the mechanic and was told it could be grease from the mechanic's hand and if it did not go away to bring it back.
Since it stopped I did not brought it back. They after the smell and smoke came back but it was Sunday. My wife took it back on Monday and they said it was a problem with the caliper. They ordered and got the part 1 week later, but it was ok because I did not see any more smoke. After they replace the caliper, I drove for about 5 minutes and felt the brakes very low and had to return to the shop for then to check on the fluid. They bled all the lines just to be sure and told me it was ok.
I drove for about 10 minutes and smelled burning again and after I got out of the car a lot of smoke was coming from the rear tire. I called the mechanic and they had the car towed back to the shop. My mechanic adjusted the brakes again and told me it was probably a problem with the master cylinder and I should have it checked by the VW dealer which I did the day after(04/24). They checked the car and said that nothing was wrong with the brakes. But today 04/25 my wife was driving the car again and she felt the burning smell is back.
What should I do???
Call your State's Attorney General's office. Many states have a Lemon Law. In Missouri, if you take your car to a dealership 3 times, and the issue still isn't fixed, then they can step in using the Lemon Law to force them to take action. Regardless, the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs can give you advice. Did they replace both calipers? They did on mine. The parking brake was remaining engaged on my brakes causing smoking and burning too. Make sure you keep the paperwork so you have documentation to support your claim. Also, visit http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ to file a complaint. If we all file a complaint, then perhaps VW will be forced to deal with these problems. Good luck.
A simplified explanation, engineers forgive: When a car is traveling forward and brakes are applied, the inertia of the sprung mass (everything supported by the springs) shifts forward and down. This means the vertical component of reaction forces is greater at the front wheels than the rear . This translates into a greater friction force at the front wheels and thus stopping power. If you are designing a brake system to stop a car in the shortest distance possible you rely on these front wheels to do the majority of the braking. It is almost universally true that a cars front pads wear out faster than the rear because they do most of the work. It is almost universally true that most cars which have 4-wheel discs also show more brake dust build-up on the front wheels as evidence of this. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
So, in a round about technical way, I'm essentially saying that the VW dealers are lying when they say that VW has intentionally designed a car that doesn't follow this design. I've had one saleman say it was the ESP system applying the brakes to the rear, I've had another saying that the rear brakes on VW's do more fo the braking. In either case, is was simply examples of "They all do that".
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The hot rear rotors and premature wear strongly suggest that either 1) VW has a bad design (I suspect the emergency brake auto adjust mechanism), 2) the parts are not being manufactured or assembled properly or 3) a little bit of both. I'm inclined to believe the last option.
In summary:
*)If rear brakes are simply wearing faster than you expect... .this is NORMAL for VWs and is easily corrected by installing harder pads than original equipment.
*)If rear rotors are running hot all the time (even when not using brakes) then there is a problem.
NOTE: If BOTH rear rotors are running hot.. it is VERY unlikey that the problem is the calipers or the internal parking-brake mecanism.... In such cases, suspect the parking-brake lever is not adjusted properly. (or sticking on)
Personally, I use my parking brake EVERY TIME the vehicle is parked and have never-EVER had an issue.
It is more likely to be problematic for someone who only uses the parking brake occasionally. This is because the moving parts do not stay 'loosend up' and are likely to stick in the 'applied' position... even when the lever appears to be released.
Given the age of the vehicle, It is unlikely that the cable or the sliders are old enough to give troubles.
I took mine into Rusty Wallis here in Dallas and Dimitry, the head Service Tech, called VW and got me my rear pads for free. Dimitry is a great guy and i highly recommend him.
Turns out while they put the rear pads on they also discovered my parking cable was too tight and need to be adjusted. This may have caused some of the issue.
This parking cable issue should be checked by all dealers before the car leaves the lot.
VW covered it under warranty, but it is not acceptable. Definately going with aftermarket parts the next time around.
Defective design. I have never owned a car where the rear pads wear out before the front. If the rear were engineered to wear faster, the should have made the pads larger. This is a joke.
By the way, I got 110,000 miles out of my Chevy Tahoe brake pads. So much for German engineering.
We are at 38,000 miles on ours, with the original brakes.
Have you ever considerd that perhaps you are following too close, or perhaps not watching the road ahead and anticipating stops? Most of the time, I use the brakes very little because I get off the throttle early and coasting slows me down. Brakes are for the final stopping.
Also, it bears repeating that VW *purposefully* installs 'softer' pads on the rear from the factory for a better 'bite'. As soon as they need replacing, you can install longer-wearing pads. (NOT factory pads)
Good thing a Set of pads/rotor costs under $100. That is less than 3 tanks of gasoline.
I would have to guess that if you drive in city traffic most of the time, it may be likely in stop and go traffic to wear them out early.
For me, it is the complete opposite. I have around 70K miles on my 09 TDI, and the pads can easily last twice as long since almost 100% of my driving is highway. On any given trip, I may only use the brakes less than 10 times in 300+ miles
Even in so-called "stop-n- go" traffic, I have been able to concisely change my habits so I do NOT need to use the brakes very often. Simply go a tad slower and leave more space in front of me. I Let the space in front of me be a 'sponge' which gets bigger -n- smaller as the driver in front of me constantly uses their brakes and accelates.... whilst my roadspeed is nearly constant with no brakes.
The above driving-habit can be learned by anyone who is willing to try. Not only does it conserve brakepads... you fuel-consumption will improve too. (because the constant speed means you no longer need to keep accelerating after using the brakes)
There have been extensive studies regarding traffic-jams and it was determined if everyone followed the above driving-habit... many traffic-jams would be avoided altogether. Everyonve accellerating and stopping forces all cars behind to do the same thing. (Or at least those drivers THINK they need to keep their bumper glued to the car in front of them) If everyone simply went 1MPH slower, (average speed) the traffic-pattern would change to a constantly-flowing mass of vechicles. (Which could then speed-up to the speed-limit smoothly)
Dont take my word for it, the aformentiond traffic-pattern research is available online in extensive detail.
I must be doing something right. My 50.0 MPG average speaks for itself. I have a spreadsheet of over 120,000 miles of fillups to back-up my numbers.