Late 1999 Jetta Brakes

Your rear brakes lasted about average. I would guess they ment 5% remaining. You should have the pads replaced before they wear out and allow the steel backing to contact the rotors. Your rotors can normally be turned, front and rear one time. That does a better job. I compromised on my car. I put new ones on the front for under $40 each mail order and reused the original rear ones as is. I had a pulsating in the peddle when stopping gently and the front rotors were the cause. $353 seems high to me for just the rear brakes even if they put on new rotors. Since you have 5% left use the week or so to shop around and compare. I bought rear pads at a local parts place for under $20 and reused the rotors. Only problem I have is the squeak sometimes when backing up.

Joe

If you made 50k miles you done very good. Get it done elsewhere, yes but it will not be VW factory parts. "Maintenance Fuel Flush for $108" just say NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Unless you have some running problem then it's just a PROFIT increaser service.

Joe-- I am a hands on Engineer by degree, and I am able to follow directions very well. Is this something that I could do myself?

Also if there is only 5% left in the brakes, shouldn't I be hearing some type of noise or be able to feel the difference?

Thanks - Dena

It's an easy job changing the pads, the newer the car it's easier still, some allen keys and a basic machine's set and you can do it in under 20 mins.

Thanks for all the help. I think that I will buy the VW parts and have a mechanic I know put them on for me.

A few Last questions though - Do you have to replace the Rotors every time you replace the pads? If the Rotors look good can I just replace the pads? Do you recommend any select pads or rotors? Any good sites to buy from?

Thanks Again - Dena

While you shouldn't have to replace them, unless they are the rear rotors on some VWs, you should have them cut each time.

Otherwise you can get a pulsation/chatter when you apply the brakes.

The last time I bought rotors, 2 months ago, they were cheaper here at a foreign auto parts place than I saw them on the net.

New rotors are 9mm thick with the wear limit of 7mm so there isn't much room to resurface the rotors. As long as the rotors are above 7mm thick and not pitted, rusted, or worn excessively uneven then all you need is pads.

Instead of a fuel flush, how about a brake fluid flush. Every 2 years or 50K miles it should be done. Fuel flushing... it has it's place, but it is a small place IMHO.

Current VW rotors can not be turned. If they are warped, and you turn them, you will turn them right out of spec. If they are used, with say

50K miles on then (you did very good), then you will most likely turn them right out of spec.

My vauge general rule of thumb, if the raised lip on the outer edge of the rotor "feels 1mm" or higher, new rotors are strongly suggested. If under 1mm, then weakly suggested. I explain the options and customer can decide from there.

Just make sure your mechanic friend knows that the rear rotors screw in. May sound like common knowledge, but we had a car towed in because the driver's "mechanic" tried to push the piston back in with some mega C clamp... and did. Then of course couldn't figure out what was the probelm with the rear brakes. Even better was the metal lines cut and crimped over a few times.

Later.

Actually, as long as they are in good shape and 7mm, they will last the amount of time pads wear. That's just my frugal opinion.

Posing to the mechanic to pretend you know what you are doing, are we? # # # # ########################### ########################### # # # # # # # # # # # # ########################### ########################### ########################### # # ### ####### ## ######### #### ## ## # ## # ## # ## # ## ############### ############## # ## ###### #### #################### #### ################

heheh... Beer and this newsgroup don't mix. I can't stop laughing.... :^)

yea right...

Uhhuh.

yea, well my rule is if it isn't warped, use it. My rule. So far my brakes are sweet.... you will know when the time comes just by the way they look feel and well not taste. :-)

Do you think? Are mechanics really friends? heheheheheh.....

Some mechanics are just foreigners. They are all thumbs and should be avoided like the plague. Nothing personal.

Beer and RAMVW doesn't mix. Did I mention this? Hahahaha..

I was reading this in the Bently manual, but it wasn't very clear. How many revolutions are required to compress the piston all the way?

...Sean.

Yep. You will need all the space for the new pads.