Does anyone know anything about the durability of Brake pads on an 04 Passat? For some strange reason I've just had to replace my rear pads for the 2nd time. I've only got 46,000 miles. The first set went at 20,000 and were replaced by VW. I've always had pads last a long time. What is different about these? Thanks.
David
What kind of driving do you do? Does your brake light on the dash work? I have a 2003 Jetta which I know is a different car but I got
160,000 miles on the rears and the fronts have not been replaced with 180,000 miles. Mostly highway miles. Note that VWs with ABS seem to go through rear brakes a bit faster than cars from days of old.I drive vehicles with clutches. That means my left foot has a job. Operating the clutch. I have seen people with automatics that drive around with their left foot touching the brake pedal all the time.
could it be a softer compound that allows the rotors to last longer? or maybe the rears do a little more work than in earlier years.
you could try a different brand of pads like Pagid or Textar or Mintex. If the dealer is using Jurid, some of those seem to have a softer compound.
My mechanic advised me I should only expect about 25,000 miles for the rear pads on my 06 Jetta. Also, the rear wheels show *much* more dust than the fronts. I suspect a softer pad, don't know why VW would use a softer pad in the rear.
Alan
Its fairly common for the rear pads to wear before the fronts on newer VW's but anything under 40k is TOO soon. CHeck your parking break cables & calipers to see if they are seized.
This has been talked about before. I had this problem on a 1999 Passat (wagon), but plenty of others with that gen Passat and A4 complain about it. The rear pad carrier seems to be a crappier design, so it does not take long before the rear pads will not back off after depressing the brakes, due to rust, corrosion,... I went through two sets of rear pads and disks in about 30,000 miles. The pads and disks were shot. You could also see side/side wear is different--the pads on one side were almost completely gone. There was a lot drag in the rear wheels (jack up and try to spin the rear wheels), and it wasn't the parking brake as the cable/lever where completely slacked when the parking brake was off. The pads where clearly dragging against the disks. At the same time the front brake wear seemed normal.
It was suggested to me to clean and grease the pad contact surfaces on the pad carrier annually, which I did after installing a new pad/disk set, and I haven't had any trouble with them since (except for taking it apart annually).
Frank
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