My 2001 Beetle has completely gone through a set of rear pads in 38,000 miles. Metal on metal. I'm not hard on brakes. The car has aways had more dust on the rear wheels than on the front. Is this at all normal? Is there some kind of proportioning valve that's malfunctioning?
John jwlbal@remove_epix.net
It's normal - the factory rear pads are much softer than the fronts to fix a noise problem (many complaints about noise so they install softer pads to stop the complaints). Install a set of Mintex pads with new rotors and you'll get many more miles out of the next set.
But you may then have the noise like I have that VW avoided. But they've been on there for 45k miles and are still good.
Joe R
you should check the recall on that for your make and model, i think there was an issue with the rear brakes life being shorter than expected due to something... i forget what it was but you should check anyways..
The TSB makes reference to as long as the car is under warranty. Most would wear out in less than 20,000 miles.
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