[Santoshbhat]

Polo GT TSI - currently at 20,000 kms. Brake judder/ vibrations started at around 16,000 kms. During service asked them to check and replace. Service advisor says this is a common problem and happens only while braking from higher speeds - "If you drive only in the city, why spend unnecessarily saar". Pads and discs still had a lot of life left at the time. Since this car does not do any highway duty these days, I have left it as it is. City braking is absolutely fine, but highway braking performance is very poor. Brake fade has caused many heart in the mouth moments. Brakes are the biggest spoil sport in a car like the GT TSI.

Do the Vento / Rapid TDIs have the same setup? If yes, then how come we don't see them complaining more often? With all that torque, this problem should be affecting them even more!

[The Flash]

Originally Posted by raman.aries

Dear members,

Recently, the brake discs on a Polo GT TSi owned by my me developed brake judder issue in merely 10,500 kilometres. I checked on this forum to find out this was a rare occurrence and realized that quite a few owners have faced this issue.
The reason for judder seems to be damaged discs and the corrective actions seems to be replacement of discs.

The purpose of this thread is to run a poll on this forum to find out how many owners have faced this same issue of prematurely damaged brake discs.

You are not alone my friend. I drive a 2014 Polo 1.5TDi and my rotors were changed at 11k kms (first service). Though the pads were fine. And what was even more worse, my OEM battery gave up exactly after 1 year and 2 months.

[Olympal]

My 2015 November Polo 1.5 Tdi has grooves in both front brake discs noticed at 20,000 km service. The SA in VW bangalore North advised change of both discs stating that the grooves could have been caused by stones. I refused stating that since there is no brake pad wear, and the grooves appear identical in both discs this could be a manufacturing defect. He refused to acknowledge that and said this part of normal wear and tear.

[raman.aries]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Polo GT TSI - currently at 20,000 kms. Brake judder/ vibrations started at around 16,000 kms. During service asked them to check and replace. Service advisor says this is a common problem and happens only while braking from higher speeds - "If you drive only in the city, why spend unnecessarily saar". Pads and discs still had a lot of life left at the time. Since this car does not do any highway duty these days, I have left it as it is. City braking is absolutely fine, but highway braking performance is very poor. Brake fade has caused many heart in the mouth moments. Brakes are the biggest spoil sport in a car like the GT TSI.

Do the Vento / Rapid TDIs have the same setup? If yes, then how come we don't see them complaining more often? With all that torque, this problem should be affecting them even more!

I think the problem is more pronounced in the DSG equipped cars where the brakes are subject to more wear and tear. Try calling up the company customer care number and have a word with them.

Originally Posted by The Flash

You are not alone my friend. I drive a 2014 Polo 1.5TDi and my rotors were changed at 11k kms (first service). Though the pads were fine. And what was even more worse, my OEM battery gave up exactly after 1 year and 2 months.

I know my friend. Its a sad thing that the issue is still happening and the company is still trying to brush it under the carpet. I must add that I haven't had any issues with the OEM battery - keeping my fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by Olympal

My 2015 November Polo 1.5 Tdi has grooves in both front brake discs noticed at 20,000 km service. The SA in VW bangalore North advised change of both discs stating that the grooves could have been caused by stones. I refused stating that since there is no brake pad wear, and the grooves appear identical in both discs this could be a manufacturing defect. He refused to acknowledge that and said this part of normal wear and tear.

I recommend that you take it up with VW customer care. Their number and email id can be found on VW website. They might replace it for you under goodwill. Nothing bad in trying, especially when its certain that its a quality problem.

[Abhishek_Garg]

Hi friends, i had the same issue in my car of a different brand(indian). Steering vibrations while braking on speeds more than 70-80kmph. Service center replaced disks and pads 4 times, and also some other parts like axles and bearings etc. however, permanent fix was seen after the hubs were replaced.
Everything - parts as well as labour charged were covered under warranty.

[gautamal]

I own a Vento TDI 1.5L 2015 model ,and i too got the first steering shuddering issues at around 8000 kms, which progressively got worst at 12000 kms. After a lot of emails to VW customer care and escalations to the senior management, i got the discs replaced. Now exactly 1 year later and 5000 more kms, the steering is vibrating again on high speed braking. I have scheduled a visit to the ASC tomorrow and i suspect it is the same issue.
I am in no mood to pay for new set of discs and will fight it out. Lets see what happens.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by raman.aries

Dear members,

Recently, the brake discs on a Polo GT TSi owned by my me developed brake judder issue in merely 10,500 kilometres. I checked on this forum to find out this was a rare occurrence and realized that quite a few owners have faced this issue.
The reason for judder seems to be damaged discs and the corrective actions seems to be replacement of discs.

The purpose of this thread is to run a poll on this forum to find out how many owners have faced this same issue of prematurely damaged brake discs.

You're not alone, my 1.5 year old Honda City CVT developed this problem and required a disc change at 8000 kms. Don't know if it's the poor road conditions taking it's toll or the companies taking us for a ride!

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by gautamal

I am in no mood to pay for new set of discs and will fight it out. Lets see what happens.

After having faced this issue twice, I have reached the conclusion:

The discs in VW cars (Especially Polo and Vento) get a slight shape deformation. I have thoroughly checked it after removing the front wheels, then starting and leaving the car in idle in 5th gear (Of course on the hydraulic jacks).

What remedy I finally followed? Well, I simply got the discs machined and shoes replaced. More than 15k kms done on one car another is at over 97k kms on odo now (Around 40k kms back the machining was done). The issue didn't arise again.

Based on my suggestion, one friend and a few owners I met at service station also tried the same and the problem hasn't arisen again with either of them. I find this remedy better than again and again visiting the service station and taking the headache every quarter.

[kutts]

Originally Posted by gautamal

I own a Vento TDI 1.5L 2015 model ,and i too got the first steering shuddering issues at around 8000 kms, which progressively got worst at 12000 kms. After a lot of emails to VW customer care and escalations to the senior management, i got the discs replaced. Now exactly 1 year later and 5000 more kms, the steering is vibrating again on high speed braking. I have scheduled a visit to the ASC tomorrow and i suspect it is the same issue.
I am in no mood to pay for new set of discs and will fight it out. Lets see what happens.

Nothing new being a VAG owner :-) I have had my discs warped a couple of times. This time around I just asked them to skim the discs. It has held on well since a year now. Did not change the brake pads since they were good.

[gautamal]

Originally Posted by gautamal

I own a Vento TDI 1.5L 2015 model ,and i too got the first steering shuddering issues at around 8000 kms, which progressively got worst at 12000 kms. After a lot of emails to VW customer care and escalations to the senior management, i got the discs replaced. Now exactly 1 year later and 5000 more kms, the steering is vibrating again on high speed braking. I have scheduled a visit to the ASC tomorrow and i suspect it is the same issue.
I am in no mood to pay for new set of discs and will fight it out. Lets see what happens.

I would like to update on this issue. This time it seems the problem was due to the rust formation on the surface of the disc. I normally wash the car during weekends and there are times when the vehicle is not used for a long time. So the area between the pad and the disc surface,remained moist and rust formation took place. Even though you may not feel any unevenness with touch, still it is good enough to make the steering shudder at higher speed. Now the ASC has advised me to avoid putting water on the disc or when washing the vehicle,ensure that it is not keep idle for many days without driving. So finally, i got the discs skimmed from another garage and lets see how it behaves now.

[Intelsingh]

I guess these are practices being followed by nearly every brand. Two of my other friends who own Japanese cars have been getting their brakes changed at every alternate service.
With the VAG group, it seemed to be an after effect of cost cutting. How many users would actually look at something aftermarket that's superior in quality?

I personally have been running on brembo rotors and pads on my Polo. At the same time, there have been reports from a lot of fellow enthusiasts that the VW brakes have actually improved. Some of them track their vehicles regularly.

That's my two cents of information on this topic.

[Turbohead]

Brake shuddering in Polo/ Vento/ Rapid is so common that I wasn't sure what was the real cause- the pads or rotors or an insufficient braking hardware package. Going through the various threads I felt it would have to do with the poor metallurgy of the rotors than the pads.

The car in question is a VW Vento TDI 2014 model Highline with ABS.

The stock rotors started showing judders after 20k km and were skimmed at the second service/ 30k km. The judders resumed after around 45-50k km and gradually became worse. My dad continued to ignore it until at the 73k km when the brakes used to resonate very badly on heavy braking. The braking distances also increased to dangerous levels. Unfortunately this was during a long trip and we somehow reached back home safely.

The very next day, I went to United Motors to get the new discs and pads. Although the rotors were readily available, the red pads were not available. Unfotrunately they were out of production and the only option was to get the black pads which had a reputation of eating through the discs and squealing. Was not confident about the other options and went with the stock OE replacement pads




So the combo was Brembo rotors and OE replacement pads.

I can't recollect the prices now since it was done in the last week of December.















Review after 10k kms

Unfortunately, I was wrong! The judders are back! And how!


But I must admit that these were put into service immediately in January for a long trip during the Pongal holidays. Pongal holidays in Tamil Nadu are a serious affair and results in literally empty roads! Which means we were traveling at very very high speeds! We got used to these high speeds so much that the speedo needle was hovering around 'pi radians' from the 0 kmph mark on the speedometer (Figure it out yourself).
With very high speeds and barricades at every major junction, we could really test these brakes. And yes, that's a lot of stress on the brakes.I must say that the stock brake pads are really good only when they're warmed up. They shed serious speeds when called for and they still do after 10k km. Otherwise they're mediocre in the city!

Last week again I had a long trip and was pleasantly surprised when i felt the brakes shudder again. It wasn't very bad although it was present. Also i'm not sure if it's the ABS kicking in because the tires have actually hardened up after 38k km.


So did the Brembo rotors solve the judders? NO
Hope somebody tries the Brembo pads with the stock rotors and report on the issue.

[raman.aries]

Quite interesting to note that the replacement of rotors did not solve the judder issue. It was my understanding that poor metallurgy of BIL make brake discs that was the source of this problem. This new piece of information forces me to think whether inadequate cooling of discs is the root cause of disc damage.

[Intelsingh]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

So did the Brembo rotors solve the judders? NO
Hope somebody tries the Brembo pads with the stock rotors and report on the issue.

I was running on brembo drilled rotors with the red pads. They rotors lasted me a good 50k kms. The red pads gave away by some odd 35-40k kms.
Ran on the stock brake pads later, the rotors died- maybe because of age or the pads.
I was quite happy with the brembo kits, apparently now the quality is questionable because of a lot Chinese bits coming in.
Did I face shudders? Maybe twice in the odd 2 years of running.

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by Intelsingh

I was running on brembo drilled rotors with the red pads. They rotors lasted me a good 50k kms. The red pads gave away by some odd 35-40k kms.
Ran on the stock brake pads later, the rotors died- maybe because of age or the pads.
I was quite happy with the brembo kits, apparently now the quality is questionable because of a lot Chinese bits coming in.
Did I face shudders? Maybe twice in the odd 2 years of running.

Could you share the part numbers for both the Brembo disc and pads? Thanks!