2009 Jetta TDI Brake Issues

atrjeep

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Location
Arizona
TDI
TBD
2009 Jetta TDI, metal/metal on rear brakes at 18500 miles. Dealer told me that I should go through 2 sets of rears to 1 set of front brakes. Measured the pad on front and its brand new. They wanted $500 for brakes/pads, told them to go to hell after less than 20k miles. Extremely disappointed. Is this normal to burn through rear pads that quickly?

Got over 50k on my Altima and 105k on my Tahoe with more than 3/4 pad left all the way around. So, obviously I am not hard on brakes.

Please someone help me out here! I am not sure if I should get some aftermarket pads/rotors or what!

:mad: :( :mad: :(
 

niteman9

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Location
Ann Arbor MI
TDI
2006 Jetta
I know someone who just took delivery of a 2010 and after only 2 days found the rear brakes dragging. They may have been dragging a little from day one.
 

DoctorDawg

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2008
Location
Southeastern US
TDI
'09 Jetta Loyal Edition
31K miles on my '09 and still plenty of rear pads left. Dragging sounds plausible. Has your fuel economy been disappointing?
 

Dieselfitter

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Location
Edmonton Alberta
TDI
2009 JSW TDI with DSG
Brake pads

I put 160,000km(100,000miles) on my '02 jetta TDI and still had 50% of the brake pads left!

Sounds like pads dragging to me!
 

Turbine Suburban

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Location
Upstate NY
TDI
2009 6 manual Gone! V6 Mustang now.
When I got my Jetta almost new out of the box, I put the bigger wagen rotors on it, and PBR ultimate pads on the front. I know for a fact that it moved the bias towards the fornt to some degree. I know because now there is more brake dust on the fronts than the rear. (You can also feel it - the pedal is very firm and RIGHT THERE - unlike the stick in the oatmeal feeling that was there before)

Anyway, it is a way to move the bias foward and perhaps make the brakes last longer between service.
 

atrjeep

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Location
Arizona
TDI
TBD
New update! Pulled the rear pads myself, replaced them with some cheap aftermarkets for now. Looking at the original pads from the rear, the driver side is metal/metal, while the passenger is about half left. Obviously, an issue other than wear/tear. Finally getting back into the dealer (2 hours away) tomorrow to drop the pads off in front of them. Should be a fun conversation! Will keep you all posted.

I do see aftermarket rotor/pads in my future. Kerma TDI seems to have a solution. Anyone familiar with their performance line?

MPG's are up a bit, since I replaced the pads. Could just be that it's cooler and not running a/c.
 

atrjeep

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Location
Arizona
TDI
TBD
Dieselfitter said:
I put 160,000km(100,000miles) on my '02 jetta TDI and still had 50% of the brake pads left!

Sounds like pads dragging to me!
FYI... new Jetta's force the majority braking to the rear now. It's their claim that it's safer and the car stops better. Not sure I agree, just makes a ton of brake dust on my rear wheels.
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
Make sure that your parking brake is not adjusted too tight. There have been cases where the parking brake drags a little and rear brakes wear very fast. How far does your parking brake come up when you set it? If it only comes up a few "clicks" it might be too tight. Jack up one rear wheel and try to spin it - it should spin pretty freely. Then check the other rear wheel. I don;t know if this is your problem or not, but it is worth checking.

Have Fun!

Don
 

F250_JR

Veteran Member
Joined
May 13, 2008
Location
Birmingham
TDI
2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
Yes, this would normally be considered "abnormal" wear. However, this is a known issue with the mkV's...you probably won't be able to get it covered under warranty. If you are able to replace the pads yourself, why would you go to the dealership at all? Also, if you replaced the pads, you should have either replaced or at least returned the rotors as well (especially the one which had metal to metal contact...never good for rotors). New pads need new rotor surface to bed into.

Like JSWTDI09 said, go ahead and check your e-brake too. It could easily be dragging, which would cause increased rear brake wear and reduced mileage. Here's an easier alternative to removing the entire center console...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=223592

and here's something else to consider...just more info for you...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=264958&highlight=dragging+e+brake

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=223027
 

ruking

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
San Jose area, CA
TDI
2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
atrjeep said:
2009 Jetta TDI, metal/metal on rear brakes at 18500 miles. Dealer told me that I should go through 2 sets of rears to 1 set of front brakes. Measured the pad on front and its brand new. They wanted $500 for brakes/pads, told them to go to hell after less than 20k miles. Extremely disappointed. Is this normal to burn through rear pads that quickly?

Got over 50k on my Altima and 105k on my Tahoe with more than 3/4 pad left all the way around. So, obviously I am not hard on brakes.

Please someone help me out here! I am not sure if I should get some aftermarket pads/rotors or what!

:mad: :( :mad: :(
You can search this web site for other takes. The direct answer/s is/are there are a load of yes'es and a fair amount of no's. The easy answer is brake in such a way as to transfer the weight and braking load to the front. In effect, your braking behavior transfers the weight and brake load to the REAR !!??

The first thing to do is to make sure there are no trouble issues, i.e., no dragging parking/front/rear brakes pads warped rotors, mal adjustments, etc. The dealer can check this for you. You may not trust his assessment at this point. So ask a local independent shop or local guru or GTG. Indeed you can DIY. So you really have 5 or more options.

The dealer is half right/wrong.

He is FULLY correct, if you don't understand the mechanics and/or do NOT change your braking behavior.

He is fully WRONG, if you do understand the mechanics and/or DO change your braking behavior.

So given no mal functions, he is making (his) the prediction given observation of the real world results (yours) . Based on 2 jobs @ 500 each, I am betting he does not want you to change your behavior!! You are HARD on rear brake pads !! If he did not trouble shoot or missed the problem, he is of course, incorrect.

For a host of reasons, the front wheel drive/engine VW's are built with a rear braking bias. They are made to run on the autobahn and the brake (systems) pads and rotors are fully capable of doing 125 mph to ZERO with the MAJORITY of the braking done by the front rotors and pads with of course the front weight transfer. As you can probably surmise, this is why the car has rear braking bias. So with US speed limits of 65 mph, I would guess most of your braking is done at FAR LOWER speeds and with almost no (REAR) weight transfer. You also probably trail brake a lot.

Early on, I was made aware of the rear braking bias on the VW Jetta TDI's AND the explanation above. At 127,000 miles based on the F/R pad measurements I swag the oem pads F/R will last a min of 250,000 miles.

I made the mistake of buying replacement pads (Mintex) @ 10,000 miles or so after reading many posts of pads wearing prematurely (especially REAR pads)

Let us know what you decide to do. All the best. In the very worst case DIY the pads and rotors changes.
 
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redtdi966

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2003
Location
bridgewater, NJ
TDI
09 B-graphite sedan 6-sp (Bridgewater- NJ)
The mod that was shown a few posts back that cuts a hole in the rear (backseat for 2005 jetta ) for a 2009 jetta is not possible. There is the inverter in the rear , then a blank panel behind it, and finally the P-brake mechanism is a totally different animal. It does not adjust like any other VW of prior years. I will post a photo, but it is way different.

If anyone has a procedure to adjust P-brake on 09 that would be great. I suspect that there is a very easy way to adjust the p brake, it looks like a very ellaborate assym. Gone are the days of two 10 mm nuts that you adjust for tension! Also gone are the says of a couple of screws to remove the center console!

BTW I have a 2009 JEtta.
 
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