Brakes, Brake Linings

DieselMann99

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Location
Westchester County NY
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI w/ Premium, DSG (Buyback Nov 2018); 2013 Jetta TDI (bought Dec 2018); also, bought a CPO 2017 Passat TSI (Nov 2018)
I have close to 80k miles on my Jetta and at a recent inspection, I'm told that the OEM brake linings are less than 50% worn. My driving is about 50/50 highway and local.

Now I know that the Jetta is a fairly light car, which tends to be easy on brake linings, but I happen to believe that the main reason for the extraordinary life of the brake linings is driving style. I use my brakes FAR less than 98% of other drivers on the road. I anticipate what's coming up ahead, take my foot off the gas pedal early, and do numerous other things to avoid having to step on the brake. And it's not a chore, it comes natural, I think of it as good driving technique. Just as an example, when I drive to the next town, it's about a 5 mile drive on a windy, curvy, slightly hilly road. I drive there and never step on the brake once. Most drivers I'm behind will step on their brake 25 - 50 times on this 5 mile trip, every time there's a curve, every time there's a downhill, every time there's a bump in the road, etc. I see drivers all the time step on their brake for no perceivable, comprehensible, rational reason whatsoever.

So my question is, what kind of life do you get out of your brake linings in your Jetta TDI, and what kind of driving do you do? Is my experience somewhat typical or unusual?
 
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turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Pretty much everyone here is getting well over 100k miles from the factory brake pads, so you aren't quite as remarkable as you think. I replaced my rears at ~110k and fronts at ~130k. They both had lots of friction material left, but I wanted to get another 100k from the rotors, so I replaced them a bit early.
 

DieselMann99

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Location
Westchester County NY
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI w/ Premium, DSG (Buyback Nov 2018); 2013 Jetta TDI (bought Dec 2018); also, bought a CPO 2017 Passat TSI (Nov 2018)
Pretty much everyone here is getting well over 100k miles from the factory brake pads, so you aren't quite as remarkable as you think. I replaced my rears at ~110k and fronts at ~130k. They both had lots of friction material left, but I wanted to get another 100k from the rotors, so I replaced them a bit early.
OK, that sounds pretty close to my numbers. So what is the reason why they last so long? I do have the sense that most of the people on this Forum are astute drivers who do the same things that I described. Is it that, or is it just something about the brake system or the car itself?
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Probably a bit of both. But they are incredibly long wearing brakes. Just good design and high quality brake pads/rotors.
 

Scongiundi

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2017
Location
Texas
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI (6spd manual), 2015 Jetta TDI SE (6spd manual)
I have close to 80k miles on my Jetta and at a recent inspection, I'm told that the OEM brake linings are less than 50% worn. My driving is about 50/50 highway and local.

Now I know that the Jetta is a fairly light car, which tends to be easy on brake linings, but I happen to believe that the main reason for the extraordinary life of the brake linings is driving style. I use my brakes FAR less than 98% of other drivers on the road. I anticipate what's coming up ahead, take my foot off the gas pedal early, and do numerous other things to avoid having to step on the brake. And it's not a chore, it comes natural, I think of it as good driving technique. Just as an example, when I drive to the next town, it's about a 5 mile drive on a windy, curvy, slightly hilly road. I drive there and never step on the brake once. Most drivers I'm behind will step on their brake 25 - 50 times on this 5 mile trip, every time there's a curve, every time there's a downhill, every time there's a bump in the road, etc. I see drivers all the time step on their brake for no perceivable, comprehensible, rational reason whatsoever.

So my question is, what kind of life do you get out of your brake linings in your Jetta TDI, and what kind of driving do you do? Is my experience somewhat typical or unusual?
I'm right there with you. I use exact same techniques to minimize braking (and maximize fuel economy)--anticipating traffic/traffic lights, seeing brake lights several cars ahead, maintaining a constant speed and reducing your acceleration, etc. I was taught to drive like that but my observation is that most people have no clue and drive very brainlessly with no care for braking, acceleration, etc. I would not be surprised if more TDI owners drove like us, though. I'm going on 90k miles on my 2013 Jetta TDI with its original brakes.
 

DieselMann99

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Location
Westchester County NY
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI w/ Premium, DSG (Buyback Nov 2018); 2013 Jetta TDI (bought Dec 2018); also, bought a CPO 2017 Passat TSI (Nov 2018)
I'm right there with you. I use exact same techniques to minimize braking (and maximize fuel economy)
Every time you step on your brake, you're converting diesel fuel into brake lining heat.
I'd rather convert diesel fuel into forward motion.
 

jetlagmech

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Location
Toledo, WA
TDI
2010 jetta
I followed my uncle to a family get together once and saw his brake lights flash a hundred times during the drive. I rode in the car with him on the way home and saw he was a 2 foot driver. his left foot rested on the brake pedal.

When teaching the daughter to drive I always pointed out the drivers weaving in and out of lanes accelerating and braking constantly trying to get one more car ahead in line to impress upon her how much more money they spend in fuel, and wear and tear maintenance. But she was a teen.... so don't know how much of it got thru the hair dye and attitude shields she kept up.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Rolled 138K on the stock rear pads, biggest thing I think saves is coasting to a stop in gear, then tossing the clutch when the tach reached 1200-1100RPM.

I still drive with both feet even now with the DSG, my left leg will go into "clutch atrophy" in another month thou :(
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Changed the rears at 100K miles when they got down to metal to metal. Fronts have about 1/3 left at 180K miles. Trying to get 200K out of the rotors is is flawed logic because the rotors will most likely warp or glaze before the 2nd set of pads are worn out.
Every time you step on your brake, you're converting diesel fuel into brake lining heat.
I'd rather convert diesel fuel into forward motion.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^:cool:
You do see a lot of people that have no clue on how to drive a stick properly. My favorite knucklehead argument when they don't downshift and coast with the clutch in up to a stop is that brakes are a lot cheaper than a clutch.

Well guess what genius? If you somehow never had to start moving from a stop and the only wear was from shifting gears, you would get about a million miles from your clutch.
 
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turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
If you wait for metal on metal to occur you certainly shouldn't be reusing rotors. My rotors will easily make 200k miles no problem. They're at over 150k now with no grooves or warping. Stops like new. A few folks are getting 200k on both the rotors and the pads.
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
VW does not specify when to replace the rotors only to inspect them and if they are serviceable according to the inspection criteria I suppose they could be run forever. And always replace in pairs if you replace them. You learn something new every day.:cool:

My front factory original rotors are glazed which would be cause for replacement at the next pad change if the pads ever wear out. 180K miles with about 1/3 material left right now.
 
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740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Changed the rears at 100K miles when they got down to metal to metal.
That's the difference, we have whats called yearly inspections up here, cause the politicians want us to be "safer". The shops fail the pads if they are 2/32nd or less. They will usually fail them on visual guesstimate well before it is actually 2/32nds.

Unless you are being aggressive and drive crazy amount it'd be tough to go from good brakes to metal to metal in a year (seeing they lasted 130K on the first 9/32).

The shop guy said no problem tossing new pads on original rotors, granted I wouldn't have done that if I was keeping the Jetta, but I just needed to go another couple months.
 
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