how long do original brakes last?

anyone have an idea of how long original brakes/rotors last on the 2009-2010 jsw's? thanks.

A start can be what mileage are you getting now on oem brake pads and rotors? In general or SWAG for you personally?

It really gets down to mileage, your conditions, habits: if you have "consumptive habits", how much are you willing to change, how you use your DSG/M/T 6 speeds, goals.

One easy bar would be: did you know about the VW rear braking bias (literally around for @ least a decade) and how are you handling it?

My front rotors are a little worse for wear but the pads are not even half way at 75k miles. Back brakes, pads replaced at 40k and need to be done soon again. I will replace the back rotors this time.

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Living in the country, as I do, I expect +100K, like I got from my 02 TDI Wagon. This time, the pads are fine at 60K on the 2010 SportWagen but the rear disks are both quite scored, although I plan to leave them until the pads need replacing. My experience with after-market disks on the 02 Wagon was not good (pulsation on braking.) In fact, I decided that I would only use OEM disks in future; yet, with badly scored rear disks on the 2010 SportWagen, I'm not so sure. Are high quality disks are hard to come by, these days?

jaberoo said:

Living in the country, as I do, I expect +100K, like I got from my 02 TDI Wagon. This time, the pads are fine at 60K on the 2010 SportWagen but the rear disks are both quite scored, although I plan to leave them until the pads need replacing. My experience with after-market disks on the 02 Wagon was not good (pulsation on braking.) In fact, I decided that I would only use OEM disks in future; yet, with badly scored rear disks on the 2010 SportWagen, I'm not so sure. Are high quality disks are hard to come by, these days?

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No, if you stay with oem rotors and brake pads. YES, IF one has special purpose wants/needs !

So for example with app 179,000 miles (my) the OEM fronts and rear brake pads are more than half left AND I swag good to go to easily 250,000 miles.

Mine are ~45% left in rear, 55% in front. My bias is to highway, but a lot of city driving, too. In either case, the roads are jammed and I brake more than I would on the open interstate, by *far*, even practicing good driving habits (no tailgating, coasting--in gear--to a stop etc.) to the max possible without getting shot at by impatient lugnuts.

Oh yeah, and those figures were measured at 40K mi. So, assuming nothing changes, for me my best SWAG is 70-80 K mi.

As they say, your mileage truly will vary.
~T

jaberoo said:

Are high quality disks are hard to come by, these days?

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I've been buying pads. rotors, and hardware kits from rapidparts.com for previous VWs and my previous A4 Avant. I'll go there when I need rotors and pads.

The hardware kit has parts likeclips, bolts, and slider boots slider bolts, depending upon application. A friend that is a VW tech thought that the the kit had slider boots was neat.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4831400-Thanks-again-Matt.-Working-on-car-content.

My '03 had plenty of life left on them at 110k miles. Depends upon your driving habits, etc, etc.

On our B5.5 Passat I got 160k km out of the brakes. How long brakes last is proportional to how you use them. Tailgating, racing to red lights and city driving take their toll.

If a car is built with real compatible brake components (pads and rotors) then they can last a long time. It also depends on the driver too. Bought a brand new 1981 VW Dasher wagon and got 165,000 out of the front pads and 220,000 out of the rear shoes.

I should know this but what does SWAG mean in VW braking terminology? All I can think of is swagger...which makes no sense!

I know that WAG stands for Wild A** Guess (or similar) so I will assume the 'S' is a colorful adjective to add more pizzaz to this acronym!

thanks for all replies. im at 43K and the rears have 4-5 mm pad left. so im guessing 70-80K for the rear pads. the fronts, strangly enough, are BEVELED pads, not flat. strange...never looked at them before. do they angle in to brake the pads flat? anyway, there's 12mm at the wide part of the bevel so probably 100K for the front.

my 2006 is still on factory brakes @ 245000 kms but I think it will be soon but I thought that 100000 kms ago. I'm just going to keep going till I need them.

Mine needed replacement at 105000km.


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Jeffbucc said:

I should know this but what does SWAG mean in VW braking terminology? All I can think of is swagger...which makes no sense!

Click to expand...

A little google-foo: http://www.swag.de/en/home.html

Looks like SWAG is a subsidiary of Bilstein and produces the OEM brake kits.

schultp said:

I know that WAG stands for Wild A** Guess (or similar) so I will assume the 'S' is a colorful adjective to add more pizzaz to this acronym!

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Scientific is a swear word?

engineered2win said:

Scientific is a swear word?

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Huh??

depends on how many track days you do!

schultp said:

Huh??

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The more common (?) definition of SWAG is Scientific Wild A$$ed Guess. Thus confusion about the use of the word SWAG...

YMMV.

I've got ~75,000 miles on original pads/rotors both front and rear. Both have about 1/2 material left.

When I replace, I'm planning on sticking with OEM rotors and pads. One after market pad I've had great luck with (many different makes of vehicle) is Wagner's ThermoQuiet pads. Great quality imo.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned concerning front brake wear is driving conditions. If you have a light foot, and only see rain, the brakes will last longer. If you drive in snow and ice, and constantly get the electronic stability light coming on, your brakes will wear out faster.

I was at about 95K when my brakes were replaced (front and back) in the 2006 Mk5 Jetta.

Michael

201,500 miles still all original brake components. Yes, I do lots of highway miles but drive in snow and ice too.

tadurkee;4053232[I said:

]201,500 miles still all original brake components.[/I] Yes, I do lots of highway miles but drive in snow and ice too.

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You set the bar way, way up there, amigo. Gives us all a goal.
thanks, ez (gathering data anticipating JSW TDI 6M purchase after IRS refund)

UberVW_TDI said:

When I replace, I'm planning on sticking with OEM rotors and pads. One after market pad I've had great luck with (many different makes of vehicle) is Wagner's ThermoQuiet pads. Great quality imo.

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That's what I did. My Indy guy asked me if I wanted to upgrade (he doesn't sell upgraded kits but said knowing how I love my car that now would be the time to upgrade) but I hadn't really given it a lot of thought and said nah just do the OEMs for now. I get home and tell the wife and she said you should've upgraded if it makes you stop better. Now I'm pissed off I didn't do a higher end system


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Touareg Brakes

I have 64,000 miles on my 2014 Touareg TDI.I took it in for it's 60K check and was told the brakes were only half worn.When it comes time for brakes I will perform the replacement myself.

I had the original brakes on my MK6 Golf at 135K before trading in. I drove quite a bit of city, but I think they lasted so long because I drove around using sport mode(lots of engine braking) on the DSG.

You should check pad thickness on Maintenance schedule... That will tell you how much you have left. You really should track that and proactively change it.

How many miles do VW brakes last? It depends on how you drive. Do you use engine braking on manual trans (or just push clutch in and use all brakes)? If you have DSG trans you get engine braking unless you put it in to neutral. If you do all highway and use engine braking and anticipate stops and turns using brakes sparingly they can last as others say... long time.

Of course if you drive like a bat out of hell, stop and go, never coast and slam brakes on last minute before you need to slow down or stop... they will last a lot less. Have a look at them (or get a local shop). Even Firestone can check the brakes and likely will do it for free. I bet the dealer if you talk nice to them and they are not busy will check brake pads...

You can check them if so inclined. You have to jack car and remove rim and use measuring caliper to get actual thickness. However depending on rim (open spoke mag rims), with inspection mirror and flashlight, you can see pad thickness with rim installed, especially the rear, with smaller disk diameter. You can guesstimate by eyeball the thickness. New they are about 10mm (0.39). If you are down to 2 to 3 mm pad thickness replace them. You are just looking for good enough. If in doubt, proper method is rim off and make actual measurement of thickness to service manual limits. Also measure disk thickness as well. The PADS on the inside wears faster, as caliper piston pushes on it. The outside pad floats.

VW is weird regarding front to back pad wear. The VW has brake bias and uses rear more to avoid noise diving (and of course anti-lock). Typically on most cars front pads wear faster, but on VW that is pretty even or rear wears faster that front, due to this brake bias (unlike other vehicles without brake bias).

There are videos and online info on how to check pad wear. However if you neglect them they will start to sequel, may see more brake dust on rim. Some cars have a filament embedded in the pad. When it is worn the filament breaks and triggers a light in cockpit. This of course is bad idea as you can damage brake disk...