05.5 Jetta Front Brake Pad Uneven Wear

Hurst89

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Feb 17, 2007
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Kentucky
TDI
2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
I was checking the tire pressure on my 05.5 jetta tdi today and while pumping up the front tires, I was looking at the brake pads to check on them and I noticed that the outer pad (maybe inner too, I couldn't see it) on both wheels is wearing uneven. The inner part of the pad (closest to the lug nuts) is dragging pretty good on the rotor while the outer part of the pad (furthest from the lug nuts) has a good 1/4 inch of clearance between the pad and the rotor. I have 38000 miles, does this sound like a problem that would be covered under warranty? The first thing that I can think of is something wrong in the caliber. Anyone else had this problem? What is likely the problem?

P.S. What pressure would you put in 235 45 17 tires? They had 32 all the way around, but I put in 43 in the rear and 41 in the fronts. Is that about right?

Thanks
Hurst
 

Hurst89

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Feb 17, 2007
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Kentucky
TDI
2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
Here is a picture of the pad and rotor so you can see what I am talking about. Is it me or does this look like a problem???




Thanks

Hurst
 

Driver_found

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Apr 21, 2005
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Phila
TDI
Former MKV Jetta TDI 5M, Former 2013 Passat TDI SE 6M, 2015 Mazda 6 Touring 6m
I just noticed this on my wife's 2.5 too. Was going to querry my dealer about this.

-Mike
 

Hurst89

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Kentucky
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2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
Let me know what you find. I am thinking about calling the dealer and asking them. If it is not going to be covered by warrenty, then I will take it to an independent wheel and brake shop that is really good. I am also coming up for the 40k oil/filters change and am trying to decide if I want to order the parts online and do it myself or go to the stealership... I am really wanting to do it myself, so I probably will, but if it goes in for warrenty work, I figured I might as well let them do it while its there...

Hurst
 

TwoTone

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Sep 30, 2005
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DMV
TDI
05.5 Jetta (sold)
After 10 years of turning wretches I have rarely seen a completely even wear pattern.

Some car do, but some cars wear the top out faster; others wear out the bottom out.

As long as the caliper isn't actually dragging/stuck, you're fine.

Hard to tell in picture, but what would concern me more is what ever appears to be stuck between the rotor and pad.
 

Vipervnm

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Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Location
Kingwood, NJ
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
I have the same wear on my front brake pads as well. Of the Ford's, Chevy's, Dodge's, Mercedes', Jeep's, and Toyota's brakes that I have changed, I have never seen skewed wearing this severe. In fact, I've rarely seen skewed wearing at all. I just noticed mine last week and plan to question the dealer on this one. The bottom of the pad appears to be pretty useless since it hasn't got much wear on it at all. Now that I know others out there are also experiencing this I have a little ammunition.
 

Hurst89

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Kentucky
TDI
2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
The stuff stuck between the rotor and pad is just a little rust from where I washed my car right before taking this picture and drove it back to its parking spot in the driveway... I may call the dealer early next week and see about having it looked at. What really bothers me is the inner part of the pad dragging so much...and hurting the fuel economy... If anyone gets any information, let us know because my warrenty is coming to an end in another 10k...

Hurst
 

RHS

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Location
Louisville, KY
TDI
'06 TDI, pkg 1, 5 sp.
Just my opinion and not confirmed by VW, but the outer diameter of the disc is turning faster than the inner diameter (in velocity terms; rpm of course is the same). Therefore, there is more friction as you move further out on the disc (away from the center), producing more heat and thus, more pad wear.
 

zanakas

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Mar 11, 2005
Location
PA
TDI
2005.5 Jetta 160k - original cam, clutch
This is normal to VW's, and I think every A5 on here will look like that. Whether it is "right", I dunno. My A4 did the same... darn FN3 caliper. I have 53k on the car, and no pad sensor lit yet.....
It has to do with the rubber bushing for the floating caliper slides...it allows for a bit more "give" in the caliper action, taking up any pulses due to eccentricities in the rotors. This allows the caliper to rock on the rotor, causing the odd wear.

I've seen kits to compensate for this, touting better pad wear and firmer braking...but I'd prepare for some harshness in the pedal...

http://www.tyrolsport.com/vwperformance.htm
 

Hurst89

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2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
I know that there is more friction at the outer part of the pad, but I have seen the front brake pads on my Dad's F150 and they were worn within 2-3 panic stops from the rivits, but worn evenly across. Normally pads are trapizoid shaped to make up for this difference in the amount of velocity between the inner and outer part of the rotor. I just don't want to be driving around without the brakes in good working order...never know when you will need everything they have. I checked them at around 33000 miles I think, maybe 31-32000 and they were worn evenly across, not in a slant like this...

Hurst
 

Vipervnm

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Kingwood, NJ
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
Hurst89 said:
I just don't want to be driving around without the brakes in good working order...never know when you will need everything they have.
Hurst
I agree with you 100%. I'll deifinitely be keeping a close eye on mine. It's a shame that the pads will be worn out on top while nearly 1/2 of the pad's volume is still there. Seems like a waste and poor engineering. I'll definitely be looking into that kit to see if that will correct this design flaw. That's what it is, a flaw. If it was supposed to work this way why wouldn't the pads be slanted straight from the factory? Come on, VW, you're better than this.
 

40X40

Experienced
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Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Vipervnm said:
I agree with you 100%. I'll deifinitely be keeping a close eye on mine. It's a shame that the pads will be worn out on top while nearly 1/2 of the pad's volume is still there. Seems like a waste and poor engineering. I'll definitely be looking into that kit to see if that will correct this design flaw. That's what it is, a flaw. If it was supposed to work this way why wouldn't the pads be slanted straight from the factory? Come on, VW, you're better than this.
Design flaw might be a bit strong without knowing if this is common to all our cars.
It is however, something I will watch out for on my own cars. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Bill
 

Hurst89

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Kentucky
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2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
Thanks for keeping an eye out on your cars. If everyone could just take a glance at their pads while they check their air pressure (Assuming you have alloy wheels that you can see your pads through) and report what you see, it would be a great help for me and everyone else who may be having the same issue to see if it is a defect or just a poor design. Also, if anyone with the GTI/GLI brake upgrade can look at theirs after 30k miles or so and report back, that would be a big help because if the GTI/GLI brakes don't have this problem, but nearly all stock brakes do, then it may be a good reason to invest in a conversion kit to GTI/GLI brakes. Thanks for all the help with this! I wil try to get my car into the dealer to have them look at it and throw a fit about it to see what they can do...

Hurst
 

demox

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Mar 16, 2005
Location
Montreal
TDI
Jetta TDI 2000
Just make sure you use a torquewrench set at 90psi when you put back your wheels....even .010th of inch deviation will make the rotor.. run out on the outer edge.... and cause the problems you described,
most tire shops use a torquegun set at 125psi ++... the result= warped rotors.
IMHO
 
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Hurst89

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Kentucky
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2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
Hmmm...That may verywell be the problem. I torqued them with an impact wrench once on medium setting, but when I put these wheels on, I torqued them with the spare tire tool by standing on the end of it for each wheel when it was parallel to the ground (figured that would be around 100 ftlbs since I weigh around 150 and I was standing probably 10 inches from the pivot point. Sounds like it is time to invest in a torque wrench that reads well for our farm shop... I will still probably try to have it looked at to make sure it isn't the calibers...
Thanks!
Hurst
 

Hurst89

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2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
Just was thinking and wondering if the torque was the problem, would it be any use in retorqueing the wheels? Also, when they warp, wouldn't they warp in more of a wave pattern instead of bowing the outher edge only? I still believe it is more of a design flaw or a problem with the caliber to be as severe as it is, but I do agree that the wheels still need to be torqued correctly and I am going to try to get a torque wrench for the shop really soon...

Hurst
 

zanakas

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PA
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2005.5 Jetta 160k - original cam, clutch
when you torque your wheels, you torque directly into the hub, the rotor just acts as a spacer. you'd snap your lug bolts long before you deform your rotor...

deformation occurs due to heat cycling, rapid cooldowns.
 

demox

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Montreal
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Jetta TDI 2000
That famous spacer is less than 1/4 "thick and rusted inside out,also if one uses an impact wrench set at 130 psi +. bolting uneven pattern....+ time is money and the car has to be out fast, you end up with this....I had two rotors that measured 6mm on one side and 8mm on the other (20,000 km.. 9mm when new) the new ones are about 8mm thick all around for the same.... kms... after cleaninig the hubs and using a torque wrench set at 90psi
hth
 

Vipervnm

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Kingwood, NJ
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2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
I'm not completely buying into the warped rotor theory because in my experience the pad would wear to the angle of the warp and then the worn surface would be roughly parallel to the rotor depending on the irregularity of the warp. And if the warp is really that bad, you would feel it very easily in the pedal. This is not the case at all. I know my wheels were tightened properly because I tightened the lugs myself. The rear wheels are not experiencing this issue, just the front. The fact that there are kits out there that remedy the problem by replacing certain parts once again leads me to believe that this is a design flaw and not a lug nut issue. I've got an appointment to see the stealer as soon as I get back into town in two weeks. Can we at least agree that there's a possibility that VW could have done something imperfect here? Not everything is user error, come on guys.
 

demox

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Montreal
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Jetta TDI 2000
I agree about the warping... I lean towards the part that we call spacer
1) we dont know if the spacer is machined parallel let say within .001th
2) X number of times we dismount & mount the wheels clamping on the same spacer rusted or not.. parallel with the hub.. or not & most certainly not on the same pattern that when we installed the wheel when the rotor was new (3-4years ago maybe)
3) after all that we expect the rotors to run perfectly true...?(no way)
4) Its more like a maintenance issue + parts that are not up to spec.. rather than design flaws.
imho
 

Vipervnm

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2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
demox said:
(snip) Its more like a maintenance issue + parts that are not up to spec.. rather than design flaws.
imho
Then VW needs to get a handle on their production tolerances because I have never, ever seen this on any of my cars, my family's cars, or any of my friends cars all of which I perform the maintanance on. My VW is the first VW I've worked on and I'm hearing this is normal and unavoidable? Somehow domestic car makers with their "poor quality" (I completely disagree) have completely avoided a design that is subject to such tight tolerances. VW is paying to fix this. This is NOT normal across the automotive industry. I don't like the idea of losing faith in my braking system.

Also, this isn't an old car, it's 13 months old and meticulously maintained. Critical parts shouldn't be rusting to the point that they are unusable in a year. Since the rear brakes seem to have higher quality spacers (there's no uneven wear there) what the hell is the difference between front and rear spacers? Problem solved if I put those up front? Nah. This is a design flaw. Either the materials specified aren't up to the job or the tolerances are too great, it doesn't matter which. The system isn't working the way it should...and only in the front on a car with a rear brake bias. I'm highly suspicious. All I need to hear is how the front pads are wearing on the GLI's/ GTI's. If the pads are wearing evenly, then I'm ditching the flawed ones for calipers/carriers that work.
 
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Vipervnm

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Kingwood, NJ
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2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
Not to add fuel to the fire, but as a sanity check I looked at the pads on about a dozen cars with open alloy wheels in the parking lot outside on the way to lunch. They all looked pretty evenly worn to me...
 

Hurst89

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Kentucky
TDI
2005.5 Pkg 0 5spd TDI
I will try to call the dealer and get an appointment set up after I get my oil changed when the stuff arrives from TDIparts.com. I meant to ask them yesterday when I called to price the 40k mile service for a 5spd if they have seen any rotors, but when Don Jacobs said they wanted $550 to do an oil change, air filter change (engine and cabin), and fuel filter change and tried to sell me on a timing belt inspection as part of the service (what are they going to do? I doubt they are going to pull it out and check the belt and make sure all the bearings in the rollers are good...) I hung up the phone without asking about taking the car in for a warranty problem. I am thinking it has something to do with the pad material used on the front brakes, but I really like the idea of upgrading to GLI GTI parts if they don't have this problem :) unless VW is going to give me brakes under warrenty, which as far as I can tell, they should.

Hurst
 

blackbodypie

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Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Location
Toronto, Canada
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
I'm experiencing this issue, about as severe as the OP, on my 2001 Golf with the FN3 caliper. Any updates on possible causes? I'm thinking it's due to cheap parts.
 

hid3

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Apr 28, 2007
Location
Lithuania, Vilnius
TDI
Golf V 1.9 TDI-PD 105 HP
This is normal. Brake pad near the center has less contact surface than near the edges. My rotors are totalled (I should have replaced them before installing new pads!) and they're worn the same: less wear near center and more equal wear in other area.
 
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