2000 VW Golf Brakes

[wavinwayne]

While browsing the internet for replacement rear brake pads for my 2000 VW Golf GTI, I seem to be running across a popular theme. It is this:

"O.E. replacement - Replace Original Equipment Semi-Metallic With Semi-Metallic Only."

What is the reason for this?

Also, my Bentley repair manual says that I must replace the caliper "self-locking" mounting bolts with new ones every time I remove & re-attach the calipers. You & I both know that brake shops won't replace these bolts with new ones. VW never ceases to dissapoint me.

 

[wavinwayne]

Anybody?

 

[moribundman]

OEM brake pads for VW and Audi are generally made by ATE/Teves. The brakes are Lucas or Girling. Beats me what material the OEM pads are. They are asbestos-free and appear semi metallic by their looks. Good all-round performers, but dusty ones. I don't see any reason why you couldn't possibly use other dedicated pads like Mintex etc.

The caliper bolts must be replaced as they are stretch-to-yield when torqued properly. That works only once. On my Audi the caliper bolts in the rear are of that particular type. In the front, the caliper bolts are different and reusable. A new OEM set of rear pads comes with new caliper bolts that have even the proper thread locker already applied. It really couldn't be any more convenient, so I don't know why you complain? If you know a shop won't follow protocol, you'll blame VW? Jeez, blame the shop for failing to do the job properly.

Another example for bolts that must be replaced each time they've been removed are bolts on the tie rod ends. You do not want those bolts to come loose or fail. If you buy a set of tie rods, it will also come with a set of new bolts.

[ March 26, 2006, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: moribundman ]

 

[Jim 5]

I'm not sure of how your calipers mount, but if they slide along the bolts to self-center, be sure to lube the bolts with the special caliper bolt/slide grease.

Of course, go with whatever Bently says is the correct procedure, but don't omit this step if listed as many people (like me) have done.

It causes pad drag and premature failure.

 

[wavinwayne]

Thanks for the info, Mori.

Your right; I do often tend to blame the wrong party when something happens to my dislike (just ask my wife). I think this is referred to as my emotions acting without the benefit of intellect.

 

[robbobster]

Wayne I think I still have the VW rear-brake caliper-compresion tool if you want to borrow it.

It's like a C-Clamp that also screws the piston down. I bought it a while back, my girl at the time had a New Beetle. I'm 99% sure it's the same setup for the GTI.

Shoot me a PM if interested.

 

[wavinwayne]

Hey guys, I almost forgot about this thread. I did the rear brakes yesterday. What a pain in the butt. I've changed plenty of brake pads, & these were by far the most finnicky of any car I've ever worked on.

Couple that with the replacement caliper bolt/caliper slide pin dust boot not being quite right, & me discovering that one of the caliper slide pins has developed some slop & needs to be replaced, & I had one long, frustrating day.

Soon I will go to the dealer (like I should have to begin with) & get the rear caliper repair kit, & get everything "up-to-snuff".

I rented the caliper reset tool from AZ. I also went with El Cheapo Duralast pads. I'm simply not into all the performance brake upgrades, or any other performance upgrades, for that matter. (OEM....it's the "new" mod)

 

[moribundman]

I always thought the brakes were very simple with surprisingly few parts. Were your rear brake components similar to these of my A4?

The two bolts with the blue threadlocker are the ones that come with new rear pads and that must be replaced.

 

[wavinwayne]

Yes,

My set-up is similar, but for some reason, I just had a tough time with the job. Things like this don't usually give me any problem. I guess it just wasn't my day.

I replaced the caliper mounting bolts, BTW. Saturday evening, I ordered the bolts & rubber boots (like the ones in your pic.) as a kit (Beck-Arnley) from Advance Auto Parts, & they had them for me on Sunday morning. I was dissapointed in the fit of the replacement boots. They are bigger on one end than the OEM boots, & it just doesn't seem that they will keep the junk out. I'm going to take everything back apart soon, & do a complete clean-up/re-build.

One thing that I don't understand:
How do you know when the piston has been rotated/pushed in far enough? Can it be pushed in too far? My Bentley manual doesn't specify.

[ March 27, 2006, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: wavinwayne ]

 

[valaker]

I'd say "far enough" to allow the new pads to comfortably slide into the caliper and clear the rotor. I made the mistake of doing the rear brakes on my Passat w/o the piston retraction tool. Had to get creative (don't ask)

 

[ChiTDI]

wayne
This site has a lot of "help" and people who really know this stuff. They will help with your questions, provide support, etc.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=51211&highlight=rear+brake+How-to

Metalnerd's tools are awesome. His brake wind back tool is "shared" by many on the forum.
Hope this helps.

 

[ChiTDI]

I forgot to add:
The 02 that I did fortunately did not require replacement of the caliper bolts. Search the site and see if there are replacement bolts that are reuseable for your next brake job.
TDIparts.com is one source and ImpexFAP.com is another.

 

[Dave H]

Guys,

If those rear caliper pistons are like my Maxima's, they need turned clockwise to screw them back in, right? A special "turn-in" tool is supposedly needed for Maximas, also, but I have done several with a pair of needle nose pliers. It works surprisingly well. I have read on a Maxima forum of some guys' pistons being too "tight" for this, though. I suspect that they were probably needing replacing or rebuilt by that stage, though.

Wavinwayne,
I have sen the quote you had in the original post several times, myself (replace OEM semi-metallic with sem-metallic and ceramic with ceramic). I have read that this is due to the rotor composition needing to match the pad composition. If the two don't match, unwanted noise can occur. Supposedly having something to do with density of materials and resonance, etc...
After researching a lot for my recent front brake job, I concluded that ceramic pads generally actually have a lower co-efficient of friction. This means less bite. However, they generally dust much less than semi-metallic, and also make less noise. The dust they create is generally a lighter color, too, so it is harder to see.
Kevlar type pads (EBC Green Stuff is one) supposedly bite pretty good, but many have complained of excess dust and noise.
I finally chose Bendix Import Quiets for my Maxima. They're a semi-metallic, with Bendix's special coating to help bedding in (Titanium metallic or something like that). I now have over 500 miles on them, and couldn't be happier. They have been absolutely quiet (constructed with some type of sound absorption/cancelling stuff) and bite hard hot or cold. They are definitely a step above OEM, and Maxima's have really good brakes from the factory. Dusting is about the same as OEM, but isn't one of my biggest concerns because I wash my car very often.
Other pads I considered were Hawk HPS (more $ than I wanted to spend), Performance Friction Carbon-metallic (previous experience with them on Police Interceptors was excellent braking but lots of dust), and an Akebono pad but was out of stock.

Dave