I have just replaced the front discs on my 2018 2.0 TSI FR. The car had covered only 15 000 miles when I noticed a slight brake judder and when checked by a mechanic the front discs were badly corroded. I found this hard to believe, this being my third Mk.3 Leon and never having had this problem before. The mechanic informed me they were seeing quite a few newish vehicles with similar issues which he put down to the manufacturers cutting costs and using cheap parts. I replaced them with Pagid discs and pads which have a much better bite than the originals. This would also seem to be the case as I have had to replace the battery after two and a half years as that "died". Again, not a problem on previous Leons. Can't say I am impressed as I would expect better from SEAT.
Badly corroded brake discs
- Thread starter smuger smiff
- Start date
At 3 years old and 15k miles i would suspect they are corroded more so due to lack of use.
5k a year is low mileage so that will cause a build up of rust on the discs between drives
5k a year is low mileage so that will cause a build up of rust on the discs between drives
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Exactly what I was going to say. My car has had little use over the past couple of years and the brake disks now have corroded strips that never wear off. Never had it before the pandemic.
Why do you find corrosion hard to believe?
Brake discs are un-coated grey cast iron - (any coating obviously wears of the friction surface after 1x brake application) and cast iron ferrous metal is going to rust.
If you use your brakes daily, this light corrosion on your iron discs is easily cleaned off keeping your discs nice and shiny, also reducing chances of brake noise and judder issues.
If you don't use your brakes daily corrosion will build up and eat into the friction surface.
Have a look at ANY Tesla brake discs - I've recently inspected 5x M3P brakes and all have had deep score marks and corrosion due to not being used.
Depends how deep the corrosion is but sometimes a good burnish of the brakes can restore them - 10 stops from 60mph to 20mph.
Your mechanic will be seeing a lot of similar issues due to the pandemic and cars not being used as much. Nothing to do with cost cutting. Your OEM discs will be better quality than Pagid (or any Aftermarket brand for that matter)
Brake discs and pads need to be used to stay in good shape - as you are only doing a low mileage per year try to include some heavy stops to get some heat into the brakes and keep them clean.
Can you share a photo of your old discs?
Hi,
No the discs have been disposed of but I take your point regarding lack of use. I will try a bit more heavy breaking although that normally sets the wife off moaning. I am pleased with the way the Pagid discs are performing and I am sure they claimed to be a minimum OEM standard. Smudge
I'm sure the Pagid discs will work fine, as with other well known Aftermarket brands, I was just trying to point out that the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) discs which were on the car are very good and what the aftermarket suppliers 'aspire' to match.
I'm afraid every aftermarket supplier now says 'OEM equivalent' or some other marketing nonsense. Really a meaningless statement.
Yes, I too have to do my 'heavy breaking' without the other half in the car
It does sound contradictory to say to use you brakes more for them to last longer - but its a balance between over using them, and wearing them out VS under using them and having to change them anyway due to corrosion.
In general as said this will all be down to reduced used during lockdown periods and still no sign of long term returning to old habits, that holds true for your battery as well, though the battery probably has also suffered from being a permanently under charged EFB, a few "recon" recharging goes with a smart charger normally helps to revive them, though frequent "topping up" using a smart charger during lockdown should have avoided this.
I've found that especially Polo/Ibiza sized VW Group cars come from the factory with extremely poor discs when talking in terms of rotting early in service while a car is being "well used", replacing them with cheap suitable products from Pagid has always worked for me. Audi, well in my case an S4 seems to fit at factory discs that exhibit extremely good resistance to rot even when under used, which is handy!
I've prepared to replace the Exide EFB in my wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, something has forced the charging profile/behaviour to change, but so far that battery is still "doing its job" and tests show that it is very healthy - a new AGM slightly bigger battery is waiting to get fitted but so far that has not needed to fitted - I do keep an eye on the charging behaviour via a cheap plug in DVM in the 12V DC socket and will act quickly when things look not so good. If you have ever fitted one of these plug in DVMs into the 12V DC power socket in a car from early in its life, you might be surprised to see a step change in the charging behaviour - I was!
Edit:- I found that changing the battery serial number improved the way the battery was being charged - but for how long remains to be seen, round about 3 months has passed since I did that.
I've found that especially Polo/Ibiza sized VW Group cars come from the factory with extremely poor discs when talking in terms of rotting early in service while a car is being "well used", replacing them with cheap suitable products from Pagid has always worked for me. Audi, well in my case an S4 seems to fit at factory discs that exhibit extremely good resistance to rot even when under used, which is handy!
I've prepared to replace the Exide EFB in my wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, something has forced the charging profile/behaviour to change, but so far that battery is still "doing its job" and tests show that it is very healthy - a new AGM slightly bigger battery is waiting to get fitted but so far that has not needed to fitted - I do keep an eye on the charging behaviour via a cheap plug in DVM in the 12V DC socket and will act quickly when things look not so good. If you have ever fitted one of these plug in DVMs into the 12V DC power socket in a car from early in its life, you might be surprised to see a step change in the charging behaviour - I was!
Edit:- I found that changing the battery serial number improved the way the battery was being charged - but for how long remains to be seen, round about 3 months has passed since I did that.
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