Brake Pad Sensors

[jimgironde]

I have a 57 plate 140TDI SE. Every time the car goes into the main dealer for any work they do the normal free visual inspection and give me a report. I think my brakes must be very special because the thickness can increase as well as decrease:D. Within a matter of weeks they can go from 80% worn to 40%. Does anybody know if I have a warning light for brake wear and if so does it include the rears? I have checked the relevant section of the weighty handbook and it alludes to them but then adds the rider that it is model specific but doesn't say which ones.

[Guest 2]

Just do a visual look yourself, if they're beefy then you're fine and I think and its a big think and I may be wrong but the pad warning light comes on at 3mm.

Most Audi's only have sensors on the front, I can't see the Passat being any different.

[RichardSEL]

Unlike most others, the pick-up sensor for brake pad wear is only on the NSF.
Last time I had one of those "free health check for the winter, sir" things they
tried to say my front disks must be worn coz I had much less pad in the front
than the back. And tried to inject me with FUD
(changed a rear caliper and so fitted new pads to both rears)

[Teflon]

Standard dealer stuff. My daughter's Polo, 1st MOT failed for needing new discs and pads. Long story short, it passed a test elsewhere, I got £50 compo plus the price of the test. It passed another 4 tests without a brake problem and is probably still tootling around somehwere with the original discs and pads.


.

[jimgironde]

Thanks for the replies. I have run the car for 70k now and still on the original pads/discs. Whilst I appreciate these checks are visual, the massive swings in wear reported don't fill me with confidence. I have had problems a few times over the years with the electronic parking brake not automatically coming off, but it will always free if I push it manually. This will last a couple of days and then clear up for 6 months or so. A couple of years ago the dealer reported the rear callipers were sticking but didn't suggest any work. It is the rear pads whose wear seems to go up and down and from the replies given here it would suggest there are no wear sensors to give me warning. I have this fear that if I let the main dealer loose they will want to replace everything, I certainly wouldn't contemplate fast fit. Perhaps it is time for me to find a good Indy? The braking efficiency of the car does not seem compromised one little bit.

[Guest 2]

Correct, no sensors on the rear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)

[RichardSEL]

Thanks for the replies. I have run the car for 70k now and still on the original pads/discs.
(snip)

Check that your sensor is actually operating and thickness of remaining pad. If you've got TRW pads fitted to original spec, the fronts will be thickness checked by the NSF sensor. This is not the same as olden days where a trailing piece of litz wire is within the brake pad material and makes electrical contact with disk when pad is worn down.

I say check your sensor and pads' thickness as at 70k you should've had this visual show up on dash by now if the pads were original factory fit. My light came on at 40k. Fronts will wear before rears so even though there's only one monitoring point, it's good enough to give an indication of rears' wear. Assuming all four changed last time. When I bought I had fronts changed for new, as part of the deal, so had 9700 miles (original owner's first year's miles) extra on the rears and still there was pad there

Disks are said to last 80 to 100k. There's a spec for minimum thickness on the 312mm diameter ones, but didn't write it down when it was posted, and now can't find it. Anyone?