Passat brakes binding????

[Gavin78]

Just bought a 51 plate Passat 1.8t Sport with 97k miles. After 3 weeks of use I noticed a rubbing/squeeking noise (particularly at low speed), this noise seems to be once per revolution of the wheels hence increases and decreases with speed though is only noticeable up to 25mph approx. This morning I noticed this noise gets louder when on a left hand lock. Three things worth mentioning - jacked the car up in each corner over the weekend and each brake disc seemed to be rubbing, secondly power steering pump seems to be quite noisey lock to lock, thirdly there seems to be a slight judder through the steering wheel when driving through corners. Bit confused with this one - kinda wish i'd keped my old Passat!!!

Gavin.

[Bryce]

Regarding the brakes, sounds like one or more discs have become warped.

[Sam]

I don't want to come across as patronising but I don't know the extent of your knowledge, so forgive me if I state the obvious.

One thing to remember is, unlike bicycle brakes, the car brakes actually sit on the disc all the time. If I jack my car up and spin a wheel I can hear the discs rubbing, this is normal.

On the inner side of the disc you should have a metal splash shield, I found that after some work on my car this had become slightly bent and was rubbing on the disc. The noise went at 30mph+ but came back with venom under this speed and when turning.

Power steering noise could be something as simple as low fluid. I know you're not meant to hold them on full-lock for too long as this damages the pump.

As for the juddering, it could be related to the noise, but it could be a loose control arm. Jack the car up again and waggle the wheel around to see if you can replicate the noise. A good idea is to tighten (to spec) all the bolts you can see.

Good luck

[passat boy]

can i point out another obvious point,2001/97k miles, thats 50k miles or 5 years extra travelling(10k miles average per year)so your brake pads are nearing the metal backing plates i would assume and the noise you hear is corrosion&filth collected on possibly steel plate only.inspect your front brake pipes as some passat models seem to rub on the strut and the results can be thrilling.as for your steering rack,they are partly noisy but is your powersteering fluid full and at the milage you specify i would change it(use main dealer hydraulic fluid only).a baster or syringe can be used to suck out from the bottle(leave a little on the bottom)and pour in new fluid.repeat weekly for 2 weeks and thats it.on the judders you get when cornering,are you braking on poor/rough surfaces as the a.b.s can unleash a hard juddering briefly as it does it's job.have your wheel alighnment and 4 wheel balancing done unless you have a reciept for this dated less than 6 months ago.rear wheels must be balanced,dont fall for the dead axle story as unbalanced wheels cant be felt on the back axle but their vibrations are felt in the rear wheel bearings that are more costly to replace than £7 each for 2 wheels to be balanced.