musky

I'm getting brake judder through the steering and peddle from my nice new (well under 2k) 312mm set up on my 4x4 When it was first done there was no problem, and its intermittent even now, which is odd. Any hints what to look for other than warped discs? Happens when slowing rapidly from motorway speeds. Wheel balance been checked, tracking done, and serviced yesterday no problem found, so I'm a bit stumped. The discs and pads are from a Mintex brake box for a TT.

ap0gee

There is a school of thought (clicky) - that not everyone on here believes, I might add - that warping discs through road use is nigh-on impossible. In my own personal experience, I had noisy (but not vibrating) brakes shortly after having Mintex Extremes fitted, although this was down to the rear calipers needing a warranty mod doing. I don't know why they weren't like that with the original pads, but there you go!

Back to the vibrations, I reckon the 'prevention' method described in the link above ought to do you, or in the worst case, they might need a skim...

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Seedy Jay

Having the same problem on my 52 plate Octy 4x4, generally under light(ish) braking. Garage reckoned a 'slightly' warped disc, so that link certainly gave me food for thought! No idea what pads, discs etc are on it, probably standard. They advised me just to leave it until the pads need replacing unless it gets worse. Bit annoying really...just have to brake later and harder(!).

Gyp

My original set of disks on the Octy wore beautifully evenly, but the new ones (genuine Skoda but fitted by myself) seem to have warped and it's most annoying.

Hopefully, I'll get the wheels off in the next few weeks and check for run-out with my dial gauge

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03 Octavia 1.9TDi Elegange Estate + cruise, towbar, Parrot and anti-jack
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musky

Thanks for the clicky I'll try running them in again according to these instructions - which are not what came with the new discs/pads - as it can't make them any worse!

timjar

Hi , I have the same problem after replacing the front discs on my '03 VRS. Did you get you problem sorted Musky? Cheers

KenONeill

You say the wheels have been balanced. Did the company use a finger-plate balancer? If not, then the balance might not be right.

musky

Getting 2 new tyres on the front today so will find out again about the balancing - its not been a problem before though. I tried the running in method on the clicky above, which seems to help, but not cured totally so maybe try again. Main problem doing this is finding somewhere to do multiple stops without getting hit!

musky

Just driven 500 miles so new tyres run in! Still getting vibration on braking but its not consistent - sometimes quite bad and sometimes hardly noticeable. I'm stumped. May end up changing the discs again but I'm not happy as I don't know the cause.

KenONeill

If it's intermittent, maybe it's linked to pads that have an inconsistent performance when cold?

musky

The pads and discs were a Mintex brake box kit I fitted when I did the 312mm conversion, and the temperature seems to make no difference. Worse on light braking, gets better if you press harder, but doesn't always happen. Worse above 50mph. Car pulls up straight and quickly, but judders! Sometimes

KenONeill

Doesn't seem like pads then; Mintex are about the most consistent pads I've ever used.

Jimbo vRS

Just curious if you ever found a cure for this as I'm experiencing exactly the same problem after fitting (almost) exactly the same disks and pads?

Cheers.

musky

No never have cured it. I tried the braking hard several times in a row method a couple of times, seemed to work for a while but doesn't "stay". To be honest I was going to run them for as little time as I can get away with (down to whether swmbo notices the cost of new discs and pads - again!). The car still stops fine just judders, still sometimes worse than others. It just doesn't inspire confidence. Its had new front tyres, balanced, tracking done and been serviced and still the same, so I give up Hope you sort yours, let me know if you find anything

Jimbo vRS

Thanks for the update.
Going to have the wheels off again at the weekend I think and remove everything, give it all a good brush/clean to make sure there's nothing pushing the disk out of line. May try and get hold of a dial gauge to check the run out on the disk.
Once I know everythings fine there I'll give it a few hundred miles and some hard breaking and see if that improves things any.
If it's still not right afterthat, I think I'll try sending them back, although I'm not sure whether they'll accept a set of disks and pads back with 600 odd miles on them!

musky

Mine have a few thousand on so no chance. I tried them out tonight from about 110 (on my private track of course) and the car pulls up ok, it just doesnt feel happy having the steering wheel shaking! The rear end goes light too but thats a different matter. I expect I'll end up spending more than the Mintex box kit cost - too good to be true I think. Should know better!

KenONeill

Musky - upgraded brakes and standard Elegance or L&K? If so, then I'd suggest you're pushing the standard under-damped suspension beyond what it's happy with.

musky

Its a 4x4 Elegance. If you mean about the floaty rear end I would like to lower it a bit but not firm up the springs, and stop it rolling so much but funds will not currently allow (I didn't reply earlier to this because my laptop just went up sh*tcreek with no propulsion, so need a new one of those first). I was stamping on the brakes and shifting so a bit extreme over normal use. As I said it pulls up ok, just judders.

KenONeill

Kewel mate.
I have similar views, and am trying to find funds for Koni FSDs, and also wondering if there's any way of engineering in a bit more anti-dive without having to relocate pickups.

RichB86

i think i had a similar problem to yourself from high speed gentle braking and was intermittent. i just hammered the brakes a few times from very high speeds and then let the pads cool slowly by dirving normally with them and then repeating the process a few times. seems to have stopped for the moment atleast. but i do need new discs soon.

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musky

Er sounds more than slightly past my abilities - mans got to know his limitations to quote Clint Eastwood! Seriously though I don't want a rock hard ride (seems ok now) but just less travel possibly - shorter springs? If one broke I'd have an excuse - trouble is swmbo isn't that easily fooled, the car would have to look like it was broken

PS do Kewel make springs?

Jimbo vRS

After having the wheels off again and making sure everything looked straight and was well tightened, the problem still didn't go away. Finally got fed up and booked it in at my local garage this week.
The problem was explained to me as a manufacturing fault where the outer sections were not properly connected all the way down the centre vanes (they're vented disks). This meant that when they got hot, they got flexible and the pads actually compressed the disk, and that's what caused the vibration.
It would explain why it felt fine when the car was first started, but it got worse the longer it was driven.
Replaced them with a set of Zimmermans and the car feels right as rain again. Just about to attempt a refund out of the ebay seller.

musky

Best of luck with the refund. If what you say above is correct I will be interested obviously. I emailed someone at Mintex when I was looking at buying the box set so still have his address, and I'm wondering if these kits are kosher. If not it'll be time for trading standards I think.