[Daisy Toke]

My 3-yr old 2.0 (140) 4x4 Yeti has just gone in for its first major service (long-life) at 37,000 miles. The garage is reporting 90% wear on the REAR brake pads but the front pads are fine. Given the warranty is about to expire, I am concerned lest there's a fault (e.g. with handbrake). Has anyone else had an experience like this? Would be good to know if its a general characteristic or whether I'm just unlucky! Thanks.

 

[Llanigraham]

My 3 year old 140 4x4 is at 53k miles and still on ALL the original pads.
However I have always been very light on my brakes.

 

[Daisy Toke]

Wow - that makes me even more suspicious - I don't brake hard either. Thanks for the info.

 

[KeithW]

On my first Octavia (4x4 estate) the rear pads needed replacing before the front but I can't recall how old the car was when they were replaced. I suspect the rear pads on my last Octavia would have needed replacing at just over 3 years old but I changed it for the Yeti last week.


I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that the rear discs are smaller than the front and the fact that the rear wheels are driven that could cause the rear pads to wear more.



Keith

 

[The Hood]

I'm only coming up to 10,000 miles, but when I swappped the wheels over I had a look at the pads and there was no visible difference in thickness between front and rear. Does the HHC work off the rear wheels, would using that frequently wear the pads faster?

 

[Llanigraham]

I would have said that HHC works on the braking system, therefore all wheels.
From my experience the front brakes take a greater element of the braking force, like most cars nowadays, so I think the OP's "problem" does seem odd. (Unless he's done a lot of Autotests!)

 

[Daisy Toke]

Well, thanks everyone for your contributions. I've been back to the garage and had a chat with the 'senior service manager'. He concedes that it is 'unexpected' but points out that the rear pads ARE thinner than the front, and with 4WD, braking gets shared out between back and front. Not sure how that works but expect he knows what he's talking about. So, shell out the extra £95 and keep smiling, I suppose.

 

[Llanigraham]

Braking is "shared" between axles on all cars, so I don't quite get his point there.
Agreed the rear pads are thinner, but from my experience of purposely trying the braking on slippery surfaces, the fronts lock up first, then release, but the rears take a lot more to lock up unless you use the hand brake.

 

[JohnYeti]

If youregularlytow or carry weight in the back then this will make the rear brakes work harder than normal, but you still wouldn`t expect the rears to wear out faster than the fronts.

 

[Llanigraham]

Towing or carrying heavy weights affects ALL the brakes, not just the rear ones.

 

[Tech-Yeti]

If youregularlytow or carry weight in the back then this will make the rear brakes work harder than normal, but you still wouldn`t expect the rears to wear out faster than the fronts.

You are correct, due to the ABS brake distribution system, the rears will wear out faster if you tow, than if you don't, but the thickness in pads is relevant to normal brake distribution of, on average 60% front & 40% rear.

 

[JohnYeti]

I know I m correct, that`s why I said it ! Just making the point that the OP may be a regular tower / carry a lot of weight regularly which (and some people don`t know this) due to the weight distribution valve and ,nowadays, other assorted wizardry that modern cars have on them, makes the rear brakes work harder than in normal driving(ie not "average 60 / 40) so therefore the rears wear out faster than is normal.


And thanks for stating the obvious Graham. I think most people would expectboth front and rearbrakes, and tyres, to wear out faster if towing or carryingheavy loads, due to the extra forces involved in stopping the extra weight.

 

[TOPGUN]

If rear pads worn prematurely,check to see if brakes have been binding slightly over some time.I noticed this on the nearside rear of my Yeti at under 20,000 miles.The pads had started to seize on the carrier slightly causing a drag-noticable by a hot disc after stopping although brakes not used! Had to re-grease caliper carrier edges,and the two slider pins.If wheel will spin about 6 turns when jacked up then it's fine!

 

[rustic]

Did I read somewhere that the brakes are applied automatically, eg when the wash wipe is used or something... as the car assumes the brake discs are wet and need to be dried off...
Or am I dreaming lol?

 

[TOPGUN]

No,I've never heard of that in any car,sounds very unlikely as would waste fuel and cause wear.Discs are quite well protected and always slightly warm due to slight friction which would displace water constantly anyway.The rear wiper comes on when you have front wipers on and engage reverse gear,that's a feature Skoda thought of.

 

[Urrell]

In rain the brakes do "wipe" the discs occasionally, I have no idea what initiates this but I believe it lightly brakes for 3 seconds every 3km.

It's a well known problem that VAG vehicles have high rear brake wear because they are so lightly used allowing corrosion and subsequent high wear. I had to replace the rear discs and pads about 2 years before the front.

 

[Kenny R]

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/technology/glossary/brake-disc-wipers

 

[singi]

hi all realise oldish post but just sent my nearly 3yr old 33000 1.6 greenline in for rear badge replacement, and the reportsays front pads 30% worn rears 20% I carry tools in boot all the time as engineer but am light on brakes last car mazda 6estateonly had pads at 85000...

 

[Kenny R]

hi all realise oldish post but just sent my nearly 3yr old 33000 1.6 greenline in for rear badge replacement, and the report says front pads 30% worn rears 20% I carry tools in boot all the time as engineer but am light on brakes last car mazda 6 estate only had pads at 85000...

So you've still got 70% left on the front, and 80% left on the rear pads, so you might still reach 85000.

 

[singi]

err yes but its a lease car and due back in December (have ordered a new one) just had badge done for who ever get great car in future