Volkswagen cars are well built, maybe too well built

martydunf

Last weekend myself and me friend attempted to change the brake pads on my Golf and what I assumed would be and easy job considering he done the brake pads on his own car (an Escort btw) in about an hour or so.

We practically spent most of the evening/night at this, it took bout an hour to change the pads on 1 side of the car. It wasn't any bother removing the caliper and gettin the pads out but putting them back in proved difficult enough, we ended up resorting to filing down one side of the pad because it was an extremely tight fit.

When we had the new pads and the caliper back on we tried to bleed the brakes, which was another disaster. I reckon we used most of the bottle of brake fluid trying to get air out of the line but it seemed never ending!! (maybe this was due to the caliper being disconnected for an hour or so?)
After a couple of hours of this we said we'd call it a day and I was sickened as it is now with a mechanic to do the job for me.

Yes I probably should have given it to a mechanic in the first place but the thing is I enjoy working on cars and would like to do these things like the above myself because then at least I know the quality of the job and will also save a few quid in the process.
I also attempted to change the rear bushings on this car but again it seemed impossible to do as it required the rear axel to come off so it was left to the mechanic once again.

My point is (yes I do have one:)) are VW cars made in such a way that you have no choice but to bring it to a garage to have these things done where they can charge you an arm an a leg for the job?

Think I'll be going Toyota from now on!:D

Anan1

Did you disconnect the caliper from the brake line when fitting the new pads? If so, why?

martydunf

Because we couldn't get out the pads without removing the caliper. they wouldn't budge!

Ferris

I never had any trouble changing the front pads on my mk4. Just loosen the caliper bleed nut and use a wind back tool (in my case a G-clamp:o). Maybe the rust ridge on the edge of the disk was too thick to get the new pads in?

The rears are more difficult as the calipers are known to sieze up so I just got a rebuilt pair.

there was a procedure to bleed the brakes, can't remember but it was a sequence going from wheel to wheel and back to the booster.

Anan1

From memory (and i'm no mechanic), you can just open the nut/bolt that holds the caliper in place. This allows you to pull the caliper off the disc without having to disconnect the flexible brake lines.

martydunf

we managed to get the caliper back on alright it was the bleeding of the brakes that gave us some bother. Anywho its with the mechanic now so dont think il be doing it again anytime soon!:(

Anan1

My point is that you wouldn't have had to bleed the brakes if you hadn't removed the caliper.;)

martydunf

yeah ideally thats what i would have liked to do but we had the car up on a bottle jack so it was in an awkward position!
I'll keep that in mind in future anyway!:)

Matt Simis

martydunf wrote: »

Think I'll be going Toyota from now on!:D

I thought the design differences on Toyota vs Vw is that:

- Toyotas are more reliable but not built with end user servicing in mind
- VWs (/Germans) "reliability" is traced to the fact their cars can rack up massive mileage which in turn is due to relatively well documented and logical end user servicing.


Ive changed the Pads and Discs on the Beetle (same chassis as Golf, less engine bay room), Audi S4 and the Pads on the Phaeton. I didnt consider it particularly hard, bit time consuming though.
Generally you just remove one Caliper bolt then loosen the other, this way the caliper "swings" downwards and you can easily remove the Pads. Any online guide would have stepped you guys through this!

martydunf

Matt Simis wrote: »

I thought the design differences on Toyota vs Vw is that:

- Toyotas are more reliable but not built with end user servicing in mind
- VWs (/Germans) "reliability" is traced to the fact their cars can rack up massive mileage which in turn is due to relatively well documented and logical end user servicing.


Ive changed the Pads and Discs on the Beetle (same chassis as Golf, less engine bay room), Audi S4 and the Pads on the Phaeton. I didnt consider it particularly hard, bit time consuming though.
Generally you just remove one Caliper bolt then loosen the other, this way the caliper "swings" downwards and you can easily remove the Pads. Any online guide would have stepped you guys through this!

I realise now that the easiest method would've been not to have disconnected the caliper!

However can I ask you have you ever had to replace the axel bushings on a VW, particularly a Golf, and if so did you find it relatively easy?
Becuase I tried and found it to be next to impossible, and even the mechanic that did it in the end said it was difficult enough.