Uneven front brake pad wear

[DankNugz]

I noticed this yesterday when swapping out my wheels.

Have any of you guys seen this? What could be the causes?

Pass side


Drivers side



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[DankNugz]

The inner pads are even with the outters, its just a problem between sides.

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[toddhought]

Just guessing, but maybe there's air bubble in one of the lines. They do at least seem to be wearing normally, tho, so that's good.

[NotLowEnough]

Just guessing, but maybe there's air bubble in one of the lines. They do at least seem to be wearing normally, tho, so that's good.

Possibly this. Pulling to the right any?

This could also be a byproduct of the XDS system. If you get torque steer to the left on launch, it'll brake right to counter that.

[Squirrel Nuts]

Keep the fat bitches more towards the center of the car. Helps even out the brake wear.

[RacingManiac]

Its a TDI though, its not XDS, its the EDL. Unless you are doing hard launches often or always pulling off with one wheel on dirt/ice/gravel...etc, it seems unusual for this to happen...And since brake is a hydraulic system, if you have bubble in the system, if if its just one side, you probably will feel it as it'll affect the whole system...

Stuck piston maybe?

[DankNugz]

Keep the fat bitches more towards the center of the car. Helps even out the brake wear.

I got a good laugh out of that one. Sig worthy. My girlfriend is not a fat chick and my backseat is taken up by parts for work all week so, that ones out.


I drive the car a little on the hard side, but rarely do hard launches that torque steer is in issue. Its more on the twisties if anything.

I have noticed a pull to the right when braking, but only in very hard, emergency braking conditions.

That looks like a lot of wear to be a byproduct of the EDL, or whatever its called anyway.

I like the idea of a stuck piston or air in the line, but I suppose if it was air in the lines, the air would have to be on the drivers side, thus causing the pass side to work harder. Maybe ill try to push the piston out just to see if its stuck?

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[DankNugz]

A friend just mentioned that I may have a heat issue. He pointed out that the pass side rotor has more rust than the drivers side rotor in the vents. Now the question is where is the heat coming from, or why did the vents rust more on that side. I also noticed that the pass side rotor has a few groves in the center of the braking surface, they are light, but they are there nonetheless

Did they rust because they are defective (crappy metal maybe), which then caused them to heat up and wear the pads more?

Or did they heat up due to another reason, which then caused them to rust?

Any ideas?

[elgordoloco]

Passenger side is the curb side for most roads. That said curb side more prone to more standing water, puddles due to drains etc... more water can lead the more rust. Is the rear passenger side same way compared to right?
My gut still says stuck or sticky piston....

[RacingManiac]

Agreed with the above, a sticky piston would cause heat issue too, since the reason your pad wears more is because its being used more(they don't just flake away), so if a piston is not retracting freely and is always dragging on the rotor, it would wear more and also constantly be building temperature.

I noticed you mention the car pulls to one side under braking, that may or maynot be related to your pad wear issue, but the way it might be effected is since the 2 pads might be operating at different temp(ie one being dragged and is hotter than the other side), one pad might be working better than the other. Another test you might try is try to coast on a relatively flat road and see if the car pulls to one side....

[DasMkVI]

Do you do most of your own maintenance? It looks like a sticking caliper or dry caliper slides. I would disassemble the front brakes and re-lube everything. Check you front pads after about 10,000 miles the next time you replace them and see if you have the same issue. If you do, probably the caliper to blame.

Do you use any kind of wheel cleaners? They can be extremely corrosive to brake system parts.

[DankNugz]

Passenger side is the curb side for most roads. That said curb side more prone to more standing water, puddles due to drains etc... more water can lead the more rust. Is the rear passenger side same way compared to right?
My gut still says stuck or sticky piston....

There are no vents in the rear to compare to the front, but drivers and pass side are equal on pad wear and rust on the edge of the rotor.

Agreed with the above, a sticky piston would cause heat issue too, since the reason your pad wears more is because its being used more(they don't just flake away), so if a piston is not retracting freely and is always dragging on the rotor, it would wear more and also constantly be building temperature.

I noticed you mention the car pulls to one side under braking, that may or maynot be related to your pad wear issue, but the way it might be effected is since the 2 pads might be operating at different temp(ie one being dragged and is hotter than the other side), one pad might be working better than the other. Another test you might try is try to coast on a relatively flat road and see if the car pulls to one side....

As I said above, it only pulls to the right during emergency braking conditions (probably only when the emergency braking assist system kicks in when I slam on the brakes, which is not too often). There is no braking pull during everyday/normal braking conditions.

Do you do most of your own maintenance? It looks like a sticking caliper or dry caliper slides. I would disassemble the front brakes and re-lube everything. Check you front pads after about 10,000 miles the next time you replace them and see if you have the same issue. If you do, probably the caliper to blame.

Do you use any kind of wheel cleaners? They can be extremely corrosive to brake system parts.

I do all the maintenance on the car, but I havent touched the brakes yet and I don't believe the dealer did during the carefree maintenance period.

I will pull the front calipers and lube the pins up later on this week, im in the middle of a tile job in both my bathrooms, so after work time is limited. With the amount I drive, ill be doing brakes soon anyway, but I'm still curious as to what this is so ill check out the slide pins.

And no on the wheel cleaners. Just soap and water for the most part, and when I do use some kind of spray, I will spray it on a paper towel or microfiber cloth and wipe it on.


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[DankNugz]

So I finally got some time to look at these brakes. I ended up pulling both sides, pads and rotors, cleaned and lubed all appropriate surfaces on the carriers, lubed the slide pins, and swapped the pass side pads and rotor with the drivers side. Pressing in the pass side caliper was no problem, so I doubt a sticky caliper is causing it. Nothing was visually out of place, except of course the uneven wear. I will drive it with the swapped brakes for a while, and if the pass side starts to wear quickly again, I will know it is the caliper, if not, it was probably lack of lubrication on the pass side either on the slide pins or the carrier pad bearing surface. It will take a while to find out, but I will update when the time comes. Thanks for all your ideas.

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[ina04gli1.8t]

I haven't had the chance to look at the pads yet but I have noticed that the caliper on the passenger side front has become much darker in color than the other three. I'm guessing it has to do with it being used more by the XDS. I will be taking the front wheels off this weekend for inspection & to paint the caliper, I guess I'll know more then.

[DankNugz]

I haven't had the chance to look at the pads yet but I have noticed that the caliper on the passenger side front has become much darker in color than the other three. I'm guessing it has to do with it being used more by the XDS. I will be taking the front wheels off this weekend for inspection & to paint the caliper, I guess I'll know more then.

The darker caliper and excessive brake dust on that wheel (pass front) is what prompted me to check the pads in the first place. One funny thing about it is the pad wear sensor is only on the drivers side and the drivers side is half as worn(as you can see from my pics in the OP) as the pass side.

XDS was mentioned already, but Im not sure on that one because mine look like a lot of uneven wear to be caused by something like that. I do some hard launches from time to time, but definitely not the majority of the time, and not enough(in my mind) to cause the wear that I have. You wanna post some pics of your pads?

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[DankNugz]

So, after swapping brakes, I am already noticing excessive dust buildup on the front pass wheel (same as before). I guess the caliper may be to blame? Slide pins arent stuck, I lubed them up when I had it apart.

Any other ideas guys?

[DankNugz]

So, I finally wore my pads down and replaced them with the rotors. It seems that the uneven wear stuck with the pad and rotor (originally it was the pass side, I switched the pads and rotors to the drivers side, and they continued to wear more than the opposite pads). I have a feeling that all this was caused by improper brake in when I first bought the car. I made an emergency stop on the first night I had it to avoid slamming my brand new front end into another car. I think that one instance of locking up the brakes (with maybe 100 miles on the car) caused my uneven wear. That's the only way I can explain it.

Anyway, I replaced the old Golf brakes with the 1" larger GTI brakes with slotted rotors and EBC greenstuff pads. I'm very happy with how they turned out.

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[Aonarch]

So I finally got some time to look at these brakes. I ended up pulling both sides, pads and rotors, cleaned and lubed all appropriate surfaces on the carriers, lubed the slide pins, and swapped the pass side pads and rotor with the drivers side. Pressing in the pass side caliper was no problem, so I doubt a sticky caliper is causing it. Nothing was visually out of place, except of course the uneven wear. I will drive it with the swapped brakes for a while, and if the pass side starts to wear quickly again, I will know it is the caliper, if not, it was probably lack of lubrication on the pass side either on the slide pins or the carrier pad bearing surface. It will take a while to find out, but I will update when the time comes. Thanks for all your ideas.

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[Aonarch]

So, I finally wore my pads down and replaced them with the rotors. It seems that the uneven wear stuck with the pad and rotor (originally it was the pass side, I switched the pads and rotors to the drivers side, and they continued to wear more than the opposite pads). I have a feeling that all this was caused by improper brake in when I first bought the car. I made an emergency stop on the first night I had it to avoid slamming my brand new front end into another car. I think that one instance of locking up the brakes (with maybe 100 miles on the car) caused my uneven wear. That's the only way I can explain it.

Anyway, I replaced the old Golf brakes with the 1" larger GTI brakes with slotted rotors and EBC greenstuff pads. I'm very happy with how they turned out.

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[GrizzlyImpact]

Keep the fat bitches more towards the center of the car. Helps even out the brake wear.

[SoCalMK6GTI]

I've had 3 sets of pads on my car in 47k miles. The stock setup just had issues for me. At first I had to adjust the emergency brake because it was dragging and then the front pads were gone. So I went with resurfacing my OEM rotors and slapping on HAWK HPS' in every corner and adding USP SS lines at every corner and Motul brake fluid. Have had great success with this setup although the brake dust is horrible.

[DankNugz]

I've had 3 sets of pads on my car in 47k miles. The stock setup just had issues for me. At first I had to adjust the emergency brake because it was dragging and then the front pads were gone. So I went with resurfacing my OEM rotors and slapping on HAWK HPS' in every corner and adding USP SS lines at every corner and Motul brake fluid. Have had great success with this setup although the brake dust is horrible.

3 sets in 47k? You drive autocross daily?

My first set, even with the uneven wear causing me to replace a little early, lasted me 92k. And at that point my lowest pad still had around 2/32 left (its amazing that that is the passing number for PA safety inspection).

Either you drive it really, really hard or you have some problems with your OE brakes. I have heard of e brake issues in MK5s where you end up needing to replace the cables, but that's all in the rears. I highly recommend EBC brake products. I used the greenstuff pads this time around, but it sounds like you might want the red stuff, which is a harder ceramic compound (greenstuff is a composite of ceramic and something else) and is ultra low dust. Its a shame EBC doesn't have rotors out that fit the MK6s, I would have bought those instead of the ECS ones I ended up with.

This is how mine turned out.



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[SoCalMK6GTI]

Aftermarket pads have worked wonders on my car especially since adding the SS lines.

I never found out the cause(s) but all I know is my OEM setup sucked (on my car, obviously something was wrong).


Ill try EBC again, haven't used them since my 2003 Civic. I need something with less dust, my Detroits always have a red tint to the black parts.

[DankNugz]

I am installing SS lines this weekend along with painting the calipers and giving the car a nice much needed bath, so I'll let you know bow the dust is on the pads I have.

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[SoCalMK6GTI]

Here's a DIY I did awhile back, while you're down there.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...-(In-10-steps)

[DankNugz]

I'm really happy I caught that in time. I painted the front calipers and carriers today, and finished a few hours ago. I was too tired and hungry to do any more, so I left the car up in the air and will bleed and flush the system tomorrow morning. I will definitely clean out those sensors while its still up, and do the rears whenever I replace those brakes. Thanks.


Here's a quick pic I snapped before I cleaned up.

[Maloooooch]

Sticky Piston. you may need a new caliper.

[DankNugz]

Sticky Piston. you may need a new caliper.

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[SoCalMK6GTI]

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I'm thinking he's referring to me.

If anything the factory didnt lube the slides properly and they weren't allowing the piston to retract fully. After I upgraded everything I properly cleaned and lubed and reassembled. All is well now.

[DankNugz]

I'm thinking he's referring to me.

If anything the factory didnt lube the slides properly and they weren't allowing the piston to retract fully. After I upgraded everything I properly cleaned and lubed and reassembled. All is well now.

The slides seem to dry out pretty quickly. As mentioned above, when I swapped my brake parts to opposite sides I lubed the pins(about 40k ago). When I pulled everything apart this time around they were completely dry. This time I loaded them up ad much as possible with synthetic general purpose grease, so well see how they look next time around.

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