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Help with Poor Results From a Brakes Service

Thranx

New member
Location
Salem, OR
So, I'm not super technical when it comes to cars. I've done some work on my 94 chevy pickup, but with cars that old, you just follow the instructions and you're set. I'm also not an extreme performance guy or someone who goes to track days.

I LOVE my Gen 5 R32 tho. Bone stock, but I love everything about it (except how it shifts into first gear)

Needed brakes, took it to what had always been a trusted tires/brakes place (Les Schwabs) that I've done all my tires and brakes business through since the late 90's in high school. Never had a problem, but I've also never had anything that was special. Apart from tires, they've never done work on my R32. Brakes were toast, I'm at 108k miles, they said the calipers should be replaced as well. Ok, quick googling... seems legit, prices on hardware didn't seem off the norm, I have them do it, they order the parts.

Get it back, apparently rear calipers are unavailable. I was already bummed because I'm sure they wouldn't be blue, but... that wasn't that big a deal... but now I'm a little annoyed that they're mismatched, but I'm more annoyed that they said it needed to be done and yet... here we are. I called him out on that and said they should have called me... 30 seconds and I had a place that could 2 day rear calipers on my phone, so I was rather annoyed with that.

On the drive home, REALLY spongy. The actual brake actuation range on the pedal is loooooong. I loved how crisp and responsive everything USED to be... now it's garbage. Call them and they say maybe they need to re-bleed the lines.

I'm real annoyed by the whole thing. My expectation is to not LOSE perfornace or quality with new brakes/rotors/calipers. Am I bonkers? I'm hesitant to take it back to the, because on top of all that, they managed to scrape something across the back of the lower left of the steering wheel and abraded the leather right where I rest my hand while cruising. I can feel it. Very VERY annoying.

Looking for feedback or ideas on how to handle this. Les Schwabs has a pretty stellar rep around here, at least with family and friends, so... this is, in my experience, an uncommon result of their service, but part of what I want to understand is if I just have to accept crappier braking as the car ages? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.

tl;dr - brake and front calipers replaced, perform terribly, steering wheel minor damage, what do I do?
 
Last edited:

BudgetPhoenix

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas
Car(s)
2009 GLI, 2016 GTI
What was so wrong with the calipers that they needed to be replaced? I would take it back asap and make them fix it. Also there's some DIYs floating around on how to do diy pad change for R32s.
 

Thranx

New member
Location
Salem, OR
What was so wrong with the calipers that they needed to be replaced? I would take it back asap and make them fix it. Also there's some DIYs floating around on how to do diy pad change for R32s.

Do calipers not just need to be replaced after a period of time? Is failure of a caliper gradual, or do the pistons just one day seize and you're no longer breaking with that wheel?

I've always felt like I shouldn't mess with the brakes on my car... every other part I could fiddle with and do wrong had a low probability of catastrophic failure and injury... brakes have a much higher impact if I'm an idiot.
 

Gruppe917

Ready to race!
Location
PA
Do calipers not just need to be replaced after a period of time? Is failure of a caliper gradual, or do the pistons just one day seize and you're no longer breaking with that wheel?

I've always felt like I shouldn't mess with the brakes on my car... every other part I could fiddle with and do wrong had a low probability of catastrophic failure and injury... brakes have a much higher impact if I'm an idiot.

Both can happen tbh, but there are tell tale signs of either happening...as well as neither

Did they show you what the old pads/rotors looked like?

What pads did they use front/back? What fluid? And most importantly, what front calipers did they get (part #'s, brand etc). All of this matters big time.
 

zrickety

The Fixer
Location
Unknown
Car(s)
VW GTI
In my experience, pads and maybe rotors are all the car would need. A fluid flush is nice if you track the car. Did they do the rotors? What brand pads? You should be very discerning with brakes and tires, cheap ones are just not up to par. Hopefully another bleed and some time to bed will make it better. Mention the steering wheel and maybe you can get free oil changes, but even then I would wonder how competent these guys are.
 

Gruppe917

Ready to race!
Location
PA
In my experience, pads and maybe rotors are all the car would need. A fluid flush is nice if you track the car. Did they do the rotors? What brand pads? You should be very discerning with brakes and tires, cheap ones are just not up to par. Hopefully another bleed and some time to bed will make it better. Mention the steering wheel and maybe you can get free oil changes, but even then I would wonder how competent these guys are.

Fluid is a maintenance item, and one that needs to be done for several reasons. The main one being that brake fluid is hygroscopic (absorbs water). As water is absorbed, it's now floating around your brake system. As more and more moisture is absorbed, the boiling point of the fluid drops significantly, which then means it takes less work to potentially boil the fluid. On a street car, every couple of years is awesome. Every 3 years is acceptable. Just leaving it till forever is not a good idea. For a car that's tracked, more frequently is ideal for consistent performance
 

A41.8QTM

That's what she said
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
Car(s)
2008 GTI
Do calipers not just need to be replaced after a period of time? Is failure of a caliper gradual, or do the pistons just one day seize and you're no longer breaking with that wheel?

At only 108k miles there is no good reason to do anything to the calipers unless they were damaged for some reason. pads and rotors are the typical brake job, plus a fluid flush if you want to be thorough. They actually told you all 4 calipers needed to be replaced? This has nothing to do with being a VW, they simply took advantage of you.
 
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