Poor braking - time to replace the pads? Pics

[xHeartcoreboyx]

I have stoptech street performance pads and centric slotted rotors on my GTI. I have been running these for a year.

From a high speed, the brakes just vibrate if I brake, I have to be easy on the brakes. I feel like in an emergency the car wouldn't really stop.

I drove a stock GTI and I feel like the brakes bite better than mine.

Is it time to replace these pads or do I just need a BBK?

Front driver:

Front passenger:

Rear driver :

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[JimsR6]

If your feeling a vibration in the brake pedal the brake rotors are warped.

Now remember you have brakes on all 4 corners of the vehicle so it's a good idea to check all of them.

The front pads do look low all tho you have some time left in them but I'd also like to see the look of the rear pads.

If you feel the vibration in the steering wheel when braking it's the front rotors.

If you feel the vibration in the brake pedal ONLY it's the rear rotors.

Feel free to ask any and all follow up questions.

-Jim-

 

[JimsR6]

If your feeling a vibration in the brake pedal the brake rotors are warped.

Now remember you have brakes on all 4 corners of the vehicle so it's a good idea to check all of them.

The front pads do look low all tho you have some time left in them but I'd also like to see the look of the rear pads.

If you feel the vibration in the steering wheel when braking it's the front rotors.

If you feel the vibration in the brake pedal ONLY it's the rear rotors.

Feel free to ask any and all follow up questions.

-Jim-

 

[Stadpad]

i wish you could ride in my car, then you'll know what braking feels like.

 

[Stadpad]

have you tried adjusting the brake assist settings in vagcom?

 

[AM407]

Doubt the rotors are warped. More likely you've just glazed the pads, which would give the vibration and lousy braking you're experiencing.

You might be able to sand the glaze off the pads, but I wouldn't bother. May as well get some new pads that can handle the heat, and make sure you bed them in properly on clean rotors.

 

[the bruce]

Both warped rotors and pad deposit on them cause brake judder.
Detoriated control arm bushings and ball joints even amplify this
issue.
All slotted rotors do cause some humming noise, which will, when
your brakes are very hot, also cause some vibrations.
If it's the latter, get blank rotors. If it's judder, get the rotors
skimmed or again, new rotors.
If deceleration is worse and/or pedal effort is increased compared
to stock, get new/better pads.

It definitely isn't necessary to spend money on a BBK on a street
driven GTI.
If you do some tracking, it's another story though. Then you'd
mandatorily need improve ventilation, uprated pads (consider CL,
Endless, PFC, Pagid, Ferodo) and probably heat treated rotors (eg.
Tarox, DBA, Brembo) or even a BBK. Ventilation is still the most
underestimated part of the game.

On a DD with some spirited driving and mild tracking, this is the
way to go:

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167216

 

[aw6141]

its probably deposits, did you try rebedding your rotors?

I had the same issue with the stoptech pads on my integra, it seems to have gone away when I was autocrossing this past fall, I guess I was driving it hard enough to rebed the pads that my vibration went away.

 

[xHeartcoreboyx]

Thank you for the replies everyone.

I only get the vibration in the pedal if I attempt to brake hard from a very high speed (120mph+) on the half mile drag. On street speeds I can't replicate it.

My rotors visually seem to be fine.

I never will track the car, it's street driven and even when I drive spirited I don't use the brakes much. Maybe they need to be rebeded? Very possible since I really rarely brake hard at all. I brake in a relaxed liner fashion.

The OP has photos of the rear as well.


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[JimsR6]

If your only feeling the vibration in the pedal it's likely the rear rotors.
The rotors being "warped" is a term used in the auto repair industry for material building up on the rotor from the brake pads. This is not something you can see visually and can only be checked by measuring thickness of the rotor at different points with a caliper.

Feel free to try "re-bedding your brakes" I'm not an expert in aftermarket performance upgrades just an auto mechanic working in the industry for 20+ years.

As far as your photos of the brakes I'm only seeing the outboard brake pads of 3 wheels so I think a propper inspection of the brakes are in order.

Remove all 4 wheels. Remove all four brake calipers. Ensure all your caliper slide pins are moving freely with no sticking or binding. Ensure all caliper pistons are collapsing with no sticking or binding. And than a visual inspection of the brake liner. I believe for inspection in nyc it's 2/32" which is way to low to recommend as safe but if I see pictures of the rest of the brake pads(all 8) I can give you my honest opinion on they're remaining life expectancy.

My opinion on performance pads from my own experience is they're a waste of money for a daily driven type of car. Most guys I know that auto cross replace they're pads at the track with the "race compound" and than back to stock stuff at the end of the day.
With out propper temperature "race" pads are worse than stock on the street aside from not lasting nearly as long.

Hope this helps.