Knocking & Dealer brake pricing

[leemondthefirst]

Hi all. Am due to take my 2018 Tiguan Allspace in for its 45000km service.

The Brake Pad warning came on recently, so I enquired with Southern Volkswagen in Adelaide what is was to look at it. They gave me a ballpark figure of $1200 for front pads and rotors, is that normal? Seems ridiculous to me.

Front shocks also seem very harsh. They seem to drop hard when going over small bumps or speed bumps, there is now an obvious knocking pretty regularly. I’ve asked them to look at this also but has anyone else experienced this issue?

[Dinogzav]

Dealers pricing is always excessive. My opinion is go find an independent mechanic and you will get far better results. Ring a brake company and get a quick quote off them and you will find out quickly whether the dealer is on the mark.

[Lucas_R]

You are paying dealer prices for genuine parts which is always the most expensive option. If you fitted good quality aftermarket parts such as Bosch, DBA or Brembo disks and pads you would pay about $600-800.

As for your suspension noise, its likely to be your strut tops and strut bearings in the front suspension. Its a very common occurance on the Golfs and the Tiguan is based on the Golf platform/suspension.

[ACID]

Perfect chance to buy some after market pads. The OEM pads are the most dust inducing pads I've owned and can't wait to change them out.

[Lucas_R]

If you want pads that are more gentle on the disks and basically zero brake dust, look at the ceramic pads from either ATE Ceramic or Akebono Euro Ceramic.

I have the ATE's on my Golf and the Akebono's on my SQ5, and the Akebono's are the lower dusting ones out of the two.

[ACID]

^Thank you for the tips

[Lucas_R]

^Thank you for the tips

You can source the ATE Ceramic pads via various places locally, i got mine from Harding Performance. They also sell the ATE disks if you wanted to grab those?

ATE Front Ceramic Brake Pads - MK7/7.5 R, 8V S3 - Harding Performance

ATE Rear Ceramic Brake Pads - MK7/7.5 R, 8V S3, MK7/7.5 GTI - Harding Performance

[Sharkie]

You are paying dealer prices for genuine parts which is always the most expensive option. If you fitted good quality aftermarket parts such as Bosch, DBA or Brembo disks and pads you would pay about $600-800.

With my current (very dusty) stock pads having eaten most of my front discs now after 30,000km, I got DBA T3 Slotteds and ATE Ceramics pads (for the front) for $600. Fitting (by me is free) so massive saving over VW dealer OEM parts with a substantial improvement in performance (and less dust).

[drivesafe]

As for your suspension noise, its likely to be your strut tops and strut bearings in the front suspension. Its a very common occurance on the Golfs and the Tiguan is based on the Golf platform/suspension.

Hi Lucas, I have the same knocking, what is the fix?

[Lucas_R]

Hi Lucas, I have the same knocking, what is the fix?

The fix is to replace the strut top mounts and the strut bearings. These fail prematurely and cause the knocking sound in the front suspension. A very common issue on VW Polo/Golf/Tiguan models.

SACHS Strut Mount – VW Golf Mk7 Standard/GTI/R & Audi 8V A3/S3 – AutoInstruct

SACHS Strut Bearing – VW Golf Mk7 Standard/GTI/R & Audi 8V A3/S3 – AutoInstruct

[drivesafe]

The fix is to replace the strut top mounts and the strut bearings. These fail prematurely and cause the knocking sound in the front suspension. A very common issue on VW Polo/Golf/Tiguan models.

SACHS Strut Mount – VW Golf Mk7 Standard/GTI/R & Audi 8V A3/S3 – AutoInstruct

SACHS Strut Bearing – VW Golf Mk7 Standard/GTI/R & Audi 8V A3/S3 – AutoInstruct

Thank you for that info.

[leemondthefirst]

Hey all. Thanks a lot for the tips, amazingly useful and I really appreciate it. I’ll ring around a bit and get some more brake quotes.
I just want to make sure if I get aftermarket they are not going to make any noise (squeaking/squealing), can’t handle that.

I’ll also mention the struts when I take it in and I look forward to the excuses they give me without actually checking anything. I’m expecting ‘referred noise’ is too hard to identify.

Thanks again.

[leemondthefirst]

Hey Guys, just a quick FYI. I got the car back from service and the suspension is much better, knocking is gone, although it still feels harder than I would expect, but maybe I'm soft. The fault was confirmed as "excessive play in both front sway bars links". They removed and replaced both left and right under warranty, it is much nicer to drive now.

For Brakes, done some ringing around and it seems you guys were pretty accurate, $700-800 for fronts depending on the brand, but some places are unable to find stock. Quote from VW was $1142 just for the fronts. I'm going to source the Pads myself, then take it to Southern Brakes in Lonsdale, he said he'd do them for me if I can source some, then he'll provide the rotors and do the lot together. Seemed like a good guy.

I'm looking at possibly Brembo P85131N Ceramic, or I was recommended the Forza FP2.Q565.NA Ceramic over the Brembo, both around the $160 mark. Any experience with these?

[nermal]

Hey Guys, just a quick FYI. I got the car back from service and the suspension is much better, knocking is gone, although it still feels harder than I would expect, but maybe I'm soft. The fault was confirmed as "excessive play in both front sway bars links". They removed and replaced both left and right under warranty, it is much nicer to drive now.

For Brakes, done some ringing around and it seems you guys were pretty accurate, $700-800 for fronts depending on the brand, but some places are unable to find stock. Quote from VW was $1142 just for the fronts. I'm going to source the Pads myself, then take it to Southern Brakes in Lonsdale, he said he'd do them for me if I can source some, then he'll provide the rotors and do the lot together. Seemed like a good guy.

I'm looking at possibly Brembo P85131N Ceramic, or I was recommended the Forza FP2.Q565.NA Ceramic over the Brembo, both around the $160 mark. Any experience with these?

If you want to consider a BBK upgrade at a great price, @tigger73 may be able to hook you up - 380mm Alcon CAR97 6 piston BBK


BTW - I also had a loose rear droplink on my Arteon the other day - it has performance sway bars and drop links (my OEM rear droplinks were also plastic...)

It sounded like something was rolling around in the boot, but after stripping the boot and adding more sound-proofing it was still there.. took it to VW and their mechanic diagnosed it before it even left the driveway - a simple tightening fixed it right up.