Do brake pads get dustier with age?

[Nick1994]

On the Beetle the rear brake pads have been putting off a lot of dust. They were replaced at 103k miles (172k now) at the dealership and they still look like new. Several times I have jacked up the rear and spun the wheels and there is no dragging, and the parking brake isn't on either. The front brakes are original at 172k miles and still have 2/3-3/4 pad left and they don't produce any dust. Do they get dustier with age? I don't remember them being so dusty a couple years ago. I assume to stop the dust I just need some new pads, but I'm not picky enough about it yet, just curious.

 

[eljefino]

If your return springs (or rubber gasket or whatever method) get weaker over time, then, yes, you'll make more "nuisance dust" just from drag. Rear brakes that use the main pads for e-brake never seem to elude complications over time.

 

[ShotGun429]

172K on original front brakes?...... wow what am i doing wrong.?

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
172K on original front brakes?...... wow what am i doing wrong.?


Drive smarter.

I junked my '93 Mazda MX6 at over 34x,xxx miles. I did a pad slap at 135k and no other brake work. Period. Original drums and rotors and clutch. Its not hard to go easy on your car (its not like I was a slow driver).

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
172K on original front brakes?...... wow what am i doing wrong.?
And it has a TON of traffic miles! It's a TDI with a strange DSG auto transmission, it downshifts like crazy so you don't need to touch the brakes much.

 

[supton]

I had to do front pads on my Jetta at 175k. One of the pads had rust go under it, and it separated, leaving me without brakes. The other three pads? Easily 3/4 of the material,left.

MkIV's have heavy rear brake bias.

 

[Tornado Red]

I hate brake dust. That's why I only use ceramic pads.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Tornado Red
I hate brake dust. That's why I only use ceramic pads.


The word "ceramic" has become a marketing term. The pad formula may only contain a very small amount of real ceramics and yet be sold as same.

Re: front to rear bias, most modern vehicles use the brakes for a variety of reasons. The most notable are left to right wheel speed equalization, traction control, yaw, etc. Many cars these days experience rapid rear wear due to using the rear brakes far more than in the days before integrated systems for braking and stability/traction, etc.

We have had 9000 pound vans go far beyond 100k miles on original pads, usually it is hard to beat the OEM at that game...

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
172K on original front brakes?...... wow what am i doing wrong.?
And it has a TON of traffic miles! It's a TDI with a strange DSG auto transmission, it downshifts like crazy so you don't need to touch the brakes much.

2004 TDI Beetle with DSG? I do not think so, it is regular ZF automatic.
This is a first time I hear that someone made so many miles with rear pads on VW. Could be a little bit due to the fact that Beetle is lighter then Passat that year (same pads in the rear).
However, in my vocabulary when it comes to pads for regular cars (not Ferrari) it goes like this:
- More dust, more braking power
- Long lasting pad=less braking power.

Akebono pads are pretty popular, if you really do not care about true potential of your braking system. VW uses several suppliers, top notch being Pagid, ATE. However, for some markets they do deliver TRW pads (U.S.) that have less power but also less dust then European versions of the same car (since from what I figured, for most American drivers dust is bigger issue then braking).
So you can go with Akebono Euro. I treid them when I had some issue with some noise, and wanted to see whether it is due to too aggressive pad/rotor combination. Decent pad, however, probably of all pads I have ever tried, the worst braking power.
So, if dust is your imperative, then try Akebono Euro.
If you want to address dust but keep that European brake feeling, I would go with EBC Red stuff.

 

[R2d2]

2004 VW beetle TDI is either a 5 speed stick, or a 6 speed automatic, NO DSG.

 

[KrisZ]

I haven't noticed this with any of the brake pads I installed. They all dusted the same throughout their lifecycle.

 

[Nick1994]

2004 was the first year for DSG, and it was only available in the TDI Beetle.

 

[Nick1994]

Here's some pictures, as you can see it's a 2004. There's a picture of the shifter and of the instrument cluster when it's in Tip-Tronic mode showing the gear selection.

 

[Nick1994]

And when I got the flywheel replaced at the dealer last year you can see it's a DSG

 

[edyvw]

Had no clue that they were putting DSG in TDI in 2004. I know they were availble in few models in the EU, but did not know about US.

 

[edyvw]

We got off the topic.
Get EBC Red Stuff pads. You wont regret it.

 

[asand1]

Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
172K on original front brakes?...... wow what am i doing wrong.?


I cant say what your problem is, but for many people I would say this;
Left foot is for the clutch, otherwise leave it on the ground. There is no need for using the brakes on the highway. I see way too many folks hitting the brakes while CLIMBING a hill on a long staightaway. Many folks kit the brakes before entering corners on the highway here. If folks would just let off the gas they would slow down plenty. I myself set the cruise at 5 over and have no problem just driving through the corners without slowing down. My brakes are seldom used, even in town I anticipate lights and let off the gas to catch them turning green again.