Warped discs... again...

I've never had new wheel bearings fitted but my nearly new Pagid discs appear to have warped. I've got none of the traditional droning noise associated with bearing failure but could they be the cause of my rapidly warping discs?
 
Gonzo said:
I've never had new wheel bearings fitted but my nearly new Pagid discs appear to have warped. I've got none of the traditional droning noise associated with bearing failure but could they be the cause of my rapidly warping discs?
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Stealth fitted Pagid disks and they seemed to last the longest. Other than that sorry I have more questions I have answers.
Best
 
timmus said:
I surmise that this comes down to personal interests. Whilst Vince has great knowledge of VAG vehicles in general, he's not an A2 lover per se. Stealth's involvement in A2OC came about during the time when Vince's wife had an A2. He learnt a lot about them during that time, especially given the number of club member frequenting his door, but he's far more into his VR6 Corrados and such. Does it make sense for him to invest time and money in an expensive tool that performs one job on only a handful of vehicles? Perhaps not.

I'm more than happy to help anyone with wheel bearing issues, but in this particular case I think geographical distance favours others. :)

Cheers,

Tom
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Yes I recall Vince told me that his wife drove an A2 (assume then now past tense) and that he did not have a taste for them personally.
Appreciate the offer of help; A2 cars is only 35 miles away - if I call them then it's odd that I might feel I'm being 'unfaithful'.....that would evaporate pretty quickly if it turns out I will need to cough up another £300 to compensate for bearings incorrectly fitted.....
Thanks again
 
The story of this goes on by the way.
Have had Tony A2 Cars check run outs and discs and bearings but there appears to be no issue (to confirm discs were NOT warped beyond tolerance levels)
He suggested we delved further into the fitting (and perhaps quality of manufacture) of the bearings.
Two small things to note - one of the hub nuts was not torqued correctly, the refitting of which resulted in an immediate improvement is cornering - and also Tony swapped the front discs to the opposite side, which did not cure the juddering but it did shift the problem to a different speed range when braking eg 50 - 30 mph when previously was 40 -20 mph)

still.... you gotta laugh eh?
 
Are the wishbone bushes ok? I had a worn one once that passed MOT, but let the wishbone move enough on loaded braking to make the car shake.

Just a thought.
 
Dal said:
Are the wishbone bushes ok? I had a worn one once that passed MOT, but let the wishbone move enough on loaded braking to make the car shake.

Just a thought.
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Thanks, I thought this had all been checked out but can always revisit - would be annoying especially after having changed discs (4 times), wheel bearings, calipers & brake hoses
 
Dal said:
Are the wishbone bushes ok? I had a worn one once that passed MOT, but let the wishbone move enough on loaded braking to make the car shake.

Just a thought.
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Did the wishbone bushes on my A2 last year. It's a fairly intensive job to remove and replace. At 150k miles I thought they were shot, but they were in remarkably good condition. Yes, rubber gaiter was compressed, but balljoint wasn't rattling about like a box of spanners. Fitted Meyle kit.

My advice would be to check the simple stuff first, such as ARB bushes, and drop links if there's any play while cornering.

Back to the brakes. Have the calipers been stripped and rebuilt? Sounds obvious, but a sticky piston will cause uneven wear on pads and possible pad transfer. Possible to rebuild calipers with Bigg Red replacement seals and dust boots. Remember and lube the piston with Lockhead red grease and slider pins.
 
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spartacus 68 said:
Did the wishbone bushes on my A2 last year. It's a fairly intensive job to remove and replace. At 150k miles I thought they were shot, but they were in remarkably good condition. Yes, rubber gaiter was compressed, but balljoint wasn't rattling about like a box of spanners. Fitted Meyle kit.

My advice would be to check the simple stuff first, such as ARB bushes, and drop links if there's any play while cornering.

Back to the brakes. Have the calipers been stripped and rebuilt? Sounds obvious, but a sticky piston will cause uneven wear on pads and possible pad transfer. Possible to rebuild calipers with Bigg Red replacement seals and dust boots. Remember and lube the piston with Lockhead red grease and slider pins.
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Ha, I certainly would not attempt to handle a major surgery like that myself - no doubt it'll be worse after the operation!
Yes both at Stealth and A2 Cars I have had all the suspension components you mention dismissed as possible culprits.

I have had new (well stripped and recond) calipers fitted. In fact everything that sits on the hub carrier has been swapped out, and 10 days ago at A2 Cars they refitted the disc assembly fully lubricated to eliminate sticky pins etc.

Thanks for your input - perhaps I'll go outside and waggle my anti-roll bar and wishbones
 
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Was this ever sorted ?
My offside disc is always the one causing me issue. I cannot detect any runout with my equipment. By design I do not see the point of having the caliper sliders inside wibbly wobbly rubber bushes so may consider doing something with these.
However on looking for pads on ebay, reading on the ebc ultimax pads they mention 'pro-cutting' discs.- ie skimming with special machine that fits the cars hub so that any runnout is accounted for. Not many garages offer this yet but may be the way to go.
Martin
 
I’m reading this with interest because I had a similar experience a couple of years ago with a different car. I clipped a kerb going home one night and thought I’d got away with no damage as I couldn’t see anything obvious. However within the next week the brakes were juddering so I had the discs and pads changed, but within another week the juddering was back. Several months and brake disc sets later we finally discovered the cause, which was a bent wheel hub. The mechanic replaced it, the problem was solved and I bought a lot of doughnuts to make up for my foolishness!
 
This may be a bit controversial but in my experience brake discs seldom warp, it is almost always something else that causes the problem. Sometimes it is as simple as the hub surfaces not being cleaned properly when fittig the discs.
 
AndyP said:
This may be a bit controversial but in my experience brake discs seldom warp, it is almost always something else that causes the problem. Sometimes it is as simple as the hub surfaces not being cleaned properly when fittig the discs.
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Indeed - the braking wobble on my previous Volvo C70 turned out to be the control arm bushes, but only when they were replaced for the MOT, 2 years of wobble after changing the discs. When the wobble started on the current one, I did the bushes first, which made it better but didn't stop it. That DID turn out to be discs, the supplying car dealer had to replace them as part of its pre-sale service and must have put on cheapy ones to save margin. Hopefully doing it that way round it should now be wobble-free for the foreseeable future.
 
As above, worn bushes can aggravate or be caused by problems. The disks can be warped, but in my experience of older cars, it's almost always a calliper which is just very slightly binding on due to corrosion. If you feel the back of the wheels with your hand after a wee drive, if one wheel is noticeably warmer than the other (per axle) then you may have a sticky calliper, my suggestion is send them off to Bigg Red and get them refurbed. The rears can actually be bought for about £60 for the pair if it's not drums, dirt cheap!
 
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