Changing the rear brakes on a VW Tiguan

Fella

Hi,

Quick question. I had a tyre replaced on a VW Tiguan by F1 Autocentre. They said the rear brakes need to be replace which I authorised them to do. They've now said they can't because "VW Tiguans requre a "special gadget" to disengage the electric handbrake that they don't have & only VW dealers have".

I've never heard anything so ludicrous, can it actually be true that only VW can change the breaks on a VW Tiguan? Or am I being told nonsense.

As an aside, anyone thinking of buying a VW Tiguan expecting something reliable, DON'T. Mine is new-ish & has cost fortunes in repairs every year pretty much. Every few months a light will go on on the dashboard & it'll turn out to be some component you've never heard of that costs £500 to replace (which has happened twice in the last year alone. Throttle Actuator for example).

Minrich

Well for an Autocentre to turn down work , it must be true , why not ask on a VW Tiguan forum ?

Johnmcl7

I believe the Tiguan does require coding to release the e-brake before the pads can be replaced, it wasn't something I was aware of until a friend with an A4 and electronic parking brake was complaining about it when he needed his rear pads/discs replaced:


http://www.mytiguan.com/index.php?/topic/3578-rear-pad-question/?p=29931


That said, I thought any garage doing that sort of work would have a suitable tool since there's other VW based cars need it as well.


John

bigjl

As far as I was aware you don't need a specific (VW) tool but you. Do require decent quality diagnostic kit.

It isn't cheap and most garages use Snap On kit for this.

VW is one manufacturer (Vag Com) that has manufacturer specific diagnostics, Renault CanClip is another.

I don't know any decent garage that struggles to do brakes on VAG cars.

Most cars with an electronic parking brake require diagnostics to be used when doing the rear brakes. I don't know of any that don't require diagnostics to be honest but one may exist.

Says all you need to know about F1 Autocentres.

Strider590

Sounds about right, manufacturers have been trying for years to keep customers coming into dealerships for servicing and repairs, it really kicked off with French cars in the 90's, but now they're all at it.

EU stops them voiding warranty if you get servicing done elsewhere, but they're now making it a condition of finance and hire purchase schemes and I think in the US all new cars have to have OBDII compatible ECUs, so that any garage can read fault codes.
So you can see how badly they want to stop you using other garages.

Good news is that 3rd parties are very quick to catch up, most of the time someone comes up with the kit to do the work 3-5 years after the manufacturer puts this stuff into their cars.

mrmot

It's got an electronic parking brake, which is operated by motors in the calipers. To be able to change the pads the caliper pistons need to be pushed back, which can't be done with the motors engaged.

Diagnostic equipment is required to release, re-engage and run a post repair test sequence on the motors, it is also imperative that the battery voltage doesn't drop during this process, otherwise the control unit can become corrupted.

salubrious

It's F1 Autocentres, the brakes most likely don't need changing - Best get some proper advice from mechanics and not neanderthals

mrmechanic

mrmot wrote: »

It's got an electronic parking brake, which is operated by motors in the calipers. To be able to change the pads the caliper pistons need to be pushed back, which can't be done with the motors engaged.

Diagnostic equipment is required to release, re-engage and run a post repair test sequence on the motors, it is also imperative that the battery voltage doesn't drop during this process, otherwise the control unit can become corrupted.

As above and all very important
Let the battery voltage drop and you are into a very large bill.
The vehicle needs to be connected to a battery support unit while on the diagnostic tool.
Take it to someone that knows what they are doing

WellKnownSid

mrmechanic wrote: »

Let the battery voltage drop and you are into a very large bill.
The vehicle needs to be connected to a battery support unit while on the diagnostic tool

Blimey, are we back to the 1970s again? Vehicle systems have been built to withstand large scale under and over voltages for years - is this just bad design, or a more general concern, like I'm told by the big notice that I must earth myself to discharge any dangerous static electricity build up before I attempt to use a petrol pump?

Fella

Thanks for all the replies. TBF the brakes do look worn (they called us over to look). Didn't realise it had become such a faff (or more correctly didn't realise the implications of having electronic handbrake which I don't like much anyway....). Seems like cars have gone the same way as boilers....the new ones may be more efficient etc but they have 20x the amount of parts that can & do go wrong on a fairly regular basis.

AdrianC

Strider590 wrote: »

...and I think in the US all new cars have to have OBDII compatible ECUs, so that any garage can read fault codes.

EOBD has been a legal requirement on all new cars in the EU since 2001 (petrol)/2004 (diesel).

Both the US OBDII and EU EOBD diagnostics, though, are just a subset of the full engine management diagnostics, and don't do any other vehicle systems - so the manufacturer systems (or something compatible) are needed. Any half-decent garage have had compatible diagnostics for a decade or more, though. They can't work without them.