[Shreko]

Originally Posted by shramik

I beleive a time has come when we should all unite together & send a message to Skoda that this will not do !!

Autocar magazine has a rederessal forum where this issue should be sent, and Skoda themselves should be addressed directly.

I am quite wiling to assist wherever possible.

I am willing to take up this issue with Skoda. Let me know.

[shramik]

Originally Posted by Shreko

I am willing to take up this issue with Skoda. Let me know.

My mail to Skoda India's CEO.....Winfried Vahland
& copied to:
Sudhir Rao
Sanjay Mundade
Skoda Naveen <tal_service@airtelmail.com>
Skoda Helpline <customercare@skoda-auto.co.in>

Dear Sirs,

I purchased my Skoda Rapid on 20th June 2014 from M/s TAFE Bangalore, after my brother recommended it, having bought his in 2013.
This car was to replace my 2011 Fiat Linea Diesel, of which I had already grown very fond off.
My Rapid has till date covered 17,998 Kms, almost 90% of these in long out-station business trips.
The car is therefore, a highway runner, & so remains stationary in between trips, after being fueled & readied for the next trip.
At about 12,000 Kms, I started to notice a slight judder on the steering wheel when braking lightly from high speeds (180 Kmph+)
This situation became even more pronounced and started occuring at gradually lower speeds (of around 120 Kmph) with increasing ferocity, prompting me to lodge the car at 14282 Kms for its service.
At that time, I told them to measure the front disc run-out, & give me the readings, as when the first signs started at around 12,000 Kms, I knew from past experience that it was nothing but disc run out.
Unfortunately, the service adviser could not understand this problem and insisted that after "brake disc cleaning" (whatever this means !) the problem will disappear.
Predictably, it did not, by this time the car was already lying with TAFE for 2 days……
After some effort, I was able to get in touch with Mr Naveen, who immediately understood the issue & then set about to rectify things rapidly.
With his assistance, & after another 2 days of waiting for Skoda's clearance, I was finally told that Skoda would replace the 2 discs but not the pads, & that too, under "goodwill warranty".
While I do not agree with this in principle, I agreed to accept it provisionally, just to get the car back on the road.
My logic is that if the disc has run out of "true", it is going to damage the pads by lateral oscillation, there is no question about this fact.
So, if the discs are found to be defective by excessive "run out", why then are the pads not replaced ?
I therefore ask Skoda to send me a pair of front disc pads at your convenience.
As to "goodwill warranty", I again wish to take up issue…..what does this mean ?
I am well aware that Skoda India are already seized of this problem, so why this show of "goodwill warranty" ?
I have also seen documentation which permits dealers to replace discs & pads if this problem surfaces within 10,000 Kms, in fact it is published on TEAM BHP's website.
If you indeed care to browse the website of TEAM BHP under "Skoda Rapid Brakes" you all see that many of us have started facing this problem at around 11,000 to 14,000 Kms. These complainants are across the country & not localized.
In many cases, customers have actually been asked to pay for new discs & pads, with the problem re-occurring in a few thousand kilometers again !
I personally suspect that the metallurgy of a specific batch of discs is suspect.
In fact, have initiated steps to get down a few used discs from your European models & have them subjected to comparative metallurgical tests to see if indeed, the composition of the steel is the same.
Do also understand that this car is capable of sustained speeds in excess of 170 Kmph.
If the components of the brakes are suspect, don't you think you should issue a "recall" & check all cars, Rapids/Ventos/Polos etc as they seem to share the same components & therefore problems ?
There is also the question of collateral damage.
At 120 Kmph, the front wheel is turning at an incredible 1333 RPM or so !!! This amounts to about 22 times per second !! A disc run out of 20 thou + (as was told to me in my case) means that even under very gently braking, the disc is exerting excessive & pulsating lateral pressure 22 times per second on the pads !! While the pads will take the wear & self destruct, albeit prematurely, what about the effect of these lateral forces on the CV joints ? The steering components ? The final drive & gear box components ?
I trust you will kindly address the above with the importance it deserves.
I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,

Shramik Masturlal
Masturlal Private Limited
Masturlal Cords & Ropes Pvt Ltd
7th Mile Bannerghatta Road, Arakere,
Bangalore 560076
Telephones: +91 80 26581756, 26583756, 26583491, 26585491
Fax: +91 80 2658 0338, 2658 5667

[Shreko]

Originally Posted by shramik

My mail to Skoda India's CEO.....Winfried Vahland
& copied to:
Sudhir Rao
Sanjay Mundade
Skoda Naveen <tal_service@airtelmail.com>
Skoda Helpline <customercare@skoda-auto.co.in>

This is a good start now lets wait for a response from Skoda Team. I will add my experience to the email chain as well.

[nandakalyan]

Thank god I found this thread! I have a Skoda Rapid 1.5 TDI Elegance bought in Dec 2014. I recently completed 9000 kms and discovered that high speed breaking was causing shudders, and there is a squeaking rhythmic noise while braking, rhythmis commensurate with the speed of the vehicle. I took the vehicle twice to Vinayak Cars, TC Palya, Bangalore, first time in Oct and today again, but they seem to be bent on "brake disc cleaning". What's more, they say they cannot reproduce the issue while they do a test drive. My vehicle had clocked 9868 kms when I left it there and it was still at 9868 kms in the evening when I took delivery, I wonder what "test drive" actually happened. Though they are willing to help and sound cooperative, technically they seem utterly clueless and hence useless in resolving the problem. I am not too much of an expert at these so I tend to believe in their advise, however, reading through all the posts here, I feel like I am taken for a jolly good ride by the ASS guys. If there is a formal complaint to be lodged regarding the quality of ASS, the braking issue or the ASS being technically incompetent, count me in for it.

On a side note - The bluetooth system fails to read my phonebook, and the service manager conveniently said "it is working fine with another phone we tested"....however, the system again failed read the phonebook of my mom's Samsung when I connected it.

Also, there is a strange hiss that emanates from the left AC vent when I increase the throttle (any gear). It seems to fade in, reach a high note and fade out....all in a matter of 10-12 seconds. Is it normal? Please advise.

And, the left AC vent seems to give out a whirring noise, not loud but a constant whirring, (like a motor running but squeaking a bit) when the AC is on in "internal circulation" mode only, the whole noise disappears when I switch to external circulation. The service manager says this is part of the "flap motor" and the sound (both the whirring and the hiss during throttling) is normal? Is this true? Please let me know. I am really feeling I made a bad decision by buying this vehicle :(

(sorry to have brought in non-brake related issues, I couldn't find a more relevant post to seek some advice)

[shinuak]

Behold, you know what, my 2016 Skoda Rapid 1.5 TDI Style plus is shuddering, juddering and vibrating while braking from speeds like 120-130 kmph. I took it to Vinayak cars, Skoda ASS at TC palya today morning (19th August). The car is 8 months old and this problem started on my trip to Hyderabad last week and at around 6500km. Now after the trip the car has completed 7500km. The SA says that this is due to wear and tear and he will check with the technical team for assessing and if this will be covered under warranty. On seeing my LTD sticker, he took a anticipatory bail and said, "Sir you may have read about this problem but I cannot confirm replacement under warranty with my technical team assessing it" without even me asking anything about replacement under warranty. Now that seems like a confession and is putting me on tenterhooks. The only question I had to him was if brakes are getting worn and torn at 6500km, are they made of wax ?. He just murmured something and repeated the same thing about wear and tear and warranty which is not under his control.Come on Skoda, are you still not able to figure this out yet despite years and years of similar complaints ? . Anyway, fingers crossed and awaiting an assessment/ call back as promised.


By the way my first and overall experience of walking into the Skoda ASS felt like walking into Pakistan with an Indian passport, very cold and unwelcome, starting from reception to SA. My service experience with Chevy Optra Magnum, earlier car, at Trident feels like heaven when compared to this.

[shinuak]

Update on the outcome of brake juddering issue :- In between I had taken the car back from service center the next day after I dropped it there, as I had some personal errands and badly needed a car. The SA was not very happy with my ask, as he said goodwill warranty could be rejected if i do more miles against what was recorded when the car came in to the ASS first. I sheepishly said I am ok with that and I cannot leave my car at the service station indefinitely, unless they give me an estimated time frame, to which he did not have any answer. Frustrated with all these, I said I don't care anymore and took the car home.

After a wait of one week, multiple calls to customer care, email exchanges with the after sales manager finally the goodwill warranty was honored and I got a call from Vinayak SA on 26th August saying that they will replace the rotors / brake pad set free of cost and I need to pay for labor. I went to the ASS on 27th August and got the work done. It took around 2.5 hours for them to fix and we (SA & me) went for a test drive to see if everything is OK. I drove on old madras road and the juddering seems to have stopped, I heaved a sigh of relief. While on the test drive, I had a short discussion with the SA comparing Skoda service to my previous experience with other car makers and asked why everyone attached to Skoda seem to be insensitive, to which he said "we are improving and earlier situation was even worse". Anyway I thank my luck and left the place after the billing / gate pass formalities. Good thing was that I was not charged for labor, probably after understanding my frustration and may be due to my escalations and posts on face book (not sure though). The very next day, I drove from Bangalore to Lepakshi, the judder never came back but I felt that the braking bite was not as strong as how it used to be, my heart sank as I shudder at the thought of going back to Skoda and going through this all over again. I thought I will try driving for another 200-300 km and check since it is a new set of pads/rotors, keeping my fingers crossed

[smnrock]

My car(2016 DSG model) started to give "thud,thud,.." sound when applying break. I assume this is the in-famous shuddering issue which occurs in skoda rapid. It started yesterday when i left my hometown and i continued driving till Bangalore. I've not noticed this issue in inside city, so this occurs only high speed.

Again i've to travel this weekend and next weekend as well(another ~2000 Kms), Is it safe to drive in highway with this issue? I'm planning to fix this issue in my 2nd service which is scheduled in March 1st week.

[raman.aries]

VW users/owners are still facing this issue. I, for one, am an affected party. The issue cropped up in a 2016 Polo GT TSI owned by me. Is there any record for VW India circulating such an advisory.

Thanks,
Raman

[ankitsharma]

Any idea if the same issue is persisting on the newer 1.0 TSI models of Rapid ? I am at 7 months / 10 - 11 K mark and now the brakes pulsates at 100+ Kmph. Pads have more than 80% life in them.

Could it be due to occasional rust on the disk pad ? Probably a cleaner from Wurth or Liqy Moly might work ?

[sachin_cs]

Originally Posted by ankitsharma

Any idea if the same issue is persisting on the newer 1.0 TSI models of Rapid ? I am at 7 months / 10 - 11 K mark and now the brakes pulsates at 100+ Kmph. Pads have more than 80% life in them.

Could it be due to occasional rust on the disk pad ? Probably a cleaner from Wurth or Liqy Moly might work ?

I own a 2019 Rapid DSG and I had to change my rotors and pads at 23k kms due to the infamous shuddering issue, I asked my service centre people to raise a warranty ticket and they did, but it was declined by the company saying warranty for brakes are only for 6months or 10k kms. Well, now I’m at 46k kms and the story repeats, I’m again facing the same issue and I don’t know if I would want to put those crapy rotors again. There’s some serious quality issues with TVS rotors for sure, if anyone comes up with an alternative, please help. I was thinking of going for OEM Big brake kit but that’s another expense of 50k which I would not want to spend at the moment. Does anyone knows where to source old ATE rotors from?

[ankitsharma]

So I got my regular first service done @ Raja Skoda Bangalore. I had spoken to the SA regarding the brake issue. After looking at the brakes he told me that the rotors are scarred a bit and the pads have another 5k KMs left in them. As per him he has also applied some compound on the rotors which should lessen the shuddering.
When I asked about the warranty and why the issue still exists he told me the same 10K / 6 Months warranty things. He also added that the rotors life in Rapid is only 15 - 16k.
After driving for some kms I can feel the shuddering issue has come down a bit but it still persists. The pads have more than 50% left in them.

I have taken 6 years warranty and SMP. I think will have to bear up with this unless someone comes with a better solution.

[Powerstroke]

Hey Guys , Has anyone found a solution to the Brake shuddering issue? I’ve been thinking about going for an aftermarket replacement or a upgrade but not sure which one to go for. Any suggestions will be helpful.

[Powerstroke]

Originally Posted by Powerstroke

Hey Guys , Has anyone found a solution to the Brake shuddering issue? I’ve been thinking about going for an aftermarket replacement or a upgrade but not sure which one to go for. Any suggestions will be helpful.

Finally got this done around June .went Bosch rotors with Hella brake pads all done at a local workshop . Entire job costed me about 6K . Have driven about 6k kms since don’t see any scoring or shuddering however overall brake performance leaves a lot to be desired.