VW Golf Mk4 TDI PD130 Brakes Grinding After Fitting New Discs

At the weekend I fitted new brake pads and discs to my VW Golf MK4 but shortly afterwards I noticed that the brakes seemed to be making a grinding sound especially when cornering.

I'd originally been supplied the wrong brake discs by Eurocarparts when I was given 256mm discs and just managed to beat closing time to get some replacement ones before they shut. It now appears that the replacement ones are wrong too!

My car is a 2001 model VW Golf PD130 Diesel yet according to the Eurocarparts website it could have 256, 280, 288 or 312mm brake discs. This would appear to be completely wrong and Golf PD130 engine can only use 288mm brake discs along with the 1.8T GTI and PD150 diesel.



Frustrating when it takes 3 visits to get the correct part but fortunately I now know the cause of the scraping/grinding noise after fitting new brake discs and pads so if you have VW Golf and experience that sound, make sure you check the size of the discs are correct.

The cause of the grinding sound is the bolt securing the caliper to the hub that touches the rear of the brake disc. The clearance is very small and the difference in thickness between the 280mm disc at 37mm thick and the 288mm disc at 34mm thick is only 3mm but this is enough to bridge the clearance and cause the rubbing and consequent noise.

VW Golf Mk4 Brakes Grinding After Fitting New Discs

For a VW Golf MK4 PD130 TDI the brake specs are:

The Front brakes are 288mm x 25mm Vented Discs,  54mm ATE single piston calipers

The Rear brakes are 232mm x 9mm Solid Discs