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2012 Jetta brake pad recommendations

MDE

MDE

Lifer
The brakes on my 2012 Jetta TDI are squealing like crazy, so I'm looking at replacing the pads. Does anyone here have experience with StopTech Street Performance pads? Pads and hardware are about $100 shipped from RockAuto.

Thanks!
 
My goto upgrade pad is Hawk HPS. I would think a Stoptech product is a solid choice too but I have no experience with them.
 
NutBucket said:
My goto upgrade pad is Hawk HPS. I would think a Stoptech product is a solid choice too but I have no experience with them.
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Good pads...have used them a few times, although I did go with EBC Yellowstuff on the front of my Silverado this time. Better initial bite, very good stopping power, but dust horrendously. C'est la vie.
 
Squealing from the wear indicators scraping the rotors? If there's enough friction material left, try applying very thin layers of high temperature grease behind the pads and on their shims. Pads selling for $10-$30 a set are fine for your car.
 
bryanl said:
Squealing from the wear indicators scraping the rotors? If there's enough friction material left, try applying very thin layers of high temperature grease behind the pads and on their shims. Pads selling for $10-$30 a set are fine for your car.
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Must have been dust\dirt, because after a lot of rain and a wash the squealing is nearly gone. I was looking at "performance" pads for better initial bite. I've never liked the factory pads. I'm going to get some brake lube and hit the back of the pads to try to take care of the rest of the noise.
 
I grabbed some StopTech's for my 08' G35 maybe 7 months ago. I can't compare them directly to anything since it's the 1st time I changed pad's on this car. They feel just fine and I really haven't noticed any excessive change in braking distance. I broke them in according to the spec's and haven't looked back since.
 
Honestly, I'd go with with the OEM ones you can get at the dealer. The regular ones that have a long ass warranty are hard as hell and you won't stop as well. The performance ones you have to heat up in order to get the enhanced braking which 99% of street drivers don't do.
 
Replaced the wife's 2007 Jetta with Hawk HPS (rear) and performance ceramic (front) ~ 5 years ago and they are still going strong.

You may already know (if you have replaced brakes before on your VW) but I believe your year also has rear brakes that require twisting when compressing/de-compressing the piston. You need a special VW tool for this. Found out the hard way when we did the job, but was able to cheaply rent a brake changing kit from Advanced Auto for an hour to do the job. Worked great. Without the right tool, you can damage the piston if you don't do it correctly. Just a heads-up. 🙂
 
Stoptech is a fine brake pad. I tend to gravitate to Centric(same owner as Stoptech) and EBC red stuff. Both don't brake dust like mad and they have very good initial bite and sustained temperature performance.
 
exar333 said:
Replaced the wife's 2007 Jetta with Hawk HPS (rear) and performance ceramic (front) ~ 5 years ago and they are still going strong.

You may already know (if you have replaced brakes before on your VW) but I believe your year also has rear brakes that require twisting when compressing/de-compressing the piston. You need a special VW tool for this. Found out the hard way when we did the job, but was able to cheaply rent a brake changing kit from Advanced Auto for an hour to do the job. Worked great. Without the right tool, you can damage the piston if you don't do it correctly. Just a heads-up. 🙂
Click to expand...

I will need the special piston compressor for the rears. Thanks everyone for all the feedback!
 
Higher "initial bite" means the pad is optimized for colder temperatures and will perform worse than stock under any kind of sustained use (which is precisely the time you most need it to perform well). True high-performance pads generally have significantly less "initial bite."

Hawk HPS is a great example of this. Downright dangerous pads for anything beyond the first stop.

For a regular Jetta, get the OEM pads and call it a day. Most OEMs actually do a pretty good job of selecting compounds that work "well enough" across a range of temperatures.
 
thomsbrain said:
Higher "initial bite" means the pad is optimized for colder temperatures and will perform worse than stock under any kind of sustained use (which is precisely the time you most need it to perform well). True high-performance pads generally have significantly less "initial bite."

Hawk HPS is a great example of this. Downright dangerous pads for anything beyond the first stop.

For a regular Jetta, get the OEM pads and call it a day. Most OEMs actually do a pretty good job of selecting compounds that work "well enough" across a range of temperatures.
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Thanks for the laugh! So many things wrong it's funny! Thanks!
 
Downright dangerous pads for anything beyond the first stop.
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That's a bit hyperbolic don't ya think?

He drives a Jetta, he's not doing track days twice a month. He'll probably be happy with just about anything on the market. I bought el cheapo pads for my '98 Accord last time and they were fine for the driving I did. No noticeable change in stopping power, no noise, and very little dust. Hell I put pretty cheap Wagner ceramics on my Focus ST and while the initial bite is noticeably less, I did a test at 45mph in a parking lot and they were within a foot of OEM which is good enough for me. And the OEM brakes are unbelievably dusty - it's not an exaggeration to say the ceramics are 95% less dusty.
 
MDE said:
Must have been dust\dirt, because after a lot of rain and a wash the squealing is nearly gone. I was looking at "performance" pads for better initial bite. I've never liked the factory pads. I'm going to get some brake lube and hit the back of the pads to try to take care of the rest of the noise.
Click to expand...



Performance pads usually do not have good initial bite, they need to handle high heat so they give up cold performance for high temp performance.

What you want is a basic street pad. Go to advance auto and get a set of the Gold (not silver) semi-metallic pads. Good street pad I have used on many customers cars and trucks.
 
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