Just my 2¢ as I did this on my '11 when I had the brakes done is to put on a set of stainless steel braided brake lines at the same time. I had them on a previous vehicle and wanted them on my Treg. I love the immediate bite of the brakes and the less soft feel of the pedal now.

 

nice. Where are stainless steel braided lines avail for Treg? I had those on my last GTI

 

I installed a set of Goodridge G Stop SS lines. Go to their website for their PN then plug that into a search and see who's got them for the best price. I paid $116 and it made a huge difference in bite and pedal feel.

 

Very cool. That's a cheap upgrade, especially if the pads/rotors check out during install. I'll take a fluid flush and line upgrade over new pads/rotors. I have never replaced brakes on a single car i've owned, having put over 100K miles on 3 of my cars. I am hoping to get as much life out of the brakes on my Treg as possible though I recognize they may need replacement sooner than later due to sheer age and winter/summer heat cycling which likely degrades the pads over time. Rotors have been resurfaced 20K miles ago.

I'll let y'all know how it goes. I'll be doing the work in April as I am hella broke until then lol, put everything to my name down on this Treg to get my monthly payments lower than my outgoing Alltrack with a sooner payoff date

 

It took me all of an hour to install the SS lines and bleed all 4 corners. I remove the reservoir lid and then replace it with a piece of clear wrap which blocks the vent and prevents fluid from draining when I swap lines.

the process then is:

Block reservoir vent
raise rear end, remove both tires & add Jack stands
swap both lines
remove reservoir cap & poly
top up reservoir & install motive bleeder
pressurized bleeder
bleed RR then LR
install tires and drop vehicle
repeat for front
drive
smile

 

Compared to my other vehicles, the Touareg is definitely more "padded" and maybe "dead" in its brake feel.. but once you start getting into the brakes, they are extremely powerful and linear.

A few things may have happened in your specific instance.

I would re-bed the brakes. I bet that alone will help BIG time in your braking and pedal feel.

Another possibility is, somebody put new brakes on that are not OEM and they feel like garbage.

 

Compared to my other vehicles, the Touareg is definitely more "padded" and maybe "dead" in its brake feel.. but once you start getting into the brakes, they are extremely powerful and linear.

A few things may have happened in your specific instance.

I would re-bed the brakes. I bet that alone will help BIG time in your braking and pedal feel.

Another possibility is, somebody put new brakes on that are not OEM and they feel like garbage.

I'll look back over my service paperwork but it's a one-owner (two, including me) and PO never mentioned replacing pads or rotors, just that the rotors were resurfaced @ 13K miles.

When you say re-bed the brakes. Do you mean getting up to like 80-100mph and slamming the brakes on the highway, then repeating a few times?

 

With only 1 mm of wear on each side of a rotor they were quite possibly borderline at 13K after the "resurfacing" if they were skimmed..

 

ugh

 

I had a 2012 with 60k miles and no issues with the brakes at all. Just had all brake fluid services done. My 2016 TDI has 25K miles and no issues yet. Do you live in a city with a lot of stop and go driving like LA ? Half or more of my mileage is highway at 70 mph very little traffic.

 

2012 TDI here -- when I got mine at first, I also felt the squishy pedal. I was previously driving a 2009 SportWagen. What's important to note is that these beasts are trying to stop 5K pounds. Standard brakes will not stop 5K pounds like they will 3K pounds. There are remedies, like those mentioned above. But the truth is, two tons is two tons. The laws of physics always win.

 

OEM or bust. If they're aftermarket I can almost guarantee they're cheap ****.

 

OEM or bust. If they're aftermarket I can almost guarantee they're cheap ****.

Wasn't my call. Next time, if I keep it, it will be OEM.