shaking when braking

This would be my approach to your problem:

First get the run out checked on your discs/rotors with a dial indicator.

Here's a random video about run out to give you an idea. It's quite a good one as there are problems with brand new repalcements!


if they're good, then I'd check the disc/rotor thickness to see if they are still within wear tolerances.

If both pass the test, I'd consider putting in a new set of pads but in reality I think new discs/rotors, pads and brake wear sensors would be the way to go at 35K.

All of this can be done any competent brake workshop who will be cheaper than a VW dealer.

On long mountain descents I use Tiptronic to hold a lower gear for engine braking rather than rely solely on the brakes especially if there's lots of twists and turns as this sets the car up better for corners as well.

The other things is if I have heated the brakes up well, if I have to stop for a lights or a railway crossing or traffic, then I use the parking brake rather than leave my foot on the brake pedal. A] that's annoying for anyone behind! and B] there is no hot spot building on the discs/rotors where the pads are clamped on by my foot!

There are lots of threads on here about which brakes to use - personally I'd go with OEM on a car so young.

This is hard to recommend anything in your situation. I hope your dealer is the good one - in this case you have a chance to exploit warranty. If not – you might try to find better VW dealer first and if unsuccessful, pay out of pocket for brake pads and (most likely) disks replacement. The replacement of both done at a VW dealership would run somewhere ~$1200+. The “warped disks” diagnosis is nothing, but your dealer BS. Here is a bit of reading on the subject which you might find not very amusing:
http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths
I got my brake pads and disks warranty-replaced at ~16K for the notorious squeaking noise reason (when backing out of the garage in reverse on a cold and dump morning). Three complaints were recognized as sufficient reason for the dealer to request replacement approval by the VWoA. You have vibration and they do not wish to accept it as a reason for warranty replacement. I can only guess that this is because you are too close to 40K miles which, as I was told, is “normal” mileage/time to replace brake pads.

You might want to see if you have thrown a wheel weight, or rotate the tires front-rear to see if the problem changes before going after the brakes. If the problem stays with pulsation and the steering is still wobbly, then it is likely a glazing problem of the rotors. Truly "warped" rotors are super uncommon, although this is the general term that most people use to describe the problem.

it would be caused by pad material being unevenly bonded to the rotor. You must have gotten your brakes very hot at some point , more than a few times. Unfortunately it will not be possible to simply sand the offending glaze off. I have tried in vain on previous vehicles. In my case , I live near the top of an extreme hill and because of speed limits I have to ride the brakes almost all the way down (residential).

On my previous vehicle (2003 4runner) I was replacing rotors every 18-24 months because of pedal pulsation. It was as cheap to replace the rotors as turning rotors, which never fixes the root cause anyway. Even paying for premium rotors and pads made little difference, it was the weight of the vehicle and the conditions needed to stop a couple times a day every day.

Touareg wheels pick up a lot of crud on the inside, unseen part of the wheel.

Centrifugal force normally evens the crud out so the wheel stays in balance.

We had a lot of deep standing water just before Christmas due to exceptionally heavy rain and 80-90 mph winds resulting in Tommy Treg doing quite a bit of wading.

On the first high speed run on Christmas Day I was getting some steering wheel shake so, on reaching my destination, I used their high pressure hose to clean all the cack out form behind the wheels before sitting down to lunch.

The run back home was vibration free.

This has happened to me before where deep water wading obviously loosens and then dislodges a chunk of the crud that was keeping the wheel in balance.