I didn't want the above to be longer but I wanted to say that I did speak with Geoff and I would recommend speaking with him if you're in the states. Shipping to Canada is high due to the weight of these monsters. In fact, I spoke with 1stvwparts.com and they sell original VW parts for aftermarket prices but unfortunately, they are in Seattle, and shipping from there is just crazy. I would definitely go with them for those prices.

I have had no issues with my current brakes and the fact they lasted this long would make them my first choice but the price is crazy.

The only issue was when I initially bought the car I wasn't happy with the initial feel but I got used to it and now I understand it's due to the ceramic pads and once you get some heat in them they're ok. It's funny though how the first impression stays with you.

 

You said you spoke with Geoff, do you mean from @QPower1 ? He's he's the only one I'd trust with oem Touareg parts

 

No need to spend 1c over what a set of Zimmermans will cost. I'm also not aware of ceramic pads being OE on the Touareg but from experience, they do create less dust but also do not have quite the same bite as a good semi metallic pads. I'm on my 2nd set of Pagids (on a T1 and now my T2) which are OE and they are great. YMMV

 

I can't remember where I read about it or the dealer told me. I definitely have 0 dust and my rotors are pristine after 130,000kms. I am going to go with the Zimmermanns. I'm undecided on the pads but I do want ceramics. I'm ok with the feel now that I got over the initial feel.

 

Agreed that ceramic sucks. I'm also not convinced the OEM is ceramic.

This is @QPower1 website

VW Touareg brake rotor and pad offer from Club Touareg website

 

Agreed that ceramic sucks. I'm also not convinced the OEM is ceramic.

This is @QPower1 website

VW Touareg brake rotor and pad offer from Club Touareg website

Unfortunately, shipping to Canada is expensive. I would consider it if I were in the US and wanted OEM.

 

I didn't say they sucked lol....just that they have their pros and cons.

 

Oh, then I'll say it, ceramic sucks 😂 their sole purpose in life is to be quiet and dust free. Stopping power is terrible with ceramic

 

Brembo discs/rotors and Pagid pads were OEM.

Some people buy Brembo pads but these are made by Pagid for Brembo..

 

Modern German cars need the pads and rotors changed at the same time. especially with the Touareg and it's high carbon brake setup. The pads and rotors wear it equal rates.

 

I have not had to do the brakes on my egg yet.... I'm at 137k or so.
The rears were replaced at 100k as a condition of me buying it. (by the dealer). I also tow with mine.
Under normal use, OEM brakes seem to last quite a while. Without measuring the wear on your existing rotors, it's hard for anyone to tell you if there's life in them. If I recall correctly, there isn't much meat on the OEM units to wear off, and this is one of the reasons why they can't just be turned down like back in the day.

As for sourcing.... I don't have a single go to. I have purchased parts for all my VWs over the years from all over.
Amazon, Deutch Auto, ECS, German Parts, German OEM, Rock Auto, even Kijiji. I typically just shop around and take into consideration what part I'm replacing, and what kind of risk factor I want to play with if I want to be cheap. I won't use anything but OEM stuff for things like Timing Belt Kits or bearings. I sometimes cheap out on brakes and buy a complete set of china stuff for a DD that don't last very long, but then I don't bark about it too much if I have to replace them 30k later.

For the Touareg, if you want local, I suggest you use German OEM. (You are being redirected... ) Using good parts should get you another 100k worth of use so cheaping out on components isn't really advisable.

 

Yes, I'm like that too, I usually order critical things OEM and outsource the rest. I was looking at german oem and they are not too far from Toronto but they actually have free shipping on their kits too.

I was also looking at the Porsche forums and Cayenne owners seem to like fcpeuro.com. While they are in the US they do have great prices and now also ship for free to Canada. I will probably go with one of them.

BTW I called the dealer to confirm that the OEM pads are ceramic.

 

Update: I just got off the phone with fcpeuro and I was told that they have ATE discs which according to the person I spoke with is a manufacturer for VW and they are essentially OEM discs. He is emailing me options but I wanted to check if anyone has heard of ATE and are they in fact OEM because I was under the impression that the OEM discs are Brembo.

 

ATE makes great stuff but OEM is 100% Brembo. Have you messaged @QPower1 for help yet? He can answer better than anybody.

 

I cant confirm that aTe made the stock rotors (although its possible) but they are absolutely an OE supplier, not just to VW, but to BMW etc etc. My 09 Touareg has an aTE master cylinder from the factory, which I just replaced using an Ate PN for half what the same part would have cost for a VW PN also made by aTe.

They do make rotors, calipers and pads which Ive used on other vehicles as well as brake fluid which Ive used exclusively for over a decade, including on my former T1 an current T2. Bottom line is they are a top tier supplier

 

Another advantage with FCPEuro is that they will replace them whenever they are worn for as long as you own the vehicle, even if you drive it on the race track.

 

Yes I did speak with Geoff (QPower1). His shipping is $50 more than fcpeuro and he doesn't have ceramic pads. He thought he could get the brembo ones that are made in China most likely which he doesn't have experience with.

The interesting thing with fcpeuro is that some of the parts like the ATE rotors, wear sensors and rear brembo pads match the VW part numbers exactly. The sebro rotors for example have at least one digit/letter off from the VW at germanparts/german oem. Plus their prices are really good and come highly recommended over the Cayenne forum. My only issue is that they don't seem to have a complete set of rotors/pads. Accept for the ATE rotors. They have brembo rear pads but provided TRW fronts.

Here are the rear rotor options for example ( I hope the link works):
Edit: the link worked but it seems to be some sort of reference link. I know some links include referrals but I don't know how those work or how to edit them out so please excuse it if that's what it is....I simply pasted what they sent me in the email.

Browse Our Volkswagen Touareg Parts Catalog | FCP Euro

Volkswagen Touareg parts online. Buy OEM & Genuine parts with a Lifetime Warranty, Free Shipping and Unlimited 365 Day Returns.

www.fcpeuro.com

And of course, they have this warranty where people seem to just send back worn parts and get new ones. I still don't get how they can do that. I wonder if people track their cars and wear out their pads prematurely hence the warranty claim. Perhaps if I get another 130k kms out of them that's not going to work. In any case, their prices are right, shipping is reasonable given the cheap prices and they come highly recommended, plus they tell me that the ATE rotors are EOM, which we know is not true for the Touareg but he was of the opinion that they are better than the zimmermann. Mind you I'm sure every seller thinks that their product is the best. Having said that, Sebro/zimmermann are frequently used by the Porsche guys.

I don't think I ever had such a hard time deciding what to do.

I contacted german oem via email/vm and no response after a couple of days.

 

My only bit of advice is, in this very specific instance of automobile, you would be served well to stick with absolute OEM. Anything else will create issues for you down the line... short lifespan of components, uneven wear, poor and diminished braking capacity etc. For a measly extra $50 I would hands down go through Qpower and get the exact parts that should be on that Touareg - keep in mind, his pricing is still half of what the dealer would charge for parts alone.

 

The funny thing is I'm going around in circles and I can make an argument for each case. Now I am thinking to buy the fronts directly from VW to get the original OEM and get aftermarket for the rears. Ideally, I'd want original as VW designed/engineered them to fit the vehicle and I agree it is a special case due to the size and it being a "sport" model.
The only reason I'm considering going aftermarket is the price. But if I look at it from the overall price I paid for the car and the fact I would only need to do this once or twice plus amortize it over the life of the car am I really saving all that much? Especially considering that VW essentially paid me for the vehicle so I'd still be way ahead of the game.

Qpower sells aftermarket. He told me this on the phone. His are OEM spec aftermarket parts. The only benefit of buying from him is the anecdotal evidence from people saying they had no problems with them. Unfortunately, there is not enough experience with the 2011+ Tregs as we don't know how long the aftermarket discs/pads last vs the OEM as the replacements are not due for replacement for a few more years.

If I'm comparing EOM spec aftermarket with Qpower's then fcpeuro is ~USD$250 cheaper plus ~USD$50 less shipping.

 

I think the rotors are the most important part - the OEM rotors are high carbon steel, most aftermarket rotors are not. The pads are important but not quite as much as the rotors in the case of the Touareg

The last I heard from Geoff was he was getting literally OEM pieces for the Touareg, same stuff the dealership was getting... is that not the case? This was a newer thing, within the past I dunno.. 2-3 years I think he sourced out said parts?

 

Well, the places I'm looking at based on recommendations seem to have the high carbon, coated discs just like the OEM. I would put aftermarket parts into two categories. One is the cheap stuff that will probably work, but probably not last as long and might have issues eventually like vibrations or even failures, the other is the "OEM spec" stuff. I mean you can get rotors for US$44 but the OEM spec start around US$60. Unless a brembo factory worker tells me that the rotors coming off the line for VW also get packed and sent to german OEM then I would have no problem ordering those. But if that were the case I suspect the price difference would be much smaller.

The interesting thing about the smaller things that people say they don't need to be replaced or you can get them cheaper elsewhere. Geoff for example told me that the caliper bolts don't need to be replaced. Others say it definitely needs to be replaced not only because it is subjected to high forces but it is also torqued to the max which also weakens the material and could fail eventually, and why not replace such a low value item.

As far as I can tell the wear sensors are plug and play and there is no need to go OEM and pay almost 4x the price. Worst case scenario is your brake light doesn't come on, or perhaps comes on prematurely. Personally, I think as much as they sound like a great idea, it's more of a marketing thing for dealers to make more money. Any reasonable mechanic will check your brakes for you when you are in for an oil change and tell you if they need replacing.

AFAIK you can only get OEM VW parts from a VW dealer. I'm intrigued by fcpeuro selling ATE/VNE rotors with matching VW part numbers but they are clearly not brembo so you know you're not getting true VW OEM parts. Other online places all have part numbers that differ by at least one digit/character from OEM. So they try to make them look like OEM but they are at best OEM spec.

By the next time I need new brakes, there should be enough high mileage Tregs around with enough experience to say the EOM spec aftermarket ones worked just as well. The only problem with that is that people tend to downplay any problems so one would have to take anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt.

 

Ok, I made the executive decision, I'm going with VW parts and having my mechanic do the work. I love how well the car drives and how smooth it is at high speeds without a hint of vibration which I don't want to jeopardize by trying to save a few bucks. I will still save on the labor and I will have peace of mind. I checked with my dealer and I was told that no brake work has been done which means they are original and the new ones should last a similar distance.

Thanks for all your feedback.

 

Awesome! Good to hear. Let us know how much it cost and how it turned out for you!

 

Let us know how much this is costing you, just for reference vs what most people are getting quoted from the stealerships.

 

I can tell you my quote from VW for parts is CAD$1500 and another $625 for labor. Unfortunately, my mechanic is unavailable to do the work so I have to go to another shop I use for non-german vehicles. I'm assuming his labor is going to be about 2/3 of the dealer saving my about $200. It just sucks that I'm in a condo and can't work on the car as I keep reading that it's relatively easy to do brake work on these.

 

That's about what a Touareg brake job goes for in America, around $2k. Good luck! So many options out there

 

^^Hey you have a pic of your CC by chance???

As a generalization ceramics suck - they are used by many because they are quiet and dust-free for the most part. With that said, they typically have very low coefficients of friction compared to other compounds like metallic, carbon fiber, and other mixed compound pads

 

I use Zimmerman/pagid combo. The rears I used Zimmerman/brembo. Bought from Germanparts.ca. Shipping is quick.
These are known quality parts that work well. Good feel, dust is not bad, wear is average.
I tried TRW pads but even my wife said that the pedal feels mushy. Changed them to Pagid and feel was back, good solid pedal, no squeals going forward or reversing.

 

To be honest the real reason i originally went for ceramics was purely health concerns with my child back when i got then he was 2 and would always be grabbing onto the awful dusty rims. By going to ceramics i figured i could minimize this at least