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VW has a good aftermarket parts market for wear and tear items (clutch/brakes) for the Golf Mk2/Mk3 which is very popular with car modders. B5 Passat - dealer

VW has a good aftermarket parts market for wear and tear items (clutch/brakes) for the Golf Mk2/Mk3 which is very popular with car modders. B5 Passat - dealer only for brake pads/discs - when the car needed a clutch replacement the cost was one of the reasons why I traded it for a Corolla. There should be viable non OEM parts market.

halifaxbeard 5y ago
There’s no aftermarket/non-OE brake options for the Passat? I find that hard to believe, I thought VW raided Audi for chassis bits for the Passat.
cartoonworld 5y ago
In the US market, I've found pads and rotors on the aftermarket for VW Passat for any model year including 2021. Centric sells pads and rotors front and rear. VW (and others such as some Jeep) uses an electronic parking brake which requires a scan tool to command the ECU to enter maintenance mode in order to retract the electronic motor on the rear axle to allow the piston to retract. You can do this at home if you have a scan too. If you do not have a scan tool it is still possible to do it manually by disconnecting and removing the EPB servo and manually retracting, but it tricky and not recommended. They use triple square fasteners on the bracket, and are typically a pain in the ass for this make. Is there something else I'm missing?
- jacquesm 5y ago
  This is why I'm a great fan of less electronics. An electronic parking brake is a non-feature. It takes away your option of leaving the parking brake off (they tend to seize when activated for a long period). It can break. It make service harder and more expensive than it should be. The classic 'Mini' had it just about right: what isn't on there can't break or fall off.
  - swader999 5y ago
    An ebike fits this idea fairly well. I commuted for several years on one when I lived in the city. After about a year I could fix anything on it. Was quite liberating.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Since I bought an e-bike my car has run its battery flat more than once, which is a good sign of how often it gets used. I had to get one of those drip chargers just to keep the battery topped up. E-bikes are a game changer. Originally I got one because I wrecked my right leg and have trouble getting the bike up to speed (once cruising it is fine though, because that requires much less force). But after a very short time I realized that besides the low starting torque the range is what really made me happy, the fact that even against the wind I can do 50 km in a bit under two hours without arriving dripping with sweat. I've done a few thousand on the e-bike now and it is only getting used more and more. Car trips are now anything in really bad weather, long distance or with more cargo than the bike can take.
      - swader999 5y ago
        Right on! Free parking is another plus and I bet you still have a silly e-grin on your face after every ride. You can even run them all winter and in snow with studded tires and a bit of thought for the controller and moisture.
  - cartoonworld 5y ago
    I agree its annoying, personally I hate them. They usually serve to allow for automatic roll-away protection. On new Jeep Latitudes they come on automatically when the vehicle senses you have the vehicle running and are stopped, with the door open, or neutral. Owners like the hand holding ... it's a Jeep thing. It does increase the price a little bit and if you do not have an OBDII scan tool and need to buy one. If you operate the EPB maintenance mode very incorrectly it is possible to damage the EPB mechanism. They're pretty easy to operate and replace if you know what you're doing.
kelchm 5y ago
There is nothing special about the brakes on a b5 Passat and there are tons of aftermarket and OEM spec replacements available on the market. The labor for a replacement clutch replacement is typically pretty high. I think the book time for the clutch job on a b5 is really long, something like 10 hours.
sysadmindotfail 5y ago
>B5 Passat - dealer only for brake pads/discs While I do love Toyota this is simply not true. Pads for the B5 Passat start at $25 at Autozone.
thrwaeasddsaf 5y ago
Took me two minutes to find aftermarket brake parts for B5 from bremboparts.com. There absolutely are cars for which it is difficult to get some aftermarket parts but this isn't a good example.
- hef19898 5y ago
  Rubber seals for doors and windows seem to be a constant pain, and if they are available they tend to be really expensive. Regardless of make and brand. Old Land Rovers, late 70s onwards, are a dream to get parts for. At least from the UK, and given you can live with aftermarket parts.
  - cartoonworld 5y ago
    Yeah weatherstripping is horrible, but there is an aftermarket for that, too. Dorman (USA) makes a lot of these kits, you can often get all sorts of surprising parts from them, but they sell out their runs, too. Thing about that kind of part is there aren't a lot of sales. There usually isn't millions of people out there ready to buy the weatherstripping, so the aftermarket often won't do a production run for it as it can be rather unprofitable. Now and then a supplier will start making something crazy though, a few years ago I was looking for body sheet metal repair parts for a w123 300d--and found them! Uro production body sheet metal was available domestically for this 35year old jalopy. Can't find the parts anymore I believe (I haven't tried) but there were so many of those w123 and w124 globally that people wanted to glue em' back together. Basically 100% of them have serious rust problems, seems to be mainly because of the way the sunroof is designed. I digress.
    - hef19898 5y ago
      Same for body panels for old Land Rovers and Range Rovers. The portions that tend to rot are readily available. I bolted in two new front inner wings in mine. Heck, even weatherstripping and carpets are getting available again! Quite expensive so. Still cheaper in some cases then simple repairs in more modern cars. If you can do the work yourself that is.
tibbydudeza 5y ago
Let me clarify - it was when I bought the car new and owned it for only 4 years. Pretty sure the situation might have changed now once the model was replaced by the B6/B7 and as the Mk4 Golf aged out of warranty. The Corolla had after market parts was readily available a few months after I bought it new.

halifaxbeard 5y ago

There’s no aftermarket/non-OE brake options for the Passat? I find that hard to believe, I thought VW raided Audi for chassis bits for the Passat.

cartoonworld 5y ago

In the US market, I've found pads and rotors on the aftermarket for VW Passat for any model year including 2021. Centric sells pads and rotors front and rear. VW (and others such as some Jeep) uses an electronic parking brake which requires a scan tool to command the ECU to enter maintenance mode in order to retract the electronic motor on the rear axle to allow the piston to retract. You can do this at home if you have a scan too. If you do not have a scan tool it is still possible to do it manually by disconnecting and removing the EPB servo and manually retracting, but it tricky and not recommended. They use triple square fasteners on the bracket, and are typically a pain in the ass for this make. Is there something else I'm missing?

jacquesm 5y ago
This is why I'm a great fan of less electronics. An electronic parking brake is a non-feature. It takes away your option of leaving the parking brake off (they tend to seize when activated for a long period). It can break. It make service harder and more expensive than it should be. The classic 'Mini' had it just about right: what isn't on there can't break or fall off.
- swader999 5y ago
  An ebike fits this idea fairly well. I commuted for several years on one when I lived in the city. After about a year I could fix anything on it. Was quite liberating.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Since I bought an e-bike my car has run its battery flat more than once, which is a good sign of how often it gets used. I had to get one of those drip chargers just to keep the battery topped up. E-bikes are a game changer. Originally I got one because I wrecked my right leg and have trouble getting the bike up to speed (once cruising it is fine though, because that requires much less force). But after a very short time I realized that besides the low starting torque the range is what really made me happy, the fact that even against the wind I can do 50 km in a bit under two hours without arriving dripping with sweat. I've done a few thousand on the e-bike now and it is only getting used more and more. Car trips are now anything in really bad weather, long distance or with more cargo than the bike can take.
    - swader999 5y ago
      Right on! Free parking is another plus and I bet you still have a silly e-grin on your face after every ride. You can even run them all winter and in snow with studded tires and a bit of thought for the controller and moisture.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  I agree its annoying, personally I hate them. They usually serve to allow for automatic roll-away protection. On new Jeep Latitudes they come on automatically when the vehicle senses you have the vehicle running and are stopped, with the door open, or neutral. Owners like the hand holding ... it's a Jeep thing. It does increase the price a little bit and if you do not have an OBDII scan tool and need to buy one. If you operate the EPB maintenance mode very incorrectly it is possible to damage the EPB mechanism. They're pretty easy to operate and replace if you know what you're doing.

kelchm 5y ago

There is nothing special about the brakes on a b5 Passat and there are tons of aftermarket and OEM spec replacements available on the market. The labor for a replacement clutch replacement is typically pretty high. I think the book time for the clutch job on a b5 is really long, something like 10 hours.

sysadmindotfail 5y ago

>B5 Passat - dealer only for brake pads/discs While I do love Toyota this is simply not true. Pads for the B5 Passat start at $25 at Autozone.

thrwaeasddsaf 5y ago

Took me two minutes to find aftermarket brake parts for B5 from bremboparts.com. There absolutely are cars for which it is difficult to get some aftermarket parts but this isn't a good example.

hef19898 5y ago
Rubber seals for doors and windows seem to be a constant pain, and if they are available they tend to be really expensive. Regardless of make and brand. Old Land Rovers, late 70s onwards, are a dream to get parts for. At least from the UK, and given you can live with aftermarket parts.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  Yeah weatherstripping is horrible, but there is an aftermarket for that, too. Dorman (USA) makes a lot of these kits, you can often get all sorts of surprising parts from them, but they sell out their runs, too. Thing about that kind of part is there aren't a lot of sales. There usually isn't millions of people out there ready to buy the weatherstripping, so the aftermarket often won't do a production run for it as it can be rather unprofitable. Now and then a supplier will start making something crazy though, a few years ago I was looking for body sheet metal repair parts for a w123 300d--and found them! Uro production body sheet metal was available domestically for this 35year old jalopy. Can't find the parts anymore I believe (I haven't tried) but there were so many of those w123 and w124 globally that people wanted to glue em' back together. Basically 100% of them have serious rust problems, seems to be mainly because of the way the sunroof is designed. I digress.
  - hef19898 5y ago
    Same for body panels for old Land Rovers and Range Rovers. The portions that tend to rot are readily available. I bolted in two new front inner wings in mine. Heck, even weatherstripping and carpets are getting available again! Quite expensive so. Still cheaper in some cases then simple repairs in more modern cars. If you can do the work yourself that is.

tibbydudeza 5y ago

Let me clarify - it was when I bought the car new and owned it for only 4 years. Pretty sure the situation might have changed now once the model was replaced by the B6/B7 and as the Mk4 Golf aged out of warranty. The Corolla had after market parts was readily available a few months after I bought it new.