The AFS system is amazing, BUT I find that even the base standard headlights is sufficiently bright at night. Even on the dark texas roads. I've driven a number of japanese and domestic vehicles in the past couple of years, and nothing with standard headlights comes close to the passats standard headlights in terms of brightness and amount of coverage it shines on the road.
Reviews of spare parts for Volkswagen Passat
I'm running PBR Delux pads, rotors are Brembo Fronts, ATE rears. Got whole set up for around $225-250 from GetCoolParts a year or so ago..they often have sales...and were doing so on the rotors at the time so I'm sure prices now are a bit more. Front pads made some noise...not squeal, more like a rattle (yes I double checked the anti rattle clips)...just about the time I was gonna pull the pads and apply anti rattle shims...problem went away...been working great ever since. There is rust on the nonbraking surfaces, but no staining etc. so I'm not goin to the trouble of painting the rotor hats etc.
A good option for budget minded summer tires is the Kumho SPT. Long life treadwear rating and decent performance at a great price.
I have 4motion (Passat Wagon), I still carry chains (RUD Centrax - also used them on my old S3) that fit the vehicle (front wheels only)
Cost...$9 for filter online, $1/QT for Castrol GTX with rebate...so $15 or so...knowing that everythings done right..priceless!
If it's the tie rod ends, I'm going to replace them with the Meyle HD tie rod ends.
I got new Brembo front rotors (not drilled), and then put in new pads... THe new rotors and pads in the front mad a HUGE difference....
I just had my brakes done all around, ATE rotors with Hawk HPS pads FTW, very little brake dust and my isht stops on a dime. I had my fluid flushed too, this upgrade was def worth the money
Around Thanksgiving last year, I had two Michelin MXV4 Eco+ OEM stock tires that were worn and need of replacing. I followed suggestions of colleagues and Consumer Reports and bought two Falken Ziex ZE-512, and installed them on the front of my 1998.5 Turbo Passat Wagon. Although I kept the same size (195/65/R15) I was impressed immediately: much better handling, steering response, road feel, as well as seriously improved wet and dry grip. Extremely stable at 90mph+ speeds, and good cornering. After about 1000 miles however, I thought I had front-end or transmission problems, as there was this terrible WHOO=WHOO sound coming from the front. I took it to a shop and they said no trouble, just tire noise. Noise worsened, so took to VW dealer in Maine while on the road; they said that car was aligned perfectly per spec, but Falken tires were \"cupped\", and worn on the inside.
Volkswagen uses Jurid and Pagid Black compound brakepads as OEM on our Passats. The problem is that these pads take a very long time to correctly bed into the brake rotors. If these pads aren't bed correctly, over time they will wear unevenly on the rotor which causes vibration. That vibration is what causes your brakes to squeal!!
Write your review
Help others - share your experience with this part.