Rear brake pads replacement without vcds?

[Jimmy2007]

Hi everyone, so I had some trouble coming my way and had to reschedule the brakes job.
Now i'm getting better and want to attack this before the new year.
Question:
I have seen videos about replacing rear brakes without vcds.
This for example:



Is it something that would ruin the car or a simple loophole that works fine?
I want to do as much as possible myself and keep my car for as long as possible like my Passat, but don't know anyone who would come along with vcds just for a 2 minute thing and a token.
Frankly paying someone hundreds in labour just to replace pads is against my religion

 

[SemedoB6]

I've heard many counts of replacing rear brakes without vcds successfully.
Never heard anyone saying it went wrong...
I would personally prefer to do it the right way.
But if the day ever comes I'll use the loophole to get the brakes replaced.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

[Jimmy2007]

Thanks.
Anyone here ever did it?

 

[AFONE]

I’ve done it. I had problems getting my vds to connect so I was in a pinch. You can do so by removing two screws on the motor which will then give access to manually wind the calipers open. I wrote more about it in a post on doing my brakes a year ago. There’s also u tube videos on how to accomplish.

 

[Jimmy2007]

Hi everyone, update for future reference.
I finally got my head around to do these brakes and having found nobody willing to come along with vcds to release the epb, i followed the manual procedure.
A couple of weeks ago I cheekily sneaked into a main dealer garage and asked one of the guys if he was willing to do the brakes on a Saturday off.
He kindly told me that using the manual procedure is absolutely fine.
This gave me the confidence to do it solo.
It worked perfectly, no errors on the dash, no drama.
A few points though:
1. The bolts holding the epb motors have a very shallow torx 30 head, so take your time and don't round them up.
2. Change discs and pads with epb RELEASED (OFF) and use chucks to stop the car from rolling (or bricks if you wish).
3. After fitting new discs and pads, start the car, pump the brake pedal and then, only then, engage the epb. It will work normally, like any other time (no long winding as others have suggested).
The Audi mechanic rightly told me this.
I hope this helps someone.