Hella Pagid 355014021 Rear Brake Pads, VW & Audi

The Hella Pagid 355014021 is a rear disc brake pad set built for the Mk6-generation Volkswagen and Audi cars that shared the same rear brake setup. It's a low-metallic friction compound, and it ships as a complete set of four pads, so you're doing both rear wheels in one go. That matters. Brake pads always get replaced in axle sets, never one corner at a time, and this kit gives you everything the rear axle needs.

Fitment is specific. This set covers the 2010 to 2015 Volkswagen Golf, GTI, Jetta, Beetle, Eos, and Passat, along with the 2010 to 2013 Audi A3 and A3 Quattro, across the gas and diesel variants that used this rear caliper. It carries WVA reference 24563 and crosses to OE part numbers 5K0698451, 5K0698451A, and 5K0698451C, plus 2K5698451. If your rear pads wear to that catalog number, this is a direct swap. Always confirm against your own car by VIN before you order, since VW and Audi ran more than one rear brake size across these years.

Low-metallic pads use a friction mix with a meaningful steel-fiber content. What that buys you is strong, confident bite, good heat handling on the highway, and quiet everyday braking. They pair naturally with a standard cast-iron rotor. Like most low-met compounds, they'll throw a little more brake dust than a pure ceramic pad, so if you run polished wheels you'll wipe them down a bit more often. For most drivers that's a fair trade for the extra stopping feel.

The rear axle does less of the braking work than the front, but worn rear pads still cost you stopping distance and can chew into a rotor if you ignore them. On these VW and Audi platforms the electronic wear sensor lives on the front pads, and this rear set doesn't include or accept a plug-in sensor. So you check the rears the old-fashioned way, a visual look at pad thickness whenever the wheels are off for a tire rotation. When the friction material gets down near the backing plate, it's time.

The pads themselves measure 109.3 mm wide, 53.3 mm tall, and 17.7 mm thick when new, which is the full backing-plate-plus-friction stack. Worth knowing if you're comparing against what's on the car now. While you've got the caliper off, take a minute to look at the rotor. If it's grooved, has a hard lip at the outer edge, or measures below the minimum thickness stamped on the hat, new pads on a tired rotor won't give you the pedal you're after. Fresh pads bite best against a rotor that's still flat and within spec.

Installation is straightforward for anyone comfortable pulling a rear caliper. The set includes the caliper mounting screws and the fitting accessories you need for the job, so you're not chasing hardware mid-install. Clean the caliper bracket, seat the new pads, and if your car has an electronic parking brake, put it in service mode before you compress the piston. Then bed them in. A series of moderate stops from around 35 mph, easing off between each one, brings the pads and rotor up to temperature and lays down an even transfer layer. Skip the bedding and you'll often get a bit of early squeal or uneven bite.

One more note on the set count. You're getting four pads here, an inner and outer for each rear wheel. Replacing them as a matched set keeps braking even side to side, which is exactly what you want out of the back axle. Mixing an old pad with a new one, or running different compounds left to right, is how you end up with a car that pulls under braking.

Who's this for? Anyone running one of these Golf-platform VWs or the A3 who wants a straight replacement rear pad set with the mounting hardware already in the box. It's an honest, everyday brake pad from a name that's been supplying friction material to European cars for a long time. Confirm the fitment, do the bed-in, and you're good for the next stretch of miles.