salvadorik

Hi there,

This is my first audi and a first german car for that matter. I am really confused as to how approach a brake job. I asked my dealer about the brake job, he quoted me $1500 for the front and rear brakes. This would include replacing both rotors and pads on all four wheels. Given this is going to be the first brake job, only brake pads should be replaced, right? The car is at 29K miles now. In my experience with other cars, rotors would at least see two pads on them before replacing. Do you think the dealer is right or it is gonna be a premature replacement as far as the rotors?

Thanks

snagitseven

The answer really depends on the condition of the rotors, If they are even slightly warped or have less than optimal thickness remaining, they should also be replaced with the pads. With my last three Audis over the years, I've typically elected to replace both at the same time.

You should consider taking your car to an Audi independent shop. You will find that the cost to replace with OEM or equivalent parts and labor will be considerable less than the Audi dealer charges, typically around 35% less than what you were quoted. I believe I paid something around $500 for the front rotors and pads a few months ago for my wife's allroad.

A reputable indy shop can examine the brakes and advise whether or not the rear brakes need replacing. Usually, the fronts wear out before the rears which you may or may not need to replace yet.

Grapeking

This is good advice. Must ask the OP why he feels a brake job is necessary after only 29k miles.

snagitseven

Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. Brakes should be good for around 50-60K miles unless the car is raced. That said, I've had premature wear of the rotors at 40K on my wife's 2002 allroad due to rotor warp well out of warranty (8 years old at the time).

dht34

Hold up! Audi front brakes should last 50-60k?

On my B8 A4, my dealer 'advised' me to replace my front brakes when the car was at 25k miles. Mind you, I don't race, but I do have A LOT of stop and go traffic and occasionally pushed the car. At 52k miles I again changed the front brakes along with the rotors. The rear brakes and rotors so far have not needed to be replaced.

Was the dealer prematurely advising me to replace the brakes? Or was it justified due to my driving conditions? Perhaps a little bit of both.

Just curious since my previous cars have been Japanese cars (Toyota and Lexus), same driving conditions, but the front brakes would last 40-50k miles.

snagitseven

Only upon inspection and measuring of the pads and rotors can one determine when they should be replaced - there's no rule. Lots of hard braking in traffic all the time will wear them faster than if your commute is mostly highway, etc. Under normal conditions, front brake pads and rotors should last longer than 25K mi. All of my original pads and rotors were still very serviceable on my '09 B8 A4 when traded it in at 50K miles - probably could have gone another 15K at least.

dht34

I'll be mindful of early brake replacement recommendations by the dealer in the near future. 25k miles does sound very premature, even for heavy stop and go traffic. Thanks!

AUDIQSS

Another thing to keep in mind when dealing with your Audi dealer. They are only expecting to "see" your car once a year. Therefore, their recomendation for brake replacement is based on wheter the brakes will last until "next year". That combined with their extremely conservative estimate of what is a safe amount of brake pad remaining will almost always "suggest" earlier than needed brake replacement.

I am also fairly conservative in replacing my brakes. After all, there are only two things that keep your car from crashing: the brakes and the tires. Everything else on your car can be in perfect condition, but if you let the tires and/or brakes fail, then everything else will soon be trashed when you hit a car, tree, building, person, etc.

All that being said, Audi always has recomended brake replacement long before I would do it myself.

Previous/current Audis include 2001 allroad; 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2013 A6; 2004 S4 Cab; and 2010 S5 Cab.

salvadorik

Thx for all ur responses. I will probably replace the brakes at arround 35K miles. I guess the question that I have if the OEM parts are the best way to go or if there any after market brake parts are better? I have 19 sport package. I would really love to see quiter (mine makes noise at low speed), less dust, and better performance. Anyone upgraded their stock brakes to aftermarket and noticed improvement in the abovelisted areas? Your valuable inputs will be appreciated.

jr'sAudiA6

I upgraded my front brakes to the Stasis brakes. This involves replacing the rotors, calipers, pads, brake line and fluid. Doing this did not eliminate the brake dust, which I do not think you can do, but did improve high speed breaking performance and overall break pedal feel. I had not noise from the stock breaks and I have none from the Stasis breaks so I can not really comment about that issue.

It's my opinion that complaints about brake dust are just not being realistic. All car disk breaks generate break dust. As to how much of the dust you see on your wheels probably has a lot to do with the wheel design. My Lexus ES350 certainly produces break dust but the dust is mostly hidden because of the wheel design.