Deutschdan

Muhammad, you prob. know alot about this.

Without spending mucho bucks, how can I improve the brake performance on my '97 A6. I see guys spending for the drilled out rotors, and I'm not sure I want to get into that. I had my mechanic do my front brakes with stock components and more than once I've thought, "this car isn't stopping well enough ... I'm coming up on this car too quickly." My rear brakes are going to need pads and rotors in the next 6 months. Does it make sense to enhance the rear brakes when I haven't the front. My guess is that would be a bad move.

So, should I consider re-doing my front brakes at the same time? FYI, I don't care about brake dust as much as most drivers. I'd rather stop well. And one last thing, I have zero pedal pulsation, so my front rotors are not warped and they look to be in excellent, excellent condition.

Thanks in advance

BornAgainAudi

I had used a set of Beck Arnley Pads (Silver supreme or something like that!)
The were made of a softer compound. They worked very well but produced more brake dust.
I'd say this is the cheapest way to reduce braking distance.

beep-beep

You can get red four piston Porsche brakes, but they would not do any good, because they will lock wheels (brakes overpower the wheels). On the OEM setup you can find, that brakes can produce more power, that wheels handle below 50mph. On the wet road it is even worst.

2). crossdriled breaks improve ventilation. It eliminates fading. It does not shortens the stopping distance. Still if you need to change rotors - put crossdrilled, because they cost almost the same as an OEM. Same about sloted, but they also wear pads faster.

3. If you will change you brakes - watch for the ABS compatible set. Read stoptech.com articles about this.

TimI

Get a good set of pads on front and rear (Rofren, Ferado, Porterfield), flush brake fluid completely, and you should have good braking (for a heavy car).

Measure (or have someone measure) your rotor thickness (lack of warp doesn't mean anything). There are specs for minimum thickness. A quick check is how much "lip" do you have running around the edge of the rotor. If it's about 1mm, you need new rotors.

Rofren pads, slotted rotors in front (it's pretty wet around here), and plain rotors in rear ran me $400-500, and I did the work myself.

Seattle Scott

Tim and I have Rofren pads in back with stock rotors. I think Muhammad just drags an old tire lashed to his back bumper for rear brakes. ;-)

I'm happy with the dust. I think there is either less or the dust is not as noticable because it is black versus that "rosy purple" color.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/12414/driverfront.jpg">

Seattle Scott

Now please go beep your horn for me. ;-) (Post lower down).

Muhammad

So you can get a minor improvement, better (safer) stopping in the wet, and a pad that will last longer and improve your modulation as well as take a few feet off your 60-0, for $500-$600 with pads/rotors. As mentioned, I went with slotted front rotors w/Rofren pads, and Ferodo on the rear with solid discs.

Noticable differences:

Car stops with less pedal effort
Modulation is 10x better (smoother stops)
Braking in the wet is fantastic
Less dust (but there is some with the Rofrens ... Ferodo are dustless)

Sources: <a href="http://www.eurobraketech.com/">EBT</a> for discs and Rofren pads; GPR for OEM discs and Ferodo pads.