Amro

OK, in the FAQ this statement is made about the "screw" type piston. "It takes a fair amount of force and the piston should turn slowly and smoothly". What a huge understatement. You gotta push REAL HARD and turn at the same time. I guess its more dependent on how many miles you have. My car had 25000 miles on it and less than half a pad remaining. Strangely my front ones seemed to be in better shape although they all had perfectly even wear.

Anyway, I've got the Super Blue, Brembo gas slotted, and Mintex C-techs ready for this weekend. I bedded the brakes and everthing seems fine. CAN'T WAIT.

Amro

p.s. Aside from the understatement, the FAQ was excellent.

Ray Calvo

Sears sells a neat little tool for turning and compressing the piston at the same time. Something like a C-clamp. Worked like a charm for me when I changed pads at about 15K miles.

Audiboy

In order to maintain the proper brake adjustment as pads and brake shoes wear out, self adjusting mechanisms are designed on the rear brakes - whether disk or drum. So that you foot will always feel the brake at the same spot. So, a brake caliper with threaded pistons is typically used even on Japanese cars where you have to rotate and push in

The brakes work great on the Audi. Ask that person on a Taurus yesterday who was tailing a bit close and almost kissed my bumper when everyone in front panic stopped. I braked, then swerved out of the way as the Taurus took my spot because I watched it in my rear view mirror as I was braking.

Amro

I stand corrected. However, on my Mazda 626 I had no trouble, and it's the same format: A needle nose plier turning "screwing" the piston in. Didn't require 2000 lbs of pressure. But now that I know this, I'll go get it.

Thanks :-)
Amro

ErikR

Our ABS has a dynamic front:rear proportioning system to reduce brake dive and eliminate and trace of rear initial lockup (oversteer). It works very well. However, my rear pads and disks are pretty worn at 35k (great mileage), but the fronts still look great.

I'm guessing that since most of my severe braking (exc.in AX) is at high speeds (80 mph dodging deer and pickups), the rears are coming into play a lot more than in any other car I've owned. The rears have no venting and are quite small, so the extra heat is making them wear much faster. The good news is that I don't have any brake squeel.

Andy Hedin

nt

ErikR

Same deal, keeps the handbrake in one position.

Amro

My rear pads looked more worn than my fronts and I was wondering if that was a problem.

Thanks :-)
Amro

Andy Hedin

<center><img src="http://131.107.68.28/a4org/Brake_Piston_Tool.jpg"></center><p>I've written about this little gem in the past, but never got around to taking pictures of it....

Anyway, I bought it at my local auto parts store (Pep Boys) for about $9.00. As I explained in the image, I used a Dremel tool on one of the faces to remove two of the four "nubs". The remaining two "nubs" interfaced perfectly with the two grooves in the rear piston face. I used a socket and extension attached to this cube tool to turn the piston in. Every once in a while I'd clamp my c-clamp down on the piston face and give it a squeeze, then back to the cube tool for some more pushing and turning. Eventually, I got the pistons retracted.

Andy Hedin
'97 A4 1.8Tqms + mods

Amro

He "dremeled" it and we used brute force to get it going. I still contend that this is way overkill. Of course, being a EE I have total knowledge at critisizing an ME about his own design

Amro
'98.5 2.8qms