RS4 Brakes are not so good
05-03-2007, 05:31 AM
#1
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RS4 Brakes are not so good
So I am driving down the highway at a cool 80mph this morning when some construction appears on the side of the road and suddenly everything goes to two lanes from 4. I start to slow when a car passes me on the right and then realizes he has no lane and then decides he can still make it in front of me but did not realize an 18 wheeler was merged over in front of me so he shoves it in and slams on his brakes immediately.
Needless to say I have to immediately slam on mine hard and hold them until I was fully stopped and can't swerve because suddently both lanes are full and everybody stopped. Fortunately, nobody was behind me. While the brakes did their thing and stopped me in time not to hit him, they did not do so in the most graceful fashion. The car did not stay straight and the wheels screeched for what seemed like an eternity. It was most unsettling. The front dipped so hard I thought the front fender was going to rub on the ground. And despite my keeping the steering wheel straight the car ended up sidways at about a 20-30 degree angle. Worse yet, the idiot that caused all this manged to avoid hitting the truck and was perfectly straight after slamming on his brakes and he was going FASTER than I was before he hit the brakes.
Now I have slammed on the brakes from about that speed (probably 70 or so) to full stop without release in at least 1/2 dozen of my other performance cars and have never witnessed that lack of braking control or complaint from the car. I have done this in my Aston, with all its 4100 lbs, from 150mph to a dead stop on a track and it maintained a perfectly straight line. (BTW, if you have never done this, you must try it. It was part of the Aston Martin driving school exercises).
And my CLK55 could go from 60-0 in 112 feet and never have I owned a car that gave me so much braking confidence. In that car, I had to slam on the brakes from 65 to a full stop once to avoid hitting a lady who had gone sidways on the highway to a full stop after she swerved to avoid hitting a large carpet roll that had fallen off a truck. The CLK55 stopped 20 feet short of her and was perfectly straight.
The RS4, not so much. With Lamborghini brakes no less, it was unimpressive to say the least in my first emergency stop situation in it. I will add that to the uncomfortable seats in my short list of nits. Braking power was clearly impressive for a near 4k lb car. Braking control and confidence, uh, no. Good thing I trail brake into turns, cuz I can only imagine how much fun hitting the brakes hard mid corner in this car would be.
Needless to say I have to immediately slam on mine hard and hold them until I was fully stopped and can't swerve because suddently both lanes are full and everybody stopped. Fortunately, nobody was behind me. While the brakes did their thing and stopped me in time not to hit him, they did not do so in the most graceful fashion. The car did not stay straight and the wheels screeched for what seemed like an eternity. It was most unsettling. The front dipped so hard I thought the front fender was going to rub on the ground. And despite my keeping the steering wheel straight the car ended up sidways at about a 20-30 degree angle. Worse yet, the idiot that caused all this manged to avoid hitting the truck and was perfectly straight after slamming on his brakes and he was going FASTER than I was before he hit the brakes.
Now I have slammed on the brakes from about that speed (probably 70 or so) to full stop without release in at least 1/2 dozen of my other performance cars and have never witnessed that lack of braking control or complaint from the car. I have done this in my Aston, with all its 4100 lbs, from 150mph to a dead stop on a track and it maintained a perfectly straight line. (BTW, if you have never done this, you must try it. It was part of the Aston Martin driving school exercises).
And my CLK55 could go from 60-0 in 112 feet and never have I owned a car that gave me so much braking confidence. In that car, I had to slam on the brakes from 65 to a full stop once to avoid hitting a lady who had gone sidways on the highway to a full stop after she swerved to avoid hitting a large carpet roll that had fallen off a truck. The CLK55 stopped 20 feet short of her and was perfectly straight.
The RS4, not so much. With Lamborghini brakes no less, it was unimpressive to say the least in my first emergency stop situation in it. I will add that to the uncomfortable seats in my short list of nits. Braking power was clearly impressive for a near 4k lb car. Braking control and confidence, uh, no. Good thing I trail brake into turns, cuz I can only imagine how much fun hitting the brakes hard mid corner in this car would be.
05-03-2007, 05:43 AM
#2
AudiWorld Super User
You haven't bedded in your brakes yet
Bedding in would help performance, and would at least offer invaluable panic stop experience. Glad you are OK and your RS unscathed!<ul><li><a href="http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm">How to bed-in your brakes</a></li></ul>
05-03-2007, 05:50 AM
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He has a good start at bedding them in now :-p
Glad all is ok.
Proper brake bedding made a difference for me. My current brakes would squeal and rattle under heavy braking when running pads changed by the dealer. My last pad swap was done by an excellent mechanic (recommended to me by Dave Z.) who took the time to do the proper bed-in (with me in the car). No problems since.
Proper brake bedding made a difference for me. My current brakes would squeal and rattle under heavy braking when running pads changed by the dealer. My last pad swap was done by an excellent mechanic (recommended to me by Dave Z.) who took the time to do the proper bed-in (with me in the car). No problems since.
05-03-2007, 06:24 AM
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why is it that every post you make mentions the other high end cars you've owned?
I could understand mentioning them once in a while, but literally every post you've made here has that in common. Something smells fishy.
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05-03-2007, 06:32 AM
#9
Agreed ... must bed brakes.
At Watkins Glen my RS4 and several others braked straight and true coming down the back straight at 135. As for tire squealing, that's what they are supposed to do at maximum braking power. As one of my instructors said, "a squealing tire is a happy tire."
05-03-2007, 06:38 AM
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What you describe might be a combo of new brakes + DRC + a giant engine hanging over the front axel
In my opinion, the best fix for brakes on the RS4 is to replace the DRC suspension. 
I had my RS4 at Laguna for a very long and very fast day after I got the Ohlins from Stasis... brake pads were toast, but the brakes stayed strong all day long. Every car I played with that day (other than a 360CS and a Carrara GT) had nice after market brakes and I never lost anything to them in braking.
I had my RS4 at Laguna for a very long and very fast day after I got the Ohlins from Stasis... brake pads were toast, but the brakes stayed strong all day long. Every car I played with that day (other than a 360CS and a Carrara GT) had nice after market brakes and I never lost anything to them in braking.