HollyWood_A8

I have a 2013 A8L quattro and my warning brake light just came on, I have 65,000 miles on it and I've had it for close to 4 months. How much time do I have until I really need to have my pads replaced and around how much should it cost?

MP4.2+6.0

Probably a few thousand miles. Playing with fire as it goes on, since if it goes to metal in a critical situation you may have a wreck and a lot more to deal with.

You don't say what motor, nor do we know if you need rotors, nor do we know which end of car it is. You may well need rotors if never changed at about those miles, but it also depends on whether they were replaced (too early) in the past by dealer service selling high margin business.

If you don't do the work yourself, get it to a shop for an estimate. If it goes to metal on the rotors, then you will need those in any case, which are probably 2x the cost of the pads. Audi brakes are pretty standard Euro as they go, so there is no magic to dealer brake work.

1stGOAT

Dealer will charge 2000 or so and replace all pads, rotors and fluid. You probably just need pads. In fact you only may need them in front or rear. You can have a look at the pads by just using a flashlight. I just replaced my rear pads myself and cost was 75.00 total. If I had done front pads too it would have added 160.00 for the front pads. I am guessing a decent independent shop would charge you for 4 hours labor to replace pads front and rear.

KnappAttack

I just did pads only on original discs. I did ceramic pads from Rockauto and no more brake dust. I ground down the inner and outer lip on the discs with my 4" grinder as the factory pads just eat up the discs. Just had the front discs off again doing front wheel bearings at 145K and pads and discs look great with no appreciable wear.

I went about 5000 miles with the light on and could have gone twice that easily maybe even 15K with the light on to answer your question. The outer lip on the disc is what wore thru the sensor wire turning the light on. Did my wifes A6 and she had a ton of pad left too. They'll go thousands of miles with the brake pad light on.

A8L_New_England

All the incredible engineering, and they use the same 70's technology brake wear sensors where the rotor lip cuts the wire...

therealfleen

FWIW, you can shut off the warning light with a VCDS. I'd suggest you get an idea of the pad thickness remaining and continue to check this if you shut the light off.
Cheers,
Randy

A8L_New_England

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A passage in another thread indicated that the brake warning light was a "dumb" circuit, where the sensor wire was simply in series with the light. Do you have the VCDS coding for this?
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MP4.2+6.0

Sensors cost $15-20 each if you get OES, and a bit less for no names. Or search web and find the jumper plugs that are also sold to bypass circuit. On D4 they are at every wheel. For the small $, I don't cheat on brakes.

As noted, at least on my S8 the old pads go a long time after light turns on. I measured remaining pad thickness at 3+mm. New was 9mm. 45K miles at pad change. Rotor thickness calculation says they will drop under the S8 spec at around 75K miles. Rears still are fine, so will likely do a 4 wheel full job when those are done.

A8L_New_England

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Agreed, MP4, but sometime the lip on a worn rotor cuts the sensor wire a month or two before I'm going to get into the job...! Plenty of meat on the pads; just a lip on the rotor and a light that I don't want to see. I hark back to the happy times before all these idiot lights.
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Fwiw, anyone who doesn't glance at their brakes once in a while probably shouldn't be driving a motor car
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JMondschean

This just happened to me.

My pads had probably 1.0mm left. I was shocked.

When the brake light goes on...GO TO YOUR MECHANIC.

It is time for new pads!