markN1689

just got done cleaning the inside and outside of my wheels and exhaust tips.
i do this once a week. call me crazy but i enjoy it.

Tsyndr

Based on the comments in this thread, I went ahead and bought the Posi-Quiet brake pads from Tire-Rack for my S3 and had them installed. Put about 1500 miles on them so far, here are my thoughts:

Like:
- Brake dust significantly decreased. Not zero, obviously, but much less. Whereas after about 150 miles the stock pads would give me a very noticeable layer of brake dust on the rims, with these pads it takes a good 800 miles before I can even notice anything, and it's still less than the stock pads.

No Like:
- They squeak. Sometimes pretty loud with light braking, the kind of braking you do when slowing down at a stop sign , going over a bump, or pulling up to a security gate. I know ceramic pads tend to squeak, don't have previous experience with other ceramics to compare. But wasn't as "Quiet" as I had hoped.
- They shift a little in the calipers. Whenever I start driving after being parked for a while, I hear a few "clunks". Usually just one or two. At first I was worried, but the install shop assured me that sometimes the pads are just off by a millimeter or so in size and so when they settle in there's a clunking sound. Still.. annoying and was disconcerting at first.

Meh:
- Breaking power is noticeably less than stock, but as previously said probably won't affect normal or even spirited driving. I notice less stopping power, but haven't felt like it wasn't sufficient.

Overall, happy with the purchase, just wish I could get them to squeak less.

m3brad

Sorry to hear your pads are noisy at times. I have absolutely NO noise and I'm approaching 20K miles. I love washing my car as much as anybody, but cleaning my wheels of brake dust just plain sucks, plus that brake dust is corrosive to my wheels AND driveway!!

Fixeroh

^^ What m3brad said. I have no brake noise what so ever but I have only about 8000 miles on my ceramics. Cleaning wheels does suck and happy the new pads have reduced that chore. m3brad, do the pads work OK with your new 2 piece rotors?

m3brad

All street driving so far, but they feel great! BTW, I'm still running the OEM rear pads along with the ceramic fronts.

jpelli

do you need to change rotors and calipers when changing to ceramic brake pads

m3brad

Not at all! In a perfect world, you should mate new pads to new rotors. In a car that is heavily track-driven, a separate set of rotors matched to track-only pads would be the optimum way to go, but that's a lot of work for the average man or woman.

I've had zero issues with using my well used ceramic pads to my new ECS two-piece rotors. Hope that helps!

SimpsonTide985

Yeah, I noticed this just after a few hours of driving (just got the car a few days ago).

I'm just going to keep them clean as much as I can. I really would prefer not to replace the pads unless I absolutely have to. I only drive 4-5 miles a day for work usually.

Fixeroh

SimpsonTide985, my commute is pretty short as well but the brake dust was a real pain. The pads are super easy to change and once done, don't have to worry about it anymore. They will last 50K miles + easily for easy commuting. Trust me, changing the pads will save considerable aggravation down the road. No pun intended. Will extend the life of your nice wheels as well. Brake dust is very corrosive and definitely should be removed as often as possible. Was easier for me to remove the source of the excess dust. Enjoy your new car!!

ValBoo

Thanks for the info Fixeroh.
When changing rear pads did you need to use a vag tool to program the retraction of the caliper pistons? Someone mentioned to me that this was required in order to change rear pads?...

I am so fed up with brake dust ... and for some reason my original pads squeel alot on light braking.