letS4nicate

Did some searching and didn't find anything conclusive. My car has 45K on it and dealer is telling me I need new front brakes at $1900. Didn't need new brakes at that point on my M3 so it came as a big surprise. I think BMW covered brakes under the normal maintenance plan anyway.

luv2sleep

Audi loves to rip people off with brakes. I guess it's like the question of "why does the dog lick himself?"....because he can! It's probably one of the easiest DIY projects out there. It's also probably one of the more profitable gigs for the stealership. For the rears, a Vagcom cable comes in very handy (electric parking brake). I haven't had to a brake job on an Audi yet but there are some good information on "how to" on these web forums (Audizine also). If you don't want to DIY, I'd suggest buying some good after market pads and/or rotors and take them to a reputable Indy shop. More than likely, you won't need new rotors at 45k miles. I'm pretty sure that it will not cost you even half of what the stealership will charge. My .02.

vigilan388

Let's "brake" out the numbers for this:

• Front Left Rotor: $104.78
• Front Right Rotor: $104.78
• Front Left Pads: $128.96
• Front Right Pads: $128.96
• Shipping: $55 (from my past experience)
• Total: $522.48 + 7% sales tax = $559.05, let's call it $560 for round numbers.

*All numbers from this place, which I've used on my previous car. Definitely Audi OEM. 2013 Audi S6 Base 4.0L V8 - Gas

I'm not sure what Audi's typical labor rate is, but probably around $150 an hour. I have crappy tools and can change my rotors in under 30 minutes a side. Let's say 2 hours of labor to be conservative. That's $300.

So parts + labor = $860, yet they are charging more than double that.

I highly recommend learning to do it yourself. It's by no means difficult and can be very rewarding. I've changed the brakes on all my vehicles since I've learned how and won't look back. Plus I even got $15 in scrap for my old S5 rotors!

Dealers definitely make a huge profit on brakes and easy suspension work. For example, I also have an old Honda Accord. The dealer wanted $1900 to change the front struts. The parts cost about $120 shipped and it took less than one total hour to replace them.

gk1

Those are A6 parts...you have to scroll down for the more expensive S6 parts..
-Front Left Rotor: $257.92
-Front Right Rotor: $257.92
(Left and Right doesn't matter on S6...it's the same rotor for either side.)
-Front Pads: $229.71
It should be an axle set so left and right...
-Might need the wear sensor $55.06
I don't see the special shims listed for the 6-pot fixed caliper. They are $200+ if you cannot salvage the ones attached to the old pads.(It's also not recommended to reuse them I think.)
That's $1k before tax or labor.
Still cheaper to DIY obviously but getting closer to dealer quote.

vigilan388

Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize the site had 3 sets of parts listed on it. I wasn't sure if the pads were an axle set. It makes sense, but nothing indicated so.

Ah yes, I remember reading about those shims. I guess I'll check those out in another 30K miles when I'm set for new pads after the maintenance contract wares off.

S6NOVA

Biggest Audi dealer rip-off around.

At 15K service the dealer said my brakes were shot and it would cost $2000; I checked the pads myself and they were so thick it didn't merit measuring. Next service the dealer said my brakes were shot and it would cost $2400; this time I measured and had nearly 10mm of pad left. At the 35K service the dealer said my brakes were shot and it would cost $3200; that time I measured to find a bit over 6mm of pad, so I replaced pads & sensors myself at about 38K. I used Disk Italia's ceramic pads; lighter pedal and better stopping than OEM at about 1/3 the amount of dust. Front & rear pads and new wear sensors were something like $400; plenty of iron left in the rotors so I re-used them. You do need a VAG-COM to do it yourself though (which I already had bought).

The operative issue is that my dealer started telling me the brakes were shot 20K miles before they actually were, and the replacement cost went up hundreds every time. During my last telephone follow-up from the dealer about how 'satisfied' I was with their service I told them outright... I was only bringing my car to them because I'd pre-paid for scheduled service but I knew for certain they were lying to me about my car needing repairs and I would never trust a word they said about anything.

There is only one Audi dealership within reasonable distance of me. My distaste with this dealership is so bad that come new-car time if I'm still living in the same place I won't buy another Audi just to avoid dealing with them again.

Sorry for the vent... not entirely on topic but the crux is you need to check your own brakes for wear to find out if you're getting the same lies as I did.

gee2dasahn

My rotors were toast @ 43K miles. A good Indy should be able to quote you somewhere around 1400 for fronts only (parts, labor, tax).

As a DIY, I didn't have a number of the tools (ie impact wrench & appropriate jack) so it jacked my costs up a bunch. In addition, I happened to buy a power bleeder and brake fluid so that was additional. I was not able to salvage my dampers (shims) so I had to buy them separately.

As a heads up, the torx screw that holds the rotor to the assembly is very easy to strip. I happened to have 2 spares so I was able to drill one out and replace it.

I also went Disc Italia Hyper Ceramic and haven't regretted it so far.

MikeS6

As I was mentioning on several threads, I NEVER trust a dealer on anything they say, both in the sales process, or the service end. I, however don't really have the technical skills with cars to help me with service issues, I have to just use common sense. Always independently verify, and validate information they communicate.


A while back HyperS4 and I went back and forth over offered incentives, and I recall him telling me to "check with the Dealer"... and I was like: L. O. L.
I mean I'll confirm the existence of an available incentive, so theres no surprises later, but I'm going to do all the independent research I can and try not to rely on the dealer for any of that info. I've had Dealers try to say there was no incentive, or it was a lesser amount like $750 (even though it was $1000) They have whip'ed out books of pre printed info that they tell me "see this is what we go by" ... and I'm like "well I go by the official brand website and it says theres a $1000 rebate on that exact VIN # at your dealership, sitting right there."

misunderstood73

Just replaced my front brake pads and sensor for my 2011 Audi S4 on my own. Total cost $152 for Akebono ceramic brake pads and the wear sensor. The rear pads are a bit trickier because you will need a VagCom. The first time Audi dealership changed my front brakes and rotors they charged me $860. That will NEVER happen again.

69Firebird400

I just had all four wheels done - pads and rotors - at 45k miles. The dealer quoted me "approximately" $2100 for just the fronts. The rears were still OK, but I wanted to just have them all done at the same time to hopefully not think about brakes for another 45k miles.

To avoid that robbery required some legwork. I'm not talented nor tool-equipped enough to try this on my own and I don't have a VAG-COM to reset the parking brake.

I bought new take-off pads for $100 shipped from the AW classifieds. The two front rotors were $557.98 and two rear rotors were $409.98. FCP Euro had free shipping and a loyalty discount for $100 off orders of $1,199+. I was fortunate in that I did not need new shims because my new(ish) pads still had new(ish) shims on them, so I was able to return that $229.99 purchase to FCP Euro (plus they let me keep the rebate even though my order fell below the $100 off coupon threshold).

So parts were $967.96.

I had an independent mechanic install everything and donated 110 pounds of old rotors to the Boy Scouts for their scrap metal drive. I can't comment on the labor cost because my semi-retired dad picked up the car from my office to take it to the shop and insisted that I not pay him whatever he paid the garage, but I'm certain it wasn't more than $200.

The new brakes feel great! I was surprised the old rotors wore as much as they did - there was no pulsing in the pedal, but they were grooved quite a bit and I didn't want to risk having them machined and losing too much rotor material.