Brake Pressure - What's Normal?
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AudiWorld Member
Joined: Oct 2011
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Brake Pressure - What's Normal?
Compared to my 2010 Q5, the 2012 A6 needs significantly more brake pressure to get the job done. I understand that all vehicles are slightly different and require varying degrees of pressure. However the amount of pedal travel is probably greater then I can recall in any other car I've owned. So much so that my wife (who is not a car person) even made a comment about the brakes. Has anyone else experience this or does something need to be adjusted on my car? Just trying to get a consensus so I can speak more intelligently to the service writer. My plan is also to drive the A6 demo at my dealership and personally check out the brake pressure on another A6 for a direct comparison.
AudiWorld Member
Joined: Oct 2011
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From: Ottawa,Canada
A6 brakes do not need much travel to kick in, once you touch brakes you feel that depends on your speed, but effect is noticed as soon as it is touched. Other members complained about soft/mushy feeling with A6 brakes (same for A7 as they share common mechanism). Brakes also need to be broken in depending on your mileage. To be on safe side you pobably better check with service so they can check it and see what is going on but I do not notice any difference as compared to other cars I drove.
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I've already had the brakes checked out and they told me the system is working fine. However, I'm still not convinced that the amount of travel is correct. Think driving another car will answer many of my questions.
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Joined: Mar 2012
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From: Philadelphia
The breaks are 'soft' on the A6. Coming from an A5 it has really taken some getting used to. Every time I drive my wife's car I end up slamming on the brakes for the first few minutes.
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From: California, US
If I had to say, I think it is part breaking & part getting used to it
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Joined: Apr 2012
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I have noticed this as well, coming from a BMW 335. I am 2 months into ownership of my A6 and I have gotten used to the extra travel in the brake pedal, but I plan to still have it looked at during the first service visit.
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It would seem from the other comments here that the brake feel is just soft on the A6. Shame actually, IMO the Q5 has much better feel. Both of the BMWs I owed had excellent brake feel. A question for the technically minded - is there anything simple that could be done to beef it up, like a brake fluid exchange or perhaps new pads?
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AudiWorld Member
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Falls Church
It would seem from the other comments here that the brake feel is just soft on the A6. Shame actually, IMO the Q5 has much better feel. Both of the BMWs I owed had excellent brake feel. A question for the technically minded - is there anything simple that could be done to beef it up, like a brake fluid exchange or perhaps new pads?
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From: Baltimore, MD
Before I placed my 2013 order, I noticed on several test drives that the brake feel was much more "spongy" than I was used to on my 2008 Cadillac CTS with its sport brake package. It wasn't horrible, just different - but definitely softer than I expected. Just going to take some getting used to.
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Joined: Nov 2011
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From: Western NJ USA
Could it have something to do with the adaptive cruise control? I notice the same "soft" pedal but when then ACC is on and the car is slowing down because someone is in front of me, if I touch the pedal it is very high and hard. I drive a lot of back country roads and when it's hilly the ACC slows the car down going downhill to maintain say 45 mph. Touch the brakes at that point and they are very sensitive. Try touching the brakes with the ACC activated and the car slowing down and see if your pedal response it more like it should be.