ajg617

I just can not keep brakes on the 03 Avant. Audi rotors and pads and severe vibration when braking at high speeds after $20K miles. Have to both front and rears and probably need front calipers. Don't know - driving habits or daily hard braking in stop and go highway traffic. Can't see putting anything orange on it with 221K. I'd be happy getting 40K out of a set of pads/rotors.
Thanks,
AJG

bilbo6209

i'm really curious on this too as I have developed a pulsing/growling on harder braking after daily driving(I've only put 3K on my new to me '03 S6). I guess I do tend to drive and brake a bit harder than an average person so something a bit more aggressive bit like AJG said something that isnt having to be replaced every 20K miles would be GREAT! In the past on my VW Golf I rad Mintex Red bod and was happy with them, how do they do on this size car?

clancy

Are you sure it is not brake pad build up on the rotors? This is not that uncommon and is often misdiagnosed as warped rotors. If your brakes and rotors are hot and you brake to a stop and continue to hold the brake pedal tight then some brake pad material may transfer to the rotor. This builds up over time and makes the brakes vibrate. This is not easily seen when looking at the rotors. Could this be your issue?

Uneven Pad Deposit Removal
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/....jsp?techid=85

There is an even better write up about this process but I cannot remember who wrote it.

ajg617

I'm sure this is what is happening. Hard braking from 70 and then sitting without moving until the traffic clears - daily. So I can see how the pad material could transfer to the rotors. But after 15K of good braking? These are on Audi brake rotors and pads. I'm lucky if i can get 15K on brakes. Plenty of rotor and pad left, but intolerable braking at high speed - the whole car shakes but not all the time. It seems worse after driving when I don't have to brake for a while (30 miles at 65mph+). Subsequent braking action is not as bad. I looked at the Hawks the last time but figured I'd replace the rotors and pads since I had to pull everything apart anyhow.

It's also happening on my C6 - after just one week of commuting. On my C6, the brakes (new) had 35K on them with great performance - should have been well bedded in. One week of commuting to work and I'm getting the feel of a 'warped rotor' but I'm guessing that they aren't. Plenty of pad left and rotors are not worn very much.

50K on my wife's A4 and they brake smooth as silk.

Looking at the bed-in procedures (300-400) miles, nobody around here does that when installing new brakes including the dealers.

clancy

There is a procedure for cleaning the deposits off the rotors. It was included in the write up I referenced above that I could not locate. It was originally mentioned on this forum by someone else. You may find it if you search for warped brakes or pad transfer or something like that.