PSA: Anti-rattle spring clips for A6/ATE caliper
 

Subject car: '06 A6 Avant Q

I suffered a bit of a mis-fortune over the past week with some Mintex pads which were not correct for my application. They did not have the correct clip to mate with the Audi anti-rattle spring clip bonded to the rear of the outboard pad. So, I mistakenly put the spring clips back in and they have fallen out over the past week. I realized this last night when I went to install the correct set of pads. No big deal, right?

The original pads sent to me did not have this slot:

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6916/sdscf0497.jpg

We took a ride to the dealer and they charged us $78 for new clips. I was in a state of complete dis-belief. I was at their mercy since we're traveling this weekend and I didn't have time to order them on-line. I was slightly pissed. :mad: :mad:

FWIW, I found what appear to be copies at the RockAuto website for $10 per pair. They're produced by Dorman.

http://info.rockauto.com/RB/HW13499-007.jpg

I hope this helps somebody else and my local P/A dealer is a complete thief charging MSRP ++ .

Could I get more details please? We recently switched from using EBC greens to Mintex Red's at our shop. On most applications they seems to work great. But on the C6 we are getting squeal on virtually every job. We have suspected the clips being bad. I was just about to have one come back in to try and figure it out. I actually came on here tonight to try and find some answers and it looks like I've found it!

Thanks much and let me know more of what you observed on yours.

I don't have much more to add. I installed Mintex Red ("OE Compound") in our 2006 A6 wagon and the squealing was real bad. I can't link it to the anti-rattle clip. I ended up removing everything again and applied some of that orange, rubberized goop. That eliminated the any/all squealing. 16k miles later and I'm starting to get just a tiny bit of noise again, not terribly offensive at the moment and I'm trying to ignore it :)

I've got these Mintex Red pads in other cars and have had no issues or noise. These "OE compound" pads put in our wagon are very dusty and noisy. I will surely avoid them in the future - it has not been worth the hassle. The dust from the Mintex red pads installed in the other cars has been virtually nil.

Why wouldn't you just pay the extra and go with Ceramics?

I have no experience with them, but they are on my radar screen.

Thanks.

We went with the Mintex as they were close to OEM, but offered less dust. This is true. However they all squeal like the dickens. We've avoided using any stop squeal coatings trying to find out why these pads are so offensive. Our distributor hasn't been any help and the bottom line is customer satisfaction which we haven't achieved yet.

I have a customer car with the Mintex pads on it coming in next week. I'm going to figure out what the problem is one way or another.

1 AKE EUR1111 86.68 pair with wear sensors
AKEBONO EURO Ceramic Pad Set
2 CEN 120.33111 85.00 Each
CENTRIC Premium OE Style Rotor

This is what I bought from A place for brakes. Great to deal with. Akenono Ceramic pads for $86.68. Way less dust then OEM pads, no squeal. I believe someone was asking about rust on rotors, the Centric are painted black around the hubs and therefore should not discolor and show that nasty rust. I paid $85 per rotor. So far I have been very happy with the results.

Spence, so the dusting situation is far better than OE?

Also, how is braking performance when things are stone cold, first thing in the morning? Is the stopping peformance normal?

Thanks.

WAY less dust them OEM pads. I would clean the rims and within a week they needed to be cleaned again. With the ceramics, there is some dust, but it significantly less. I don't know why I never bought them before. As far as stopping goes, I have not noticed a difference either way.

Thanks, Spence. That's what I wanted to hear :)