enGage

Car at the dealer. They say it is due for brakes. Last time, at 57K miles, they were "fairly" reasonable at $950 for OEM rotors and pads. Now they more than double that. I've not bitten the bullet and gotten a VAGCOM, but I'm not going to spend that amount of money. Is there a popular aftermarket option(s) that people use? Especially if they have a similar feel and less dust.

Jack88

Buy the parts online, and have an indy shop do it. If it's rears, they will need to use VCDS to open the rear calipers, but it actually ends up being a slightly easier actually. There is no reason that should be twice as expensive.

MP4.2+6.0

EBC reds are my typical choice for feel similar to OE (which I view as good) but less dust. Wear/life is also similar to OE. Plug and play for the sensored ones the front uses.

MainelyA8

If they are taking you for a ride price wise, I'd check the brakes and make sure they're actually needed. I second what MP said; EBC redstuff is the way to go. Those with OEM (brembo I believe) rotors are the generally recommended setup here from what I've read. That's the setup I used Oct 2016 on front and no complaints here.

audijim113

Just an FYI, but the Carista Pro app will open and close the calipers and calibrate thickness setting

enGage

I will check them personally. Concerning Ebc redstuff my only concern is that they are ceramic. I talked with a local shop I know and trust (has done work on my other cars) and they claim that ceramics, especially in the rears, tend to squeal in this car.

MainelyA8

That hasn't been my experience; not sure about anyone else on here who's used them. Per EBC, the pads will squeal until they are completely bedded in which can take upwards of 1,000 miles. Mine went away long before that.

MP4.2+6.0

I would frankly have more questions about the shop than the pads...

Essentially no squeal on mine in any EBC red application and many time use. Same experience BTW with Mintex red box on prior Audis, which have been ceramics for a long time now. To deal with the extreme corner case in my personal experience over many pad sets, if I wash car and rotors then surface oxidize, I will get a one time noise for about 10 feet--with any pad on the planet. EBC box has instructions on what to expect and bedding in...if installer bothers to read them. Common sense applies too, like cleaning mechanical and sliding parts and dealing with any applicable backing pads. EBC pads also have a break in material physically applied to them to deal with used rotors and possible prior transfer of material to them. Specific to D3, I used EBC reds serially on the W12, both with existing rotors and with replacement rotors, and after OE pad use on existing rotors too--basically all the mix and match combos. Installed both front and rear. W12's and S8's are still essentially the same brake set up as 4.2's; just larger rotors and then extended carriers applied to same calipers to resize to the bigger rotors.

But, if you find it burdensome or not to taste, just use OE. Good feel and stopping; just need to then accept the dust storms. But from D4 experience where cars more commonly still have primarily OE pads, squeal reports are not uncommon there. My D4 S8 is mostly silent, but I picked up just a bit the other day on a slow roll stop when i had windows down to notice; OE Brembo pads and calipers in that application.

enGage

Thanks MP. I really dislike the amount of dust from the OEM pads and if the redstuff pads are significantly better with no squeal and a good feel, then it is a no-brainer. It sounds like you have reused rotors as well. Is that the case?

TSHong

I have used ceramic Akebonos and Beck Arnley pads on my D2 with no squeal issues. I have used two sets of Powerstop pads on my 2005 W12 and my current 2009 W12 with no squeal. I have used ceramic pads because the produce a small fraction dust vs OE pads. In fact, most OE applications are now ceramic because of they squeal less than semi metallic pads. That shop is not doing all the proper steps in a brake job if the ceramic pads are squealing.