girlroad

Brief overview...brake rotors "polished" at 50k by dealer, replaced at 63k by my indy with Zimmerman OEM (not drilled/slotted) and OEM pads (not sure which ones at this point), at 71k problems with shudder and not stopping also grabbing intermittantly. Back to indy (warranteed for 1 year), "polished" rotors, put back same pads...no change (said my right front tire was bad, replaced with same type, Road force balance, but know that minor vibration would be expected due to slight diff in tires)....took it back new rotors and new pads (still not sure which ones) and they were grabbing, squealing (not squeaking, but big bus squealing) and shuddering, took it back and had them check out all related areas (also high speed vibration over the whole time after they started working on it, not before), (I have a good warranty) calipers, lines etc, also had them flush and replace brake fluid...at this point they said that everything checked out, they did a pressure test of the calipers and checked all the other parts and there is "nothing wrong".... now I have driven for a week and it has just been a slight squeal but still significant vibration at highway speed until last night coming home, brakes shudder, grab and squealing like a bus...

You can count up the times in...my indy has been very good about not charging me for diagnosis and some time, so I appreciate that, but I just want my car back the way it was.
The only thing I haven't done is an alignment, which I was saving for after I have new tires put on in a few weeks (could I do it before or would it be better after?...of course they are at two different places

The last set of pads were Mintex, supposedly beveled with anti-squeal applied and proper bedding procedures followed. As these are still under warranty with this indy I can't really go anywhere else but am desparate for a fix as I know it has to be impacting my tires too and I don't want to put new ones on until I get this resolved. Thank you all in advance for any pointers that might be specific to this case as I have read the posts on brakes until I am blue in the face.

paulroad

Perhaps the collective knows of another audi style indy to go to. Granted it may be a trip, but I think you need a second on this.

happy allroader

I tell the shop that I trust them and they should take their time to fix and test the repair before saying all is well. I tell them to drive it (an element of trust is required here) around for a few days until they are sure whatever it takes is done until it is fixed. I don't give them a blank check but expect them to call me if new problems occur that need fixing. I don't want them to just throw money at the problem and keep tossing new and different parts at the problem. I don't think the alignment is at fault for brake squeal and such. Is it only the front? Left and right? Glad you have a warranty.

The S

The vibration seems to have stemed from having the wheels off, these cars (audi in general) are very finicy when it comes to wheel bolt torque, make sure the wheel hub interface is clean.
Mintex pads.... I had them on my wife's A4 and we hated them, they were noisy like there was no tomorrow. They were beded in on new rotors and had anti-squeal on them, they squealled. I beveled the edges, cleaned up the rotors (stock) tried better anti-squeal, and new grease on the caliper pins and re-bed them, still squeal. I gave up, I think it was just bad pads, or pad material. One thought is to have your indy check out all the caliper pins, make sure they are clean, in spec and not worn, and greased properly. I would do this because of miles.
Alignment should have nothing to do with brakes so go ahead and get it aligned.
Good luck, this has been happening for a while.

allroadbryan

They squeeked really bad for 1st month and had to go back to the shop to try to resolve the squeeking. After about 1500 miles the noise went away but now they are coming back after 2 months of being noise free. Now they are grabbing and squeeking. No more mintex for me. I recall having no issues with Audi pads when dealer replaced pads before. I'll give up some stopping power for no noise.

allroad'Ed now

Let's figure out what's going on with your Mintex pads. I went a long time with my Mintex on Zimmermans and never had a problem. but your commute into and out of downtown is really hard on any brakes.

Refresh my memory- HP2 or later calipers? If later, I'll give you my old EBC Green pads to try if you want.

arob

2nd - Mintex red on Zimmerman rotors w/ AS worked for me - no problems.

girlroad

it would be Kansas City possibly, but even Omaha folks are complaining about lack of good folks there. Maybe Chicago. Thanks for the thought though.

girlroad

sides now, although originally if was mostly front left.

girlroad

with Zimmerman rotors. I will ask again about calipers but supposedly they checked all of that out and as I said I have an excellent warranty that would have covered anything they found but they didn't find anything. As I said they were nice and didn't charge me for the diagnostic on the pressure test but I would have thought if there was something even remotely wrong they would have gone after it. I am really strapped here as there is no one else in my area who works on Audi's...there is a dealer not too far away who does ok work but my tech at this indy is from there and well trained so I am stumped, as obviously are they.