salvie

Just found out that Audi warranty for brakes & rotors is only 12 mo or 12K miles. I have a feeling I'm going to need all 4 replaced. Any idea what an Audi dealership would cost and what an indy shop may charge. I saw rotors on Amazon for around $90 vs. $160 on AutoZone.

captain_video

Can you do it yourself? It shouldn't be a difficult job. I replaced the front and rear brake pads on my wife's Q7 and it was probably the easiest 4-wheel disc brake job I've ever done. Replacing the rotors shouldn't be too hard. I priced new rotors a while back when I was looking for brake pads and I think they averaged about $100 apiece or less. Audi will no doubt charge you considerably more. There are lots of online sellers of parts for Audis. It's been so long since I've paid anyone to work on the brakes for any car I've owned that I can't tell you what they charge for labor anymore. Suffice it to say that getting it done at a dealership will probably cost you well over $1000 in parts and labor, and probably much more. They may charge you that much just for the parts.

p3tuh

I just did the front brakes on my q7 and it was fairly easy, there a quite a few videos on youtube showing step by step. I ordered through fcpeuro since they have a lifetime warranty on all the parts they sell including fluids so it's like buying brakes once in the whole lifetime of the vehicle. It sounds crazy but they promote this as part of their business plan. You could buy parts online and have an independent shop change them, it should only be a few hours of labor.

jbgilbank

I just peeked at fcp euro and have a unique question: Why would there be a left & right side front rotor? What could possibly be different?
And, which brakes did you get exactly and how are they for dust?

p3tuh

Not 100% sure, but most likely the rotors' vane directions are different on each side. I currently have the Pagid's and can't comment on the dust since it hasn't been long since I installed them. Since they are OEM replacements, they will probably be super dusty just like stock. I'm getting a bit of clicking when starting from a stop which I believe is the pads being undersized just a bit. So I will probably return the pagids and try geniune vw/audi pads

jbgilbank

Thanks for that info.
I am curious about ceramics? I have heard they do not dust like the semi metallics?

p3tuh

I have run ceramics in other cars since they do seem to dust way less than semi-metallics and have a great linear feel. The downside is that you give up some initial bite, or at least it feels like it which would be more pronounced on a big heavy car like the q7. Since this is a daily and the baby carrier, I opted to be on the safe side and just deal with the dust.

The pro/cons of ceramic pads are up for debate in my research. Some say it's actually just a lighter colored dust so it's not as visible and the initial bite "feel" is debatable as well.

dreadlocks

Make sure you buy OEM quality or higher rotors, we all got a factory brembo big brake kit.. replacing the nice high quality OEM components with cheaper aftermarket ones is not only a terrible idea its a huge dis-service to your vehicle.. for a set of 4 rotors, and pads expect to spend at least $500 to DIY, which is still incredibly cheap after having another Audi that cost >$2k to DIY the same stuff.

I personally do not believe ceramics are appropriate for our vehicles, your just going to have to accept the dust or loose too much stopping capability.. I may go for a more agressive aftermarket pad next time (Organic/Semi Metallic), but thats just going dust every bit as bad if not worse..

If in doubt, put OEM parts back on.. alot of engineering went into our braking system, its tougher to improve on than lesser vehicles are where just about anything aftermarket is an upgrade to OEM.

GRNMACHINE

X2

Installed TRW Ceramics and there is a world of difference in stopping and its not good. Looking into Pagid/Brembo OEM or possibly HAWK LTS or HPS. The brake dust is ridiculous on the OEM pads but I believe I will be putting them back on for their performance.

chingwodapigu

I've had the Hawk LTS on my Q7 and on my LX470 (put on at the same time)...hated them on both vehicles, brake feel was horrible, poor braking performance, and they squealed at low speeds. Had them both swapped out with half the pad wear because they were both that bad. Only positive was the reduced brake dust. Got the Porterfield R4S pads on the Q7 now and not only do I have less dust, the brakes work great. A bit more expensive but worth it!