mplsbrian

There has been much discussion about brake life on this car. I wanted to share that I just had my shop swap my summer wheels back on and asked them to measure pads while they had them off, so here's a data point for you all.

Mileage: 26,277
Front brakes: 8mm
Rear brakes: 7mm

These are the original brakes.

Does anyone know at what thickness the wear sensor triggers? I could not find this info in the manual.

JD15

I thought I saw someone mention 3 mm in another thread. Do you know the original thickness?

Qbruin

Here’s another data point:

Mileage: 19,700
Front brakes: 7mm
Rear brakes: 5mm

Most (80-90%) of my driving is in the city and short distances, so lots of stop and go.

morris39

Another datum point, but for a lighter car, S3. At 27,200 mi both front and rear pads are at 8 mm. Original thickness was 15/11 mm F/R. Wear limits are 5/4 mm F/R per Audi Service Manual. So roughly half life. This rate is typical for other cars I've owned so maybe the preoccupation with Audi brake wear reflects something other than Audi design. Typical use is suburban but with frequent rides on mountain roads. I tend to use lower gears to hold back speed on downhills more so than most traffic. On the other hand they say that a gearbox is not a brake but so far there have not been bad results. The DSG oil change is due in another 8k miles at which time I will see how bad the oil looks. I do not exceed 4000 rpm for slowing down.

mplsbrian

Bump. Does anyone know:

1. Sensor trigger wear limit, F&R, on this specific car?
2. brand new pad thickness, F&R, on this specific car?

I don't have access to a service manual so any help would be appreciated. Per morris39 above it sounds like there is a difference between F and R thicknesses on the S3 at least, wondering what those numbers are for the B9 S4.

Qbruin

1. When my car was at the dealer last week, the service advisor said the sensor limit was 3mm for F&R.
2. Sorry, didn’t ask about new pad thickness.