EvergreenQ7

Bought a 2015 S7 in September this year, car had 25k miles and was sold as a CPO. As part of the CPO checklist the brake pad thickness was 6mm all the way around. Six weeks and 1,000 miles later I took the car in for the 35k service, at the Audi dealer, and technician noted brakes thickness was 4mm and 5mm depending on the wheel. Can anyone tell me at what thickness one should do a brake job, i.e. pads and rotors? Service advisor said I still had a while to go before changing, maybe another 10k miles. When he mentioned the 4 and 5 thickness numbers I was surprised and mentioned the 6mm measurements when car went through CPO process in early August and he said it could be variability due to the measurement tool and/or technician; any truth to this or just a line of BS?

Thanks in advance for any advice. Love the car, I know it will not be inexpensive to maintain but it is fun to drive and it is nice to drive a car that is somewhat rare in my area (Northern Idaho)

tenspeed

Sounds like the standard cover their *** song and dance about the CPO pad thickness. Brake R&R is expensive and it sounds like they passed that expense on to you.

The car has a pair of wear sensors on the inner left side pads. It's a simple loop of wire that gets worn away when the pads are around 3mm thick. If you have the ACC, it uses the rear brakes to slow the car down. New pads are ~10mm thick so you have time after the annoying warning message comes on.

EvergreenQ7

Thanks for the info Tenspeed, good to know I will still have some time to evaluate options after the warning light pops on. On the A7 forum there has been discussion about some independent shops not having the software to release the emergency brake mechanism, is the same true of the S7? Would prefer to use an independent shop over the dealer especially since it appears the thickness was overstated on the CPO inspection.

tenspeed

It is true that the rear calipers have to be opened electrically and shops that service VW's and Audi's should have it. I installed my own brakes and there are a couple DIY's if you have the tools and time. Many people switch to ceramic pads to reduce brake dust and noise.

Here's a link to an S6 brake pad discussion. I believe that the S6 & S7 use the same pads and rotors.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...d-Option-C7-S6

peytonel

Yes, Tenspeed is correct. Like you, I purchased a 2 year old S7 (2013 CPO at 22Kmiles back in Dec 2015) and performed my first brake service (all pads and rotors) in my driveway back in April of this year. If you're going to do it yourself, don't waste your money on those $100 wear indicator wires (just save the ones you have, clip the plastic ends, and twist the wires together to close the circuit to disable the wear indicator lamp . I bought all of my parts from Europa Parts ($1200 delivered), the Carista bluetooth ODB-II connecter and app (to open my rear calipers), and finished the job in about a half day. Followed the post verbatim Tenspeed mentioned.

tenspeed

I got my brake wear sensors from RockAuto.com. One came with the front pads and the other was under $10.