yeamac

My 2017 Q5 2.0 S-Line Certified Audi developed the dreaded brake squeal. Lived with it for a few months since it was fairly intermittent until after one longer road trip in the winter, when I got into my neighborhood the squeal was terrible, every time I would turn right it was just grating (I didn't even have to be braking!). Finally took my Q5 in to the dealership as now this noise was consistent. Not the way you want your Audi to turn heads!

Dealership replaced both my front and rear brake pads at no charge. This was around 14K miles. Now I get HORRIBLE black brake dust all over my beautiful 20" Audi wheels within 2 days after cleaning them. I either drive with filthy wheels or spend 10-15 minutes cleaning my wheels every couple of days. Not happy with either option.

Will this eventually get better? I've put about 1,000 miles on since the brake change and haven't noticed the dust let up any. My OEM pads were obviously a different type. Did my dealership give me an inferior brake pad so as not to cause the noise? Stopping power seems about the same. This dust is just TERRIBLE. I'd like to go back to the dealership to complain and see if something can be done, but before I take the time (dealership is over 30 min away), was hoping to get some good advice from you fine folks.

MurrayA4

No yeamac it's not likely to get better, they've likely pulled off a "metallic" pad and put in an organic one.If it really drives you nuts then seek out Textar,Brembo,Akebono pads, swap them in and enjoy.

Bob Petruska

Just to let you know that Audi has about 8 approved suppliers of brake pads. They all meet the stopping performance requirements of Audi, but they can all be made with different frictional compounds and have different levels of dust.

My 2014 brake pads are what I would call almost dustless, I tried to determine the pad manufacturer from the part number on the pad but couldn't do so.

Murray has the best answer to just change to a minimal dusting aftermarket pad.

yeamac

Thanks for the advice. I'm not quite prepared to spend over $300 + labor to change to different pads on my own. I have AudiCare to 60,000 miles, and since the dealership changed to these dusty pads I'm going to first follow up with them and see if they can't put on a different pad, since you say they use about 8 different types. I don't understand why they would use such a pad in the first place if they product so much dust. Audi wouldn't use this pad on a new car they are trying to sell if it produced dust like this -- they sure shouldn't switch to it once I require service from them.

MP4.2+6.0

FWIW, pad change would have been classed as either warranty fix or customer goodwill. The squeal is what presumably triggered getting them to act on it. AudiCare doesn't cover brake pads or anything else brake related except fluid flushes every two years.

My own experience with Audi pads is they have mostly been dusty, albeit with a brief window where some less dusty ceramics seemed to have crept in. I just live with it and then flip to my usual go to pad (EBC Red) when the originals wear down.

BlackSVT

For literally a decade+ if you looked at any BMW, Audi, MB... the front wheels especially, would be black. The German mfgrs usually won't compromise performance and fade resistance so the pad formulation is always trading off noise vs dust. Apparently people complained enough and the ceramic pads got good enough performance-wise that, Audi at least, changed over to ceramic OEM... but there's still always a compromise if you won't budge on performance, so we got a noisier, but dust "free" pad (sounds like YMMV though... only the rears squeal on mine, first stop only, when temp is <30F. The dust would drive me NUTS)

Bottom line, I think that's what you'll get with OEM pads - some potential noise on ceramics, or massive dust on whatever the other formulation is (semi-met?)

If you go aftermarket, you'll get a different mix that could be more to your liking...maybe the initial cold stop won't be as good until the pads are up to temp, maybe initial bite won't be the same, dust, noise, fade perf...

I wonder though if you ask if they used the wrong OEM pads since the dust was so bad if they'd replace with ceramics the car was built with? Yes, there is potential for a noise issue, but yours seemed especially bad. Maybe it would be more tolerable but without the gawdawful dust

Bob Petruska

I didn't say that they currently have 8 different pads for your Q5. When I looked at the Audi approved supplier list there were 8 manufacturers that made pads for Audi. I can't tell from the list how many manufacturers currently provide Q5 pads or how many in the past did.

All I can say is the pads that came on my 2014 Q5 are basically dustless. In my past new Audi's the wheels had black dust quickly, I usually changed to Hawk ceramic pads that produced minimal dust and had decent braking performance without any noise.

MurrayA4

Yes Bob my Tdi came with Brembo pads, they lasted a long time no dust,I changed out for Textar and same results.Excellent pads.The other brand worth using is ATE but less common among the parts guys.

Bob Petruska

Murray, just to clarify, that the Textar pads produce the same little dust as the Brembo?

Where do you buy Textar? Are they ceramic? What model do you have?

Audi is now going to create more agony as they are sourcing brake pads from North American suppliers for the 2018+ Q5, thus NA dealers might be getting NA produced pads for previous Q5 model years, and not the European ones that they used to get.

MurrayA4

Bob yes the Textars are in all respects equal to the Brembos, no dust, excellent braking performance and great wear.
These are the pads I run from a Canadian supplier.https://www.autopartsway.ca/partlist...dsZuDSpY.gmail I believe they're ceramic.
Yes Audi sourcing their brakes in N.A.won't end well.We do lot's of things well but brake components is not one of them.