S5TIG

Hello all, I was a member of the vaunted AW community waaaayyy back when with my TT, although haven't been on auto forums much in recent years. In any case, it appears it's still a fantastic resource. I have an 18 S5 SB that has been a wonderful car, zero issues, and a joy to drive. It replaced an S3, which was just a bit small and without things like memory seats, I came back up to the B9. I like to drive my cars, and expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20k miles for a set of tires. I also expect to replace brake pads every 30-40k. I scheduled my 20k service last week, for today, and a couple days later my brake wear sensor light came on. Early, but maybe understandable. It's a heavy car that I drive fairly aggressively. My service advisor had some interesting news. 1. It's the rears that tripped the wear sensors, and 2. they want to replace rotors and pads. I have an awesome dealership that I've bought maybe 5-6 Audi's from, and know my service writer pretty well. I told him no rotors, pads only please, and I asked why the rears ran first. Of course he expressed his "concern" about pads only, which is his job, and said that the pads front to rear were worn equally, but that the sensors on the rear trip sooner.

So. What sort of life are others getting from pads/rotors? Are you replacing rotors ever time with pads? And if so, WT living F is ok about $2200 worth of front and rears every 25k miles???

Also, I understand it's unlikely anyone else has a B9 SB with 20k miles, I ordered one of the very first to be delivered, but Coupe or even B8 experiences are likely similar enough...

Thanks!!

garberfc

It seems ridiculous that rotors need to be replaced with each replacement of the pads. It also makes it $$$!

I'd like to hear of others experiences.

Wildcat UA

heisnuts

As I understand it, both the pads and rotors wear on these cars. I have 16,000 miles now and can see a definite lip at the edge of the rotors indicating that the rotor is wearing with the pads. I am nowhere near the pad sensor yet, but I am also not really hard on the brakes. When the pads are worn, the rotors should be measured to determine if they are close to minimum thickness, and replaced if they are. Although since each OEM rotor has a MSRP of $108, I would probably replace it, especially if you are a little harder on the brakes.

ArvX147

It's not really something you need anecdotal evidence on - there is a min rotor thickness, if the rotors arent at that min thickness (they likely are not) then just replace the pads.

Just ask for what they measure and make the decision.

I know that many people who buy new cars are not up to doing their own service, but brakes are one of the things that are absolutely worth knowing how and doing yourself. Biggest ripoff in the car service industry. I can do pads and rotors for $300 front and $200 rear (and get some nicer pads at that price if they are available)

superswiss

+1...There is no guesswork to this subject. Brake pads and rotors wear. Both of these have a minimum thickness and once reached they need to be replaced. Front rotors typically allow for about 2 mm of wear and rear rotors for about 1 mm. The pads have sensors to alert you when it's time to replace them, but typically it's also recommended to replace them if they are down to about 3 mm. The thinner they get, the less effective they are at dealing with the heat.

Dealers generally recommend to replace both rotors and pads when the pads are worn. Audi doesn't allow turning the rotors to get the old pad deposits off and make sure the rotor is still true, but you can measure the rotor and if you have enough material left for another set of pads, then you don't necessarily have to replace rotors. But you wanna make sure that the rotors are worn 50% or less, otherwise they don't have enough life left on them for a second set of pads. Measure them yourself if you know how or have the dealer measure them. Audi uses very soft rotors, so they do indeed wear relatively quickly.

The front OEM rotors cost about $300 for the SB and the rears about $200. There are less and more expensive aftermarket options. Pads are around $150-$200 for each set. So if you do a full job you are looking at $700-$1000 in parts. You can buy the parts yourself to get them a little cheaper at places like ECS for example and then either do the brakes yourself or take the car and parts to a good indy shop. I don't do my own work. If I wanted to work on cars, I would have become a car mechanic, but I don't take my cars to the dealership for brake and tire replacement. I have a good indy for that stuff and they will also use better aftermarket brake fluid when I request it.

garberfc

I feel the same way. I bring my cars to a local shop I trust and have been using for years. Would you mind pointing me to the parts you do use? Pads, rotors and fluid for a 2019 S5 SB? TIA.

superswiss

I don't have an S5. I have a '13 RS5. But ECS Tuning is a good source. I went with their own full floating rotors they offer for the RS5 plus Hawk HPS 5.0 pads. At least that's what I have now. I first had their rotors only on the front and the standard Hawk HPS pads. I kept my original rear rotors for two sets of pads. Now I have their rotors all around and the 5.0 pads. Excellent setup, IMO. Very linear, stops better than OEM and much less fade, but I also have stainless steel brake lines in the front and I use Torque RT700 fluid. I do a lot of aggressive driving and canyon carving and as said it's an RS, so your needs are probably different.

garberfc

Thanks SuperSwiss!

njspeedfreak

I agree with what others are saying. For brakes, use an independent mechanic that you trust and replace the rotors along with the pads. The old rotors will form grooves with wear over time and a new set of pads will have to wear into those existing grooves before achieving optimal stopping power. However this adds premature wear to the pads. In the old days you would have the rotors resurfaced, but rotors are not that expensive, so it's not really worth the time or effort now.

I'd be a little concerned about how little life you got out of those brakes. On my B8 S4 I didn't need to do the brakes until the car was at 110,000 miles. Granted, mostly highway miles so not a lot of aggressive braking, but still, that's 5 times more than the mileage you are needing replacement at.