Audi brake life

[wings&wheels]

Looking for any experience w/ newer Audi brakes.

Wife's S4 needed new pads and rotors at 23k miles and we were both a bit surprised. Brake warning light came on, fluid was fine but the pads were very thin; 3mm or so. Dealer said it is normal for these cars(!).... Her commute is all highway and we got ~70k for the first brakes on her 535ix before that so pretty sure it's not driving technique.

Thinking that brakes at this mileage is a bit ridiculous....any others out there?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Audi S4 is a high performance car, so the brake is designed for its purpose. My 2000 E430 original brake was shot at 10,xxx miles, I used mostly German made pads for 8-10 years and none lasted more than 15-16k miles. Yes, my wife commute is mix with less than 30-40% highway.

Currently I have Thermoquiet pad on front and still have some meat left after 30k miles.

 

[Quest]

IMHO that's fairly typical for Audi A4/S4 to require frequent front pad change.

I've been doing my neighbour's 06 A4 advant for quite some time now...every 3yrs approx. for front; 5 yrs for rear.

Also: unlike the past where most Euro cars go with semi-metallic (high dusting), some of them now goes with ceramic formulation, which low dusting but shortened service duration (high rate of wear)

Q.

 

[geeman789]

Originally Posted By: wings&wheels
Looking for any experience w/ newer Audi brakes.

Wife's S4 needed new pads and rotors at 23k miles and we were both a bit surprised. Brake warning light came on, fluid was fine but the pads were very thin; 3mm or so. Dealer said it is normal for these cars(!).... Her commute is all highway and we got ~70k for the first brakes on her 535ix before that so pretty sure it's not driving technique.

Thinking that brakes at this mileage is a bit ridiculous....any others out there?


German brake pads tend to be soft, with excellent braking performance. The downside... all those filthy dirty brake dust coated front wheels on so many german cars. Wash your stinkin wheels by hand once in a while...! Pet peeve of mine... and quicker wear...

Try a different brand... Hawk or Akebono make solid pads... and they should last way longer... but might not feel quite as good...

 

[dparm]

What year is the S4? I've owned two (B6 & B8) and both had fairly typical brake life for a daily-driven performance car. The pads are going to be aggressive and the system is quite powerful -- that just wears things out faster. It's also a heavy car.

The OEM Pagid/Textar pads are actually pretty good for a street-driven car. A bit dusty, but good pedal feel in all temps without any noise. There's plenty of upgraded pads out there but you'll start generating even more dust/noise for a very marginal improvement in stopping power.

 

[Falken]

I only got 50,000km out of a front set of pads on a Honda Fit.

That is only about 30,000 miles.

So your Audi pads must be made of something really tough on a performance car to last 23,000 miles.

I think you are doing amazing.

 

[wings&wheels]

I guess it is what it is, but when the Tech gave the "high performance speech", I wanted to ask why her 911 wears brakes and rotors at about 1/2 the Audi's rate....

Figured it is a much softer pad for quiet and initial bite.

Thanks all.

 

[wings&wheels]

Originally Posted By: dparm
What year is the S4? I've owned two (B6 & B8) and both had fairly typical brake life for a daily-driven performance car. The pads are going to be aggressive and the system is quite powerful -- that just wears things out faster. It's also a heavy car.

The OEM Pagid/Textar pads are actually pretty good for a street-driven car. A bit dusty, but good pedal feel in all temps without any noise. There's plenty of upgraded pads out there but you'll start generating even more dust/noise for a very marginal improvement in stopping power.


It is a '14. The brakes are great....just short lived. There are worse problems.

 

[dparm]

23k is certainly early, but if the driving was mostly city/stop-and-go, that's going to wear them down much faster than highway cruising.

My 2011 S4 (basically the same car as yours) was still on its original brakes at 35k, for what it's worth.

 

[Nick1994]

My VW has 162k miles on the original front brakes with well over 2/3 pad left, maybe 3/4 pad left.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: Falken
I only got 50,000km out of a front set of pads on a Honda Fit.

That is only about 30,000 miles.

So your Audi pads must be made of something really tough on a performance car to last 23,000 miles.

I think you are doing amazing.


shortly after I bought my fit, I replaced the factory pads with Akibono ProACTS, first set was good for 46k with 30% left until I took them off due to warped rotors; now on 2nd set of proACTS and rotors, already got another 46k out of them so far (and rotors aren't warp enough to call for replacement this time.

Q.

 

[hattaresguy]

The 911's lighter, also if she drives a lot in the snow the traction control eats up the pads.

In my experience 20k-30k is pretty good pad life for a German car.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The 911's lighter, also if she drives a lot in the snow the traction control eats up the pads.

In my experience 20k-30k is pretty good pad life for a German car.



Well, my M3 is at 59k and still has the original rotors and pads. BMW makes them ridiculously thick though for both the heat dissipation and to avoid having to replace them under the no-cost maintenance plan. (the rotors are about $450 each)

 

[raaizin]

I just put front brakes on my 2007 A6 at a little over 60k miles. This car is drien 90% highway.

 

[CBR.worm]

Our Audi went through pads and rotors at about that rate. My infiniti's get about 20k on a set. Our '08 528i has almost 80k on the OE pads and rotors with the same drivers - so there is a lot a variance based on brake size and material as well as car weight and driving style.