ATTN: Audi owners...

[sperry]

I'm trying to help out Kristen with some brake pad stuff. Looks like she'll need pads on all 4 corners soon, and possibly rotors on all 4 as well.

Anyone have some recomendations on brands and vendors? The car is a 2002 A6 Quattro 2.7T (with the 2 pads per caliper on a 215x25mm rotor).

I'm thinking Axxis Deluxes... unfortunately StopTech doesn't carry pads and rotors for the smaller brakes, so they're not an option.

[Dean]

Unless this is the 4th or 5th set of pads, new rotors should not be necessary. The stock rotors will last quite a while under normal use, and can even be turned a number of times.

Otherwise, I would look at the Hawk HPS for a purely street driven car.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

Unless this is the 4th or 5th set of pads, new rotors should not be necessary. The stock rotors will last quite a while under normal use, and can even be turned a number of times.

Otherwise, I would look at the Hawk HPS for a purely street driven car.

The car has about 40 to 50k miles on it. I'm guessing that the rotors are the originals. There is a noticeable lip on the outside edge of the rotors. However, they look really clean... no grooves or cracks.

The other thing is that the pads seem to have a bit of meat left on 'em... a little under a 1/4" inch. If it were my car, I'd keep driving it for a bit, then replace the pads. But if I top off the fluid to turn off the light, I bet Kristen will forget about it and drive till she's braking with the piston itself.

Dean, have any recomended places for Audi pads? I buy all my brake bits from StopTech and they don't carry anything for smaller A6 brakes that are on Kristen's car.

[Dean]

Sounds like your sister could teach you a thing or two about braking... She brakes less.

The pads probably didn't have much more than 1/4" to start with, and the slight lip is common on Audi rotors as they always run the pads slightly inboard of the edge of the rotor. On solid rotors, you usually get 1.5mm worth of wear, and vaned gets 2mm. a mm is a huge amount on a rotor that has only been on the street and one set of street pads.

Pads should have a groove down the middle, and from what you describe, there should still be a good deal before she even get to the bottom of the groove. Normal peaple can still get 10K or so out of the pads perfectly safely after the groove is gone.

I understand your concern, but it really sounds like it is a non issue.

My buddy Geoff can get pretty much anything. http://seccs.org/forums/showthread.p...eoff#post46950

Also, the good old interweb.

[Kevin M]

Wrong Kristen. Dean, is that total width of the rotor wear, or per each face?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

Sounds like your sister could teach you a thing or two about braking... She brakes less.

The pads probably didn't have much more than 1/4" to start with, and the slight lip is common on Audi rotors as they always run the pads slightly inboard of the edge of the rotor. On solid rotors, you usually get 1.5mm worth of wear, and vaned gets 2mm. a mm is a huge amount on a rotor that has only been on the street and one set of street pads.

Pads should have a groove down the middle, and from what you describe, there should still be a good deal before she even get to the bottom of the groove. Normal peaple can still get 10K or so out of the pads perfectly safely after the groove is gone.

I understand your concern, but it really sounds like it is a non issue.

My buddy Geoff can get pretty much anything. http://seccs.org/forums/showthread.p...eoff#post46950

Also, the good old interweb.

My sister is Karen. Kristen is our friend via Eric and Marissa.

And that Audi is a chipped twin turbo A6... I'm gonna guess in the neighborhood of 275hp at the wheels, though I've never driven it, so I can't comment on how fast it actually drives. Plus it's not exactly a light car. Kristen's had it for maybe a month or two, as she recently purchased it from her family, so this is a car that will eat brakes (heavy and fast) and the owner doesn't have the full history of the car. It very well could already be on a second set of rotors, but it's unlikely. I know I've gone through several sets of rotors on my car, and it's the same age/mileage... though I clearly use my brakes quite a bit more than Kristen ever will.

Anyway, without the actual specs for min thickness and a set of calipers to measure the rotors, I'm hesitant to simply say "they're fine" when the driver is a regular person and not a motor-head like the rest of us, and the car is so heavy and fast. If it were my car, I'd just top off the fluid and be on my merry way for the next few thousand miles. But it's not my car, so I want to do a little research 1st.

Now, if the pads and rotors really do have enough left, why is the light coming on? I assumed the car uses a sensor in the fluid like most to estimate pad life, but searching online for pads I've come across many people selling "pads with integrated wear sensor". Plus there are certainly elecronics that go into the caliper. So I'm assuming this car has actual wear sensors... leave it to the germans to over-engineer everthing.

So... I'm looking for some recomendations along the lines of which pads are a good value on this car, where's a good place online to order 'em from, what are the minimum widths for rotors, etc. Audi's aren't my bag, and I was hoping this would be basic knowledge for some of the Audi owners here on the board... searching audiforums.com only resulted in people talking about which dealer to bring the car to for a brake job.

This isn't my car, so I wasn't looking to put an assload of time into figuring out what's what on it. But I don't feel right letting a friend drop $1200 at Les Schwab to get some crappy pads and rotors when a brake job is 30 minutes of work and $150 in pads and fluid for a better setup. Someone drop some knowledge on me! Most importantly, what online shops do you guys trust for non-Subaru brake parts?

[Dean]

Oops, wrong person.

The A6 2.7TQ comes with 321mm x 30mm Front, 256mm x 10mm Rear. I don't have exact specs, but they will be on the disk, but typically, it would be 28mm, and 8.5mm minimum thickness.

The Audi Brake light comes on either at low fluid, or sensor contact with the disk. If topping off the fluid, turns out the light, great, it will come back on when the pads are low. Low on an Audi typically means at least a couple thousand miles left, and they light should alert her to do something.

Yes, it is a fast, heavy car, but the brakes are reasonably sized, and hold up well on the street.

Any of the vendors in the Quarterly are pretty good. It's all about bottom line price really. I am not convinced any one piece cast rotor is any better than the next, so go cheap. OE, or aftermarket. You may only be able to get OE rears. Many do not have complete web sites, so youhave to use the phone. Sorry, I got no magic bullet here.

Pads are pads. I would go with the Hawk HPSes from Tirerack/Khail, or Geoff.

Sid does a good job on brakes, but I wouldn't let him get the parts. If you want to be completely hands off, send her to SportHaus.

[sperry]

Dean, Kristen's A6 has the smaller front brakes, 215x25mm, with 2 pads per rotor instead of the 4 pads per rotor that the 321x30mm brakes have. If she had the bigger rotors, I'd just get everything from StopTech since they carry parts for the larger brakes, but not the smaller ones.

I'll hit up the QQ and grab some URLs to look at for decent prices.

Also, if there's a fluid and pad sensors, then I can probably just top off her fluid and call it a day till the pad sensors kick on.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by sperry

Dean, Kristen's A6 has the smaller front brakes, 215x25mm, with 2 pads per rotor instead of the 4 pads per rotor that the 321x30mm brakes have. If she had the bigger rotors, I'd just get everything from StopTech since they carry parts for the larger brakes, but not the smaller ones.

I'll hit up the QQ and grab some URLs to look at for decent prices.

Also, if there's a fluid and pad sensors, then I can probably just top off her fluid and call it a day till the pad sensors kick on.

Something is weird. I am almost positive that all the '02 2.7l Turbo Quattro A6s have the larger rotors. Are you sure it isn't an older NA?

Definitely both pad and resevoir sensors for the light.

[Nick Koan]

The car is definitely a turbo.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

Something is weird. I am almost positive that all the '02 2.7l Turbo Quattro A6s have the larger rotors. Are you sure it isn't an older NA?

Definitely both pad and resevoir sensors for the light.

Pull up any shop that sells brake pads for the A6 and when you narrow it down to 2002, 2.7L Turbo, you have to pick between two size front brakes. The rears are the same though.

[Dean]

I'm not trying to be difficult, but pull up an '02 A6 2.7l Turbo Quattro on these sites, and you only get a 321mmx30mm. Maybe it isn't a Quattro???

I can see why pad sites might list both, but these are Audi specific parts folks. And I'm sure you saw what you saw, but something ain't right...

BMA Parts

SJM Autotechnik


Blau fergnügen

[doubleurx]

Ah yes my favorite site:

Blau Fergnugen!

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by doubleurx

Ah yes my favorite site:

Blau Fergnugen!

Relax, it's not a porn site

[MattR]

Originally Posted by doubleurx

Ah yes my favorite site:

Blau Fergnugen!

I'm not sure why, but that was real funny...

Nick, do you have a login and password I could use?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

I'm not trying to be difficult, but pull up an '02 A6 2.7l Turbo Quattro on these sites, and you only get a 321mmx30mm. Maybe it isn't a Quattro???

I can see why pad sites might list both, but these are Audi specific parts folks. And I'm sure you saw what you saw, but something ain't right...

BMA Parts

SJM Autotechnik


Blau fergnügen

Having actually had my head under the fender looking at the brakes, I can guarentee the car *does not* have 4 pads per front rotor, which is what all the sites list for the 321mm front rotors.

Her car has 2 pads per rotor, just like a normal car. Which is how some sites list it. Note the 4 pad kit on that link.

[doubleurx]

Originally Posted by MattR

I'm not sure why, but that was real funny...

Nick, do you have a login and password I could use?

yes:

nick_vandersex

[Dean]

Originally Posted by sperry

Having actually had my head under the fender looking at the brakes, I can guarentee the car *does not* have 4 pads per front rotor, which is what all the sites list for the 321mm front rotors.

Again, I believe you saw what you saw, but here are the tech specs for the '02 A6 2.7l Turbo Quattro showing 321mm rotor... Pads are a separate issue.

http://www.audiworld.com/model/a6/02/2_7_sedan.pdf

The '01 shows the same thing, as does the '03.

http://www.audiworld.com/model/a6/01/specs.shtml

http://www.audiworld.com/model/a6/03/03a62_7t.pdf

The 2.8 & 3.0l NAs have 288mmx25mm rotors. As far as I can find, no 2001+ A6 has ever had 215mmx25mm rotors.

Again, I'm not trying to argue, but you wanted help from the Audi knowledgeable, and this is what I believe to be true. Unfortunately, the specs do not detail caliper and pad configuration. A phone call to one of the vendors I listed will probably get you more answers.

[sperry]

I'm not too concerned about the rotors. I'm jsut trying to find the right pads. The sites I looked at list both rotors and both pad configurations. As far as I can tell, the 4 pad setup went on both sized rotors, while the 8 pad setup only went on the larger rotor.

And I think I screwed up my numbers at some point above. I don't think I ever saw a 215x25... just 288x25 and 312x25. If you go back and look at my previous posts, you can tell I'm just pulling the numbers out of my dyslexic ass. Basically in my mind there's a 2xx and 3xx sized rotors, and I was making up the rest of the numbers. What I should have done was measure the rotor itself when I was looking at it, but at the time I was under the impression that the smaller rotors *only* came with the 4 pad setup, so just noting the number of pads would give me the rotor size.

Either way, I think I'm just gonna tell Kristen to top off the fluid, and see if the light goes out. If there truely are pad sensors (and I did see wires going to the calipers) then she can drive until they go on.

[cody]

Hey Sperry, just top off the fluid.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Hey Sperry, just top off the fluid.

Speaking of fluid... I just rememberd that I've got your case of fluid still sitting in my garage. You wanna pick that up sometime this week?

[cody]

Sure Mang! I PM'd you my number days ago...I'm free in the evenings.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Sure Mang! I PM'd you my number days ago...I'm free in the evenings.

Really? I must have missed it. I'll give you a call tonight about it.

[cody]

Sounds good.