Brake disc & pad replacement?
 

When the time comes to to replace the discs & pads (which it usually does with regular monotony it would seem) is there any advantage other than price of using aftermarket parts such as EBC etc?

I am usually an Audi man through & through but am considering a shift to quality 3rd party parts.

A friend of mine replaced his discs on his S8 with 3rd party replacements that were drilled, grooved and had what appeared like anodised aluminium hubs(?) that not only looked the part but should withstand corrosion as the look of rusty disc hubs (and callipers) is something I am becoming more & more intolerant of!

Which brings me neatly onto another question...can anyone recommend what I might do with the callipers with regard to polishing, painting, powder-coating etc. and maybe recommend a quality company to carry out the work?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

One of the many claimed benefits by EBC is less brake dust compared to OEM. I am running genuine Audi pads/discs on my 3.0TDI D4 and they are very dusty.
I'd be tempted to give EBC a go in the hope they really reduce brake dust.
They are unlikely to be an more expensive than OEM given the crazy prices Audi charge for Discs & Pads.

Do Textar list an e-pad for it? They claim higher performance and lower dust than OE.

I've had very poor results from EBC. Red stuff are pretty horrid from cold and barely up to the job when hot (I set my last ones on fire). Yellow stuff might work better, but tear the discs badly so you'd have to change discs and pads together every time, which gets pretty expensive.

The only alternatives that I could find in the past were ATE, Brembo and Bosch branded parts. ATE & Brembo would be decent quality in my experience, I never came across Bosch branded brake parts before.

I'd agree - EBC red is simply awful apart from solely track use and the yellow is too agressive for normal usage :tuttut:

What about EBC Ultimax 2.0? They are zero metal and rated GG. 90+% of pads on the market are rated FF or lower.
I personally think EBC ultimax and reds are fine these days but were ropey in various ways years ago. I run reds at the moment they are conversly only rated FF but do make a lot less dust, I only wouldn't buy them again as they are not worth £200 for the whole car compared to £100 I usually pay.

At my service in August I was advised front discs were corroded on my 2010 4.2tdi and now pads warning has just come up.
Reading back I see the discs are a specific design. I can get them changed fixed price at Audi for £600 is it a lot cheaper at Indies does anyone know. I've phoned and emailed the guys at Audi VWS in Harrow but guess they are very busy ATM and I don't use any other Indie.

I think fixed price is probably cheaper than the parts, aftermarket choices were non-existent when I last checked.

Worth getting a comparative quote, as I’ve been out of the D4 game for a little while now :ROFL:

Thanks Paul. Yes the fixed price appears to be £525 for front pads and discs, I've had a quote from the guys at Harrow now and it's significantly more expensive with them. I'd best get it booked in at local Main Dealer

They will also fit wiper blades for less than the parts counter will supply them :ROFL:

Not sure if it's just cosmetic work you want on the calipers but if it's for a refurb use these

https://pro-calipers.co.uk

Just seen today Audi Fixed Price Services have gone up. Front pads and discs up from £525 to £875. Ouch.

Yikes well that just means even less people will use them for that now then as well, ridiculous! :(

It's a huge increase as you say but still cheaper than I was quoted by the Indie guys in Harrow. I have been told there was a massive hike in parts prices which is why the fixed price has increased so much. I've also just had the sports diff throw a warning light so thats made my week.

My sports diff throws a warning light now and again. Particularly after a long drive all ok (with stops), then get home for half and hour, pop to the shops and ping, then goes on. Gone by the morning. Also prone when very wet/damp which makes me think its a cable/connection rather than a genuine fault. I may get around to it in the summer and since I don't take it round the nurburgring every weekend it's not a problem.Yet.

On the subject of discs and pads though, a Quick ebay brings....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...discs&_sacat=0

£36 pads TEXTAR is a brand I know of
https://textar.com/

£86 a pair of brand new discs
The disc manufacturer has been around 50 years
https://www.apecbraking.co.uk/Company/About.aspx

Doesn't seem unreasonable. An Indy wouldn't bankrupt you fitting them.
Would OEM steel be better?Hmmm doubt it. If it fits and is balanced and flat it will probably be OK.
Would OEM Pad be better? well that is a question. Textar is the OEM supplier to Tesla so not exactly chinese knock off's, I'd give them a go.
Thoughts welcome.

Yes, without a doubt. There are noticeable differences in the quality of the steel between OEM-standard discs and cheap alternatives.

OE, Brembo, Pagid are all much the same. They wear evenly and surface rust is just that and cleans off easily. For those of us with cars that don't go out much, the discs will rust due to rain and the UK climate. High quality discs will clean off quite easily and not damage the pads doing it. As the discs wear, the surface tends to stay flatter and the pads are less likely to wear grooves in to it so a set of discs can easily last for 3 or even 4 sets of pads (unless you go to Audi who change both every time).

Cheaper discs made of cheaper steel with more impurities rust much faster and that rust eats pits in to the surface. Those pits retain rust as they're not cleaned off by the pad and so they rust more easily. The rust is also coarser and so eats in to the pad surface. The pads can also wear grooves in to cheap steel more easily so the discs end up looking like the surface of a record and can also be quite noisy. Cheap discs last maybe 2 sets of pads if you're lucky, but by then they will be pretty ugly. I've also found that pad contamination due to water retention after washing is worse with cheap discs.

Brembo, Pagid, Textar, TRW, ATE are all tier 1, equivalent to OE and my go-to brands. Not only do they last longer, but most of them come with surface coatings to retain their appearance which is important on high end vehicles like ours.
A T1 disc could be left on a hibernating car outside over winter and be cleaned up to 99% with a wire wheel on a grinder. You wouldn't be able to tell.

Mintex, QH, Borg & Beck, Delphi, Febi - tier 2. Decent aftermarket. Won't last as long as tier 1, but ok. Plain steel so the hubs will rust quickly. I don't have experience of Apec but I suspect they belong here.
A T2 disc left over winter will clean up to 50%. There will be pitting on the surface and discolouration where the rust was. The pads will have left a noticeable mark on the surface. It would need to be driven for a while to shine up the surface but it won't be as smooth or effective as before. The section where the pads were will be more 'grabby' than the rest and could lead to brake wobble.

Eicher, anything from GSF, own-brand stuff you've never heard of - tier 3. Made from finest recycled Chinesium. I really wouldn't.
A T3 disc left over the winter goes in the scrap pile.

I've concentrated here on the most visible aspect of different grades of disc, but also consider that higher quality steel conducts heat more efficiently too. Given that the brake system functions by turning kinetic energy (movement) in to thermal energy (heat), the disc's ability to disperse that energy has a direct impact on how effective the braking system is. Does it matter on a diesel A4 that just goes to the shops or the school run? Probably not. On a 2-ton V8 rocket couch, I'll go for T1 every time.

:)

Thanks for that info, it's really helpful to understand your use case and experience.
My experience (regardless of the car) is the pad choice is vital but stick to OEM or your suggested Tier 1 list and you'll usually good.
Turns out (with a bit of googling) they don't really make discs out of steel, they are grey cast Iron GG-204 (unless you have the S8 ceramics!). It, like any commercial alloy has standards. I'm not saying a backstreet Chinese set won't be made from recycled bicycles but they will mostly be made of the same thing.
I don't over-winter a car and never have (unless you talk about the Lancia Beta that slowly dissolved in front of my eyes-ahem). I drive them so the long term build up you see is not a problem for me. Obviously buying a new set every time you take the car out would be be inconvenient.
I'd be very interested to see the quality of the casting and subsequent machining for any disc vs OEM. eg sharpness of the cast, number of fins, % of disc material to fin thickness etc.
If you don't over winter the car, don't do track days or daily alpine passes and the discs look OK from a manufacturing point of view I'd try them, especially if they are manufactured in the EU. What is the price of a set of D4 Audi OEM front discs and pads?

That's interesting. Mine started about 8 weeksago lasted for about a fortnight and seemed to come on for alternate journeys. Then all went quiet ..... But has started again. I've been told it's likely to be the oil and temp sender's and that there is a Repair kit for them

There is a very helpful detailed explanation of the sports diff fault on here. Including pictures. It's one of two sensors. Very hard to reach need a special socket. Don't change both sensors at once, anyway check the threads. For update purposes mine is on for now, sometimes...

Thank you Funkmeister I have seen the post. I had a sensor replaced at the weekend and all seems well so far. Pads and discs also changed along with bulb to rectify the error I had with my adaptive light.

Replacement sensors
 

Had mine done, both sensors, separately, but it still lost coding. My garage did the sensors but the coding was done by a local electronics guy who has all the factory gear. He quoted "If the A8 was more popular I'd do one a day". Anyway no sign of the warning light since done. Did it make a difference to the handling? I don't drive it like a teenager (often) so hard to tell. Glad it's done though.

disc pads, disc brakes and ECE Regulation 90
 

European legislation came into effect September 1999 titled ECE R90. It stipulates that all brake pads sold for use on vehicles manufactured after this date must be tested and comply to R90 standards. - basically this reg requires that the performance of front and rear disc pads used on the public roads within Europe must be as good as Original Parts - closing the door to cheap and nasty imported brake pads throughout Europe. This Regulation was updated in 2016 requiring brake discs to meet similar requirements - So provided pads and discs are stamped to say they meet the requirements, you now have the choice whether you buy to suit your wallet or that of the manufacturer!

Front Discs and pads change
 

So it was front disc and pad time. I had a very weird intermittent vibration from the front. I had convinced myself it wasn't the brakes because how could a set of discs warp cause a vibration sometimes and not others. Anyway changed them with PAGID discs and pads at a very reasonable £120(ish) all in from Eurocarparts who are not particularly known for their bargains so a welcome surprise. Turns out, yes it was the brakes causing the vibration as the new ones are super smooth braking under all circumstances. I took some photos of the old and new discs. The old ones were worn there was a couple of mm lip overall between both sides, Visually I wouldn't have called them ready for change but for the odd vibration. My pads looked almost new but were changed anyway. Note how different in design and vane thickness the old and new are. If anyone can identify the old ones it has a very distinct fluting around the inside and the vanes between both sides of the disc are very much thinner than the PAGID. Side by side I would have called the PAGID a much cruder design and rougher casing. If you recognises the old ones I couldn't see anything on them apart from an unreadable QR code. I would also say these failed prematurely and in a very odd intermittent way. I would not by choice, ever choose the old make again (whatever it is) and so far (only 1K) very happy with the PAGID. Also I didn't pick up on the old thread here about the ATE brakes. I have to say they don't make it easy I struggled until I found a mobile mechanic in Alabama on Youtube who was doing the brakes on his pastors A8 and showed how he cut down a 10mm to make a 9mm. On a Sunday afternoon I did the same thing, ground down a 10mm to a 9mm to take the pin/shafts out. Not really a fan Vs the Brembo system in terms of easy of brake change, snapping the pads in place and all. It's not a massive chore once you know how, it's just the Brembos on my D2 are SOOO much easier and pads can be done using a leatherman without any special tools. If anyone recognises the old discs I'd be interested to know what make they are.

About 6 months ago, i replaced all my brake discs and pad to Brembo OE for around £350 all together including wear indicator sensors.

I believe Genuine Audi discs for the front brakes and pads are made by ATE and the rear Discs and pads are made by TRW.

Hi All

I have 4.0 2016 S8 that needs new discs and pads in the next couple of months. I see Audi charge £1395 for front and £649 for rears. I checked with 4 Rings Dartford, they quoted £1116 for fronts and £618 for rears. The only labour they charge is 1.5 hours on each.
Looks to me that Audi have a hold on the prices, Brembo front replacements for my GTR cost about £450 each....?
Is there a way to get these cheaper? I am only considering the T1 - Brembo or similar....

Thanks a lot!