What Price - Brakes

[danclyon]

Hello all,

I *don't* think they will need doing at this service, no matter what the inspection report said at the last service when I took delivery of the car - but I'm keen to get a feel for the general experience with the cost of brakes on the A4 1.9 TDi 130 (Avant if it makes a diff).

I believe ATE make VAG groups standard stuff that goes on the "normal" cars. If so, is there actually any diff between ATE and Audi OEM other than the box and doubtless a tiny little painted set of 4 rings?

Don't get me wrong the originals on the car are very good - just if they are main ******* prices I'm expecting a heart attack when the time/price comes.

Any thoughts or guidance on good/bad and what sort of costs are involved on the fronts/backs??

On the last car we had replacing the OEM with Ferodo pads and Brake Engineering discs made a huge diff to the wear profile but unless I've got a good reason (other than financial/performance) I don't usually shift away from OEM - but if the ATE are identical I get the feeling they will be substantially chaper than those from the ********...

Thanks,
Dan.

[Turbokiisseli]

ATE makes alot of the Audi "OEM" brake discs, so they're just as good.

I got a set of Zimmermann 288x25mm ventilated discs with EBC greenstuff pads from Ebay.de for about 210EUR delivered to my door. Performance is pretty much the same as with standard brakes, but the perforated discs just look so much better! :)

[danclyon]

ATE makes alot of the Audi "OEM" brake discs, so they're just as good.

I got a set of Zimmermann 288x25mm ventilated discs with EBC greenstuff pads from Ebay.de for about 210EUR delivered to my door. Performance is pretty much the same as with standard brakes, but the perforated discs just look so much better! :)

How do you find the Greenstuff pads? I've read good and bad things about them. I'm not a heavy braker so the OEM or ATE would probably be just fine, but if there are other options I'm open to explore......I read a lot about greenstuffs and some of the disc manufacturers and heat damage/glazing/warping on the old car - as we were going to use GreenStuffs on that so it sort of put me off...

Cheers
Dan.

[Turbokiisseli]

I have only had the Greenstuffs for about 1500km now. They work quite well, but the brake disc does get hotter during braking since the pad doesn't absorb any heat at all. This is both a good thing and a bad thing since this way the heat is not transferred to the brake fluid via. the calibe, but you do risk warping your discs if you brake hard and hit a puddle while the disc is still got.

Greenstuffs don't leave brakedust on the rims either :)

[thefreak]

Wouldn't touch greenstuffs with a bargepole. had several bad experiences with them disentegrating, and the ammount of dust you get from them is rediculous. I know other people who've had similar problems too.
Redstuff ceramic were a very good performance upgrade, and had very good bite from cold.

My personal experiences were I fitted a new set to my FTO, bedded them in correctly, a week later I heard screeching, they were down to the backing plate after a week of normal driving.
Another set were fitted prior to a trackday. they lasted 5 laps around an airfield circuit.

[thechippy]

I have only had the Greenstuffs for about 1500km now. They work quite well, but the brake disc does get hotter during braking since the pad doesn't absorb any heat at all. This is both a good thing and a bad thing since this way the heat is not transferred to the brake fluid via. the calibe, but you do risk warping your discs if you brake hard and hit a puddle while the disc is still got.

Greenstuffs don't leave brakedust on the rims either :)

I agree, leave them well alone. If you just want to replace the pads only, then look into Pagid brakes. I use them on my 550 Maranello, as the full upgrade for ceramics is a ridiculous price. Make sure to bed them in correctly. You can find them on Google and print out the bedding in instructions too. Pagid made a huge difference.

[thefreak]

Used Pagids in the past too and was quite impressed with them, but again, they were a bit dusty. This was 3 or so years ago so they may have modified the compound since then to reduce it.
Would anyone be interested in a cheap 4 pot upgrade? :)

[igand2]

i got in my 02 1,8tq avant the complete fornt set from pagid (discs+pads) for 120 euro (athens greece) and changed them myself. the only hassle was that the discs were stuck and needed an "extractor" tool that i didnt have and needed to borrow ..