S3 Brakes

[rdj_s3_quattro]

cheers,

yeah it was taken to non Audi garage.

they charged me £170 for discs and pads but they still feel pants! feel like i have been cheated out my money! I honestly can't believe std S3 brakes are as poor as mine! my father's std dieslel A3 (think its '05 plate) stops MILES better than my S3!!! I just can't understand why an A3 brakes better than an S3??? surely there must be somethin wrong wiv my brakes?? especially when an S3 is easily capable of 150mph (mines 7 yrs old and does 140 no sweat!!)

its a real shame, poor brakes spoil any performance car! Brakes are one of the most beneficial upgrades you can make to a car's performance!

What does everyone think to the Porshe 4 pot conversions i've seen?? or any aftermarket caliper conversions?? I fancy brembo but these are over £1500 i believe???

[rdj_s3_quattro]

cheers,

yeah it was taken to non Audi garage.

they charged me £170 for discs and pads but they still feel pants! feel like i have been cheated out my money! I honestly can't believe std S3 brakes are as poor as mine! my father's std dieslel A3 (think its '05 plate) stops MILES better than my S3!!! I just can't understand why an A3 brakes better than an S3??? surely there must be somethin wrong wiv my brakes?? especially when an S3 is easily capable of 150mph (mines 7 yrs old and does 140 no sweat!!)

its a real shame, poor brakes spoil any performance car! Brakes are one of the most beneficial upgrades you can make to a car's performance!

What does everyone think to the Porshe 4 pot conversions i've seen?? or any aftermarket caliper conversions?? I fancy brembo but these are over £1500 i believe???

[Space Cadet]

Unfortunately I think you need to cut your losses and unfortunately junk the discs and pads. I know that’s easy for me to say but **** happens and you obviously want to sort your your brakes out.

Take my advice and invest in some decent quality, i.e. top brand discs and pads, the like of Tarrox or Brembo or the new EBC ‘USR’ discs and some decent pads, the like of Mintex or Pagid, the Pagid RS4 pads are wicked, they squeal a little at cold but get some heat into them and literally abuse them and they’ll be fine.

A great combo is the EBC ‘USR’ disc and RS4 pads; you will be head butting the dash every time you brake (I had this on my Elise).

If you’re considering the Porsche set up, you obviously are reluctantly happy to spend a few quid – I truthfully wouldn’t bother, go for the USR/RS4 set-up front and back and get the braided hoses (Goodridge are the norm) and some upgraded DOT 5 fluid. You will obviously spend a few quid but will be a third of the Porsche set-up and not too far of the power.

Plus then you will have totally upgraded/renewed the brakes and can rest-happy.

I’ve actually had the Porsche 993 Turbo 4-pot set-up (there are a few sizes etc) and they’re made by Brembo, had them on a tuned-up Golf GTI MK4, they were awesome but come with various side-effects and high-costs, unless you were taking your S3 to mega bhp I would just upgrade with same-size discs and pads, fluid and hoses as above, plus also save yourself £1000.

Plus you might not actually be able to fit them behind your specific wheels – doesn’t just depend on size but the shape of the back of the spokes etc – I ended up going through two sets of almost identical RS4 reps after I had the Porsche/Brembo callipers fitted.

Plus without sounding sarcastic and please don’t take this the wrong way, but you/one pay for what you get, this time go to a proper trustworthy motorsport garage who know what they’re doing and get it done right this time.

Its not a chavy Nova 1.2, it’s a wicked S3, therefore it deserves being looked after and unfortunately because it’s a high-powered German car needs a few quid spent on it.

Whatever you do though – bed them in properly this time.

[rdj_s3_quattro]

Cheers, I'll give what u say a go.

Yeah just another question, you seem to know your onions!

Did the 210 S3 have different calipers to the normal A3 of the same age (approx 2000)??? (I mean as of standard factory set up)

The reason i ask, and importantly need to know is that i bought my car second hand from a garge... to cut a long story short I've had many problems with it within the 3 month warranty..usual case of dealer wouldn't pay for the work as its 'not covered' by warranty.

Anyways I left my car with dealer and asked him to fix clutch and bakes, in the end had to pay him over a grand for this work, so I am goin to civil court regarding this matter to claim my money back, as he has breached the sales of good act by not confomring to selling safe goods...

The point of the matter is a third party garage seems to think he has 'downgraded' my clapers to standard A3 ones, not S3 ones as were on it originally. i unfortuantely cannot remember what the calipers looked like when i took it in, i seem to remember they didn't look anything special or any different to std A3 ones, i may be wrong tho!

I just need to know what are the std S3 calipers (2000) as if he has down graded my calipers, along with down grading my discs (previously grooved and drilled) I will be claiming for this too,

many thanks

[Space Cadet]

Sorry mate, couldn’t comment, the only way to find out would be sweet-talking a guy at the service desk at an Audi garage and find out if the have different part numbers.

He might be able to do this over the phone, why not give it a try, just explain your problem and try and appeal to his better side.

I would guess that the S3 had bigger callipers and discs, for example my A3 3.2 has monster callipers and discs and from just looking at other models are defiantly different sizes.

This garage sounds unbelievable, not sure if I read that right!? how on earth would/could they replace your callipers without consulting you?

If though at the end of the day they’ve fitted some smaller callipers and you want/need to replace them then why not bite the bullet and go for the Porsche/Brembo’s rather than paying for new S3 callipers.

As mentioned, I wouldn’t take my car to anywhere else other than an Audi main dealer or a professional tuner, such as AMD, why not drop the car it at one, tell them the situation and ask them what’s not original. Perhaps you’ll spend an hour’s labour but at least you’ll know once and for all.

As mentioned, the original discs would not have been drilled and grooved, so if he has fitted OEM S3 discs then he can’t be held for this - you would have thought he would have mentioned it though.