Help!...Need advice on warped RS4 discs

[SimonC]

Surely I'm right in thinking this shouldnt happen on a 6month old, £55k car with only 4k miles on the clock!!! Any thoughts on what the problem might be? Audi wouldnt have replaced the discs and re-used the pads... would they???

Yes you are right. My car lives exactly the same life it always did (Mainly long journeys and it tends to rest for two weeks or more) and my brakes have been faultless for over a year now - that would have equated to several sets of discs before the fault was inadvertantly removed.

Hadwins did confess to re-facing my pads. An unwise decision under the circumstances - nothing like introducing another fault during the process. I do not, however, believe this exasperated the underlying problem.

There's nothing overly complex about these brakes - the discs are bigger than most cars and the Brembo calipers are less prone to sticking than sliding (common) calipers. I have over-worked brakes on many ordinary cars and never experienced warpage before. I had a Range Rover with a badly sticking caliper once. Drove it approx 200 miles home smelling very bad (the brake that is). No vibration.

If you're beasting the brakes enough to destroy the discs in such a short distance then this should show on your pads and tyres too.

If the problem comes back, suggest they replace discs, pads and calipers and ALL of the fluid (for free, of course). Also get hold of Vagcom and make sure all of the wheel speed sensors give the same reading. And check the steering sensor reads straight-ahead when it should.

[Lancia]

Interesting. Last time I replaced mine they were heavily worn. After purchasing the car from Audi second hand. You could see the wear marks from the Rivets. Audi CS did replace them at half trade price and no labour after the dealer refused initially. Still as pointed out a bit of a design fault. This is the same with the Lambos also.

So it sounds like we use a different pad to the Paduits or replace them at around 50% wear. Would this sound fair.

[Adam]

my discs are giving vibration and it is not very noticeable on braking. APS said the discs were visibly warped. My car has only done 8000 miles over just under a year, never been on track and I have never had to emergency brake or activated the ABS so go easy on brakes. I am taking the car for its first service at the beginning of March but should I wait until then or go now?

I won't be paying as my discs are covered under the Audi fixed cost maintenance plan.

[willr]

To recap, my B7 RS4 Avant is 6 months old and has 4500mi on the clock. It's been back to the dealer twice now with severe brake judder, and yesterday, I got the car back from the second visit with it's third set of front discs and pads.

Following much scratching of heads and dicussion between the dealer and Audi UK (it's only been 1500miles since they were last replaced) the dealer carried out "lots of tests" all of which were "inconclusive". I did establish that the disc run-out indicated warping and hot-spots, but the hub run-out was fine.

The result is yet another set of new brakes and an instruction from Audi UK for the dealer to carry out an involved process for bedding in the new pads. I can only infer from this that they can't work out what the cause of the problem is - or they're convinced I drove like a lunatic immediately after the last set of discs were replaced and now don't trust me to bed them in myself!

We'll wait and see... but I have a nasty feeling I'll be back at the dealers in 3 months - and looking for some comp from Audi UK. I'm convinced this is a symptom of a bigger problem.

[alex_123_fra]

To recap, my B7 RS4 Avant is 6 months old and has 4500mi on the clock. It's been back to the dealer twice now with severe brake judder, and yesterday, I got the car back from the second visit with it's third set of front discs and pads.

Following much scratching of heads and dicussion between the dealer and Audi UK (it's only been 1500miles since they were last replaced) the dealer carried out "lots of tests" all of which were "inconclusive". I did establish that the disc run-out indicated warping and hot-spots, but the hub run-out was fine.

The result is yet another set of new brakes and an instruction from Audi UK for the dealer to carry out an involved process for bedding in the new pads. I can only infer from this that they can't work out what the cause of the problem is - or they're convinced I drove like a lunatic immediately after the last set of discs were replaced and now don't trust me to bed them in myself!

We'll wait and see... but I have a nasty feeling I'll be back at the dealers in 3 months - and looking for some comp from Audi UK. I'm convinced this is a symptom of a bigger problem.

I completely know where you're coming from. In the end, I just sold the car back to audi as I don't have the time or the patience to go through the ball-ache of finding out what the issue is. Most dealers are unfortunately inept and apart from monkey-style fitting of bolt-on parts, they will be unable to identify, let alone rectify the issue.

[Marcus-RS4]

Got my front discs changed today under warranty... all fine, but Audi CS are trying to make me pay for the pads! Considering the original pads had lots of life left, and I am only having to replace them due to a faulty part, I feel this is an unfair charge... anyone else been made to pay for their pads??