$3000 for new brakes and rotors!?!?

[dankone]

I know expensive cars have expensive parts, but jeeez!

I brought my 07 RS4 into the Stealership to have my brakes looked at. They were squeaking really loud. Turns out nothing was wrong with them just wet or something.

They told me there was about 50% of my pads left and once these ones were done, I would need to replace my pads and rotors (back rotors begining to show signs of wear)

I asked for an estimate on the parts and labor to know what to expect. They wrote up an invoice for about $3000 USD! I am the second owner and car now has 43k on the clock.

something I def cannot afford. Any advice?

[Andyuk911]

This may sound harsh, but this is a high performance saloon, not a 2.0Tdi ..

[matthew.lewis2]

Not a lot of advice really, these may look like normal-ish Audis, but they are a specialised bit of kit.

For brakes check out a few recent threads, JHM is one manufactur that springs to mind for a more cost effective front rotor solution.

Otherwise, consider selling up, there are other costs around the corner in the years to come, clutches, DRC repairs/or replacment or Coilover suspension (once the warranty runs out). If brake running costs alone are too much, it may not be the car for you.

[zirconium]

Yep I agree, I am in the process of looking to buy one but doing my homework first. It's one thing buying it but another thing maintaining it!

Check this link

http://www.r32oc.com/group-buys/2955-pe ... p-buy.html

When I had a 2003 MK4 R32 Golf I was actively participating in the above, the guy who sells these is Element256 and his website is

http://www.ghostsquadgarage.com/

Send him a email and ask if he can provide you what you need, I am sure he can.

Shaun

[ChrisRS4]

For a main dealer, that sounds about the right sort of price.

[P_G]

Agreed, front disks and pads circa £1000 plus fitting, rears not much chepaer so all in all £2.2 -2.3K GBP. All prices quoted are from Audi, do some looking around and you will find a lot cheaper.

[sonny]

Was going to say that $3000 dont sound to bad lol

[P_G]

One thing I would say though, my dealer also said my pads were 50% worn but when I took them off to replaced warped discs they had worn very little. That is why you have pad limit monitors in them.

[dankone]

Well, guess I'll just have to bite the bullet when the time comes. Was sort of shocked by that. I thought I would ask here and see what you all thought...

[ghoonk]

I just got a set of JHM front rotor replacements for USD425. Jason at JHM has been nothing but extremely helpful with top class service. A set of PosiCentric brake pads shouldn't cost you much either, defo much less than USD3k.

[duud40]

It would be great to hear a review on the jhm front rotors

[klauster]

I need new front disks and I'm trying to decide whether or not to just go aftermarket and replace the whole front set up

[lengster1]

Im doing my fronts right now,got them all in for £650 foe OE stuff the discs would of taken another set of pads before replacement if the pads hadnt put unsightly grooves in them way before the warning light comes on!!!!!!!!!!!!

[P_G]

I just got a set of JHM front rotor replacements for USD425. Jason at JHM has been nothing but extremely helpful with top class service. A set of PosiCentric brake pads shouldn't cost you much either, defo much less than USD3k.

ghoonk, how are you getting on with your JHM rotors and posicentric pads. Somewhat unbelieveably my fronts have warped again and I am just about to change them over at the weekend with the set I have just had skimmed. I could keep doing this buit it is a PITA and I am at a point of contemplating changing the rotors and JHM are the likely choice as Willwood have said they are nowhere near having a kit ready for the RS4 and as much as rAudiguy has the 385mm front option, my fronts and rears are warping so it does not compeltely solve the problem.

Any update on the JHM rotors would be appreciated.

[Raith]

Dankone,

What kind of mileage do you have on your car? I have around 32k KM's on mine and my rear rotors and pads are just fine. If I were you, I'd take it for a second opinion. hopefully you'll only need to swap out the front rotors and pads.

if you're in the US you have a number of good options as good pricing for these parts are available (as well as some rather favorable shipping rates...some parts might even be free).

For the front rotors, I'd suggest contacting ECS tuning, the OEM replacements go for under $700 USD a set (check their pricing for rears if you need them as well... still very good).

Pads, go aftermarket. I suggest the centric Posi as well, direct OEM replacement. I got mine from RockAuto for under $100 USD for a complete set of front pads (8 pads) with wear sensors (rears are even cheaper).

So that brings you around $800 USD for the parts. Installation should take around 1.5 hours, depending on the shop you take it to get them installed, I don't think it would be unreasonable to get your new front rotors and pads installed for around less than $1200 USD. If you use very simple math and assume the rears would cost nearly the same as the fronts to replace, you're still looking at $2400 USD, which is a lot less than what the dealer quoted.

I'm going through the same thing at the moment and I'm based in Canada so these parts are a bit more expensive for me to get up here but it's still worth my while to shop south of the border. All in I'm looking at around $1300 CAD installed (new rotors and pads). My local stealership wanted ~$1800 CAD to swap the rotors only, OEM pads would be an extra $400 CAD + shop supplies. Just not worth it, especially since it's not covered under warranty.

Not sure if this helps but some food for thought.

Best.

David