13,000 miles warped disks - yes another one....

[P_G]

I'm sure you have done your research, however there can be other mitigating factors.

I use my car as a daily driver on dual carraigeways so have to do several medium braking stops along the way due to traffic flow or entering / leaving junctions. However doing 80+ miles a day means that they also get a high degree of cooling time. Like said my troubles were all when I had OEM Pagids. The times I did clean the holes out the inner disc holes were so clogged that even a drill bit did not clean them out and round them was heat 'spots'. You are right this also led to pad transfer. However I always park my car in gear with the handbrake off so there cannot be pad transfer then, when wasing my car I'll take it out to clean the discs up and since fitting EBC Yellowstuff pads I have not had any issues.

I was advised by my dealer I may not be using my brakes enough but when I explained my driving pattern they agreed it was OK. They have had an RS4 in that had brake judders every 500-1000 miles on it, replaced discs and pads 9 times (5 of those all round) and the car is now with Audi UK for investigation with the dealer having followed the Audi GmbH bedding in procedure every time. They even kept the car one time, put the miles on the clock and it had brake judder under their test conditions.

No doubt what you say can happen but like said there can be other factors. Cheap and nasty Chinese steel has been sourced as another issue much like the problems with differing Goodyear F1's European manufactured ones are fine, Chinese compound rubber has lead to imbalancing and blow out issues.

[PetrolDave]

RUBBISH.

Thank you for your considered response - not.

Your post was a tad assumptive

My post was based on 35 years driving experience, and fast road driving training as past of my employment at an automotive design consultancy.

If it's good enough for former F1 and Group C drivers then it's good enough for me, even if it doesn't suit you.

[StuBee]

Well mines has got a judder after only having the car for 2 months! Feels alot like when i warped my disks on my Evo 9.

Front discs and pads were replaced in April by Audi in Ayr and by Edinburgh in July so i'm not convinced its the discs and pads. Its off in tomorrow to be looked at along with a few other things (front ashtray cover, rubber thing from the boot had fallen off, running rather rich, some sort of battery plate recall)

[lengster1]

Brembo discs seem a little soft imo,i wasnt happy to see a wear lip appearing in only a few thousand miles of fairly steady driving,the brakes are good but have too much initial bite and way too much dust off standard pads,threads like this and the cost of replacement discs and pads is the main reason my car has not seen the track,ive just got hold of a very nice cupra r and whilst researching it came across info saying poor brembo discs/pads that only last approx 10k so its seems the rs4 is not alone,ive never warped a set but do drive using techniques mentioned on here

[sonny]

Brembo discs seem a little soft imo,i wasnt happy to see a wear lip appearing in only a few thousand miles of fairly steady driving,the brakes are good but have too much initial bite and way too much dust off standard pads,threads like this and the cost of replacement discs and pads is the main reason my car has not seen the track,ive just got hold of a very nice cupra r and whilst researching it came across info saying poor brembo discs/pads that only last approx 10k so its seems the rs4 is not alone,ive never warped a set but do drive using techniques mentioned on here

Yep, the new Clio cup as Brembos too that you can cook off if riding the brakes for too long. I found this to be the case too on the RS, esp as its a heavy car. short jabs of the brakes if on the track seem to be the key.

[P_G]

I wouldn't have said Steve Sutcliffe is a bad driver either yet he's has his TT-RS discs changed for the exact same symptoms as well.

[ArthurPE]

driving 'style' and technique have a lot to do with it...
are there physical issues too? perhaps
but imo, to a large extent, once understood, they can be worked around or mitigated to some degree

my wife drives a fraction (1/5th) the milage I do, but goes thru twice as many brakes (pads/rotors)
a lot of town driving, plus eight full throttle or full brake, her car is digital, not analog

[philipwalker]

You should factor in corrosion......

Road salt and general poor weather can influence disc life.

[adsgreen]

Motorway driving can be bad - depending on how you drive you can be light in the brakes. It's worse as the wheel speed means the high spots heat up even quicker. My vx brakes were wrecked by mainly motorway miles. It's not the heavy braking on the sliproads ad you exit but more the little touches here and there to respond to other drivers.

Problem with short jabs at the brakes on track is that you don't give weight transfer time to happen so it limits how hard you can press the brakes.

[P_G]

Fine if that is the type of braking you do but not in my case. I'm not one of these that taps the brakes every 30 seconds because they can't read the road or anticipate traffic ahead. I'm ADA trained so leave plenty of timing, anticipation and only use brakes on the journey as a last resort. Application of brakes is progressive and uses the full travel of the pedal and very few times do I have to haul on the anchors to avoid hitting someone.

[sonny]

Problem with short jabs at the brakes on track is that you don't give weight transfer time to happen so it limits how hard you can press the brakes.

Of course, you would only use that style of braking if you knew how, and how to settle the car afterwards.

But, still no excuse as to why these discs get chewed up. Has anyone inspected there discs for hair line cracks appearing around the vent holes?

[lengster1]

I agree completely sonny,the lifespan of such large expensive brakes is way less than smaller braking systems on similar weight/size cars,checking service records of my b7 rs4 against b7 2.0 tdi shows the short lifespan of the rs4 brakes in comparison,the rs4 is faster of course but the amount of times its driven differently to the tdi is minimal on public roads yet the lifespan is massively different,main reason i believe is the discs are made of poor/soft material on the rs4

[adsgreen]

I agree completely sonny,the lifespan of such large expensive brakes is way less than smaller braking systems on similar weight/size cars,checking service records of my b7 rs4 against b7 2.0 tdi shows the short lifespan of the rs4 brakes in comparison,the rs4 is faster of course but the amount of times its driven differently to the tdi is minimal on public roads yet the lifespan is massively different,main reason i believe is the discs are made of poor/soft material on the rs4

What are the OEM pads made out of on the RS4?
If they have high ceramic content as some performance pads do then this results in a much harder and more abrasive than other conventional brakes. I ran some endurance pads for a race once and whilst they worked great they were almost completely ceramic based. They didn't wear at all but the discs were completely shagged after and they were pretty much new.
The fact that people are having more success with EB Yellow stuff pads could suggest that the OEM pads are simply to hard for the discs. Not a fault as such just poor pad/disc selection by audi.

[adsgreen]

Fine if that is the type of braking you do but not in my case. I'm not one of these that taps the brakes every 30 seconds because they can't read the road or anticipate traffic ahead. I'm ADA trained so leave plenty of timing, anticipation and only use brakes on the journey as a last resort. Application of brakes is progressive and uses the full travel of the pedal and very few times do I have to haul on the anchors to avoid hitting someone.

I'm not one of those drivers either but I do accept that on manic busy motorways (M25 is a god example) that it's very hard to completely anticipate everything as there are simply too many maniacs diving into gaps that are 1" longer than their car.
Not talking about hauling on the brakes as that is fine - its the gradual touches occasionaly needed to slowdown more than engine braking allows without changing down a few gears. Not saying a constant tap tap...
The problem is with large brakes that it takes only a fraction of contact to get a reasonable retardation and this can be a problem that on smaller brakes it doesn't affect.

[sonny]

The EBC yellow stuff has been OK however I have had a wear sensor come loose on one of them. The compound on the EBC is still leaving grooves on the discs too like the OEM Pagids, but less brake dust. So surely the EBC are a harder (larger grain) compound?