RS4 Disc replacement options

[K2]

My car has covered 72,000Kms and my local dealer has advised that the discs all round need changing. This is not a suprise to me as I brought the car in germany and know that it has covered some pretty fast autobahn driving, I was just wondering what my options were.
I have read through some of the posts discussing the AP and Movit brake kits, which are all very interesting, it seems that all who have converted have callipers changed as well as discs.
Is it posisble to fit Movit or AP cross drilled discs to standard callipers ?

[Doc]

If you wanted to simply change the discs then Gmbh drilled discs can be bought from Audi and still use the same calipers BUT you won't really see any significant improvement as the major weakness in the RS4 brakes are the calipers. Hence, the reason for changing from the OEM 2 pot to 4 pot or better aka AP, Movit, Sportec etc.

Several people on the forum have changed their braking set-up as you stated, so I'll let them offer their invaluable experience regarding degree of improvement etc etc

[Nordschleife]

Doc
Small point - the Stock callipers are 8 piston. In this case your main squeeze is wrong, more is not always better.

R+C

[don]

unless the pistons multiply... looks like only 2 pot OEM to me.

[Jani]

Well this is the first time Nordschleife is talking up RS brakes. Stock RS4 brakes are 2-pot. Or was that a joke, all together 8 pots in 4 corners

I did find GmbH's OK, in braking power. Some fading on the track, but not too severe. Just that they are noisy and wear really quickly. And they don't solve the issues with disc cooling either. These have been discussed in detail before, so I suggest browsing through the older topics. Stock ones are no good, GmbH is a bit better but noisy and weary. Proper brakes cost a lot to buy, but not so much to use -that would be my summary of the "wisdom".

[K2]

Thanks, I thought the callipers were two pot also.
The Gmbh option looks interesting, I will go though the older topics to find out more.
Hope I can find some pics there.

Jani, you mentioned that they were noisy. At present when i brake from high speed and hard the brakes are a bit noisy, I just thought that was an RS thing. What kind of noise did you experience with the Gmbh discs?, and presumably the pad wear was greater, or was that the pad and disc wear?

[Jani]

Hi K2,

pads and especially discs seemed to wear quickly. The yellow Pagid's that are a part of it are just so hard, that they punish the discs that run very hot.

The noisyness was more annoying in car parks and city. Or reversing. Just squeeled like a pig when braking gently, like the worst old banger. It might be more quiet if you had done serious braking from high speeds recently -the best excuse to stretch the RS a bit

A bit of a rumble in real braking as well, but that's more acceptable. Current Movit 6-pots also give some sound in proper braking, but are quiet in gentle braking. Plus don't fade, feel better, and seem to wear slower. Getting them bedded in takes time though.

[derdle]

I've recently put Movit 4-pots on the front and they are noisier than stock RS4 brakes but they do haul the car back from licence shredding speeds very quickly. From those high speeds they don't make anywhere near as much noise as the stock brakes ( a sort of painful growl like a jet engine on reverse thrust).

I suppose the stock brakes are perfectly adequate for the RS4 at normal driving speeds...but hey if that's the case get youself a Micra.

[simple1]

AP sixpots are also noisy, especially when braking from three figure speeds, but with new standard rear discs, boy does it stop well...........nearly collected an E30 M3 in the luggage bay the other day, he was not expecting the bus in front to stop, I was

[RS4ever]

If you fit quattro gmbh brakes DO NOT buy pads with them. They are Pagid yellows and will destroy your disks. Buy Pagid orange for the front and blue for the rear.

AP 6's at £2000 for the front are great but pointless if you don't intend to take the car on the track.

[simple1]

Beg to differ Mr Ever............
If you have flung an RS4 around country roads for as long I have, there is every point in fitting better brakes. While the standard brakes are enough for 'normal' road driving, they are certainly not that good for types of journeys that involve A and B roads even with just a tad of spirit thrown in......... cant count the number of times I have run out of brakes on the road over 65000 miles

[DaveP]

Totally agree....used to hate getting that 'Erm, the brakes don't seem to be slowing me down as much as my right foot says they should be' feeling...

[K2]

Looks like i will be making a few calls tommorrow, as a rather long road trip today has finished off the front pads,... orange warning light has appeared on the dash!
so I think i will start with VAG parts in swindon with the gmbh discs and pads as advised, unless any one can point me in another direction.
Thanks for all the advice, it is really appreciated.

[JohnBlade]

Yet another AP 6's fan.....how Audi sold a car capable of 155 mph 'plus' I'll never understand.Oh yes...saving costs !

[JohnBlade]

Capable of 155 mph 'plus' with sloppy bakes.....