Brake shudder?

[GraRS07]

Need to book car in for service as on light braking I get a vibration through steering wheel. Discs may be warped. Pads OK.

This has obviously happened to others but how did you go about approaching Audi regarding the problem, being covered under warranty, or not!

[moog]

Hi,

I had something similar a couple of months ago, although it turned out that there were patches of corrosion on the discs rather than any warping.

These were replaced under warranty, the only issue being that the dealer could not guarantee up front that the warranty claim would be accepted, so I had to pay, with a refund to be made if the claim was accepted.

Not sure how much difference (if any) it made, but I made the dealer aware from the start that I would take an extremely dim view of a problem like this not being covered by warranty.

Rgds.

[approved]

concur with above, although i have no experience of audi directly, brakes are generally deemed as consumables.

more companies ( merc and bmw for sure) would look at car, age, mileage and general condition of item and then work somethng out on a goodwill basis..

[UNI555]

Read on here that Audi have a policy to replace discs foc, but only once per car, if they are warped, rather than just worn out.

[P_G]

It looks like the discs I have just had put on three weeks ago are warped. Have bee told no more through warranty or goodwill, so I am trying through Audi parts warranty since I only bought them 5 weeks ago. Otherwise I kept my old set and am researching where I can get them skimmed.

It is for me the only blight on a good car, Brembo have a lot to answer for on this. That's four sets of front disks and two rears in 50K miles and it wouldn't be so bad if I used them, but since most of my miles is motorway they don't get used that much and the car stands at night in gear with the handbrake off.

[approved]

to go through that many sets though, you must brake hard and late if your not doing much in the way of spirited driving?

4 sets and audi are just going to blame your driving style surely?

[klauster]

getting same problem again with my brakes, vibration under slight braking, i will try to clean them and see if it helps, also worth checking your alignments, Audi checked my disks and say they are ok

[P_G]

to go through that many sets though, you must brake hard and late if your not doing much in the way of spirited driving?

4 sets and audi are just going to blame your driving style surely?

Afraid not, I have been on the ADI course and hardly use my brakes at all, in fact at speed I use in gear / engine braking. I do not drive any differently in this car as to my S4 or S3 and never had these issues with either car.

When I do hard stops it is few and far between and they should be able to withstand occasional use. There is one car at my local dealer that has been in for 8 sets of front discs and has only 20K on the clock, and only 500 miles on the last set so are you saying that is driving style also?

[PetrolDave]

There's certainly no consistency - I've done over 30k miles (and I don't drive like a granny) and still have the original discs and pads.

I too use engine /gear braking - I was taught to drive that way and to look ahead and anticipate, so hard braking is rare for me but sustained light braking is the norm.

[approved]

bizarre the consitency between different sets..

audi should stand on for that reason alone.

start banging on about the goods not being fit for purpose and your consumer rights...i'm fairly confident they'll sort it if you do it loud enough.

good luck

[Outtlaw]

Im in the same boat as all you, brake shudder through the steering, so annoying. Anyway had new front discs and pads changed 5000miles,now same problem and only use light braking, been told Audi wont do another set under warranty so next time im in there im going to ask them to recomend an alternative disc and pad as there is no point in sticking with oem. Peter

[duud40]

Is the vibration at low speeds of high frequency? (also does it sound like an old train is pulling in? ).
The question is , do you feel the steering wheel movement frequency increas with car speed? . Warped discs give a gentle side to side movement while the other phenomenon frequent with the rs4 braking system gives something of a violent shudder .
Warped discs will give steering wheel movement with either hard or light braking.
The other thing I guess happened (because i`m not sure) is that pad material has fused to the discs and made it just thick enough to make the system resonate under light braking. The oem pads have 6 metal rods inserted in the material , when about half of the pad material has worn away these rods come into contact with the discs making grooves as they rub against the discs , this accentuates the shudder .

Anyway I had both symptoms (sideway movement without sound specific to warped discs and shudder with sound specific to either discs being just a bit thicker in one place or corrosion or whatever the hell is causing it ) and dealt with them by fitting ferodo ds 2500 pads. No brake fluid change, not even calipers off for an inspection. Just a half hour of diy and 250euro for 2 sets of pads. I broke the pads in slowly (at this time the shudder was gone but slight sideways movement was still there) then after finishing the break in period and bedding the pads to the discs I took her on the highway and did an emergency stop from about 200 km/h .This got rid of the problems and now it`s in great shape . And I didn`t have to change discs for the perverse price of 1000 euro .

[P_G]

See mine is OK at low speeds and light braking, the shudder comes from high speeds and mide to heavy braking and then when pressing the peddle to judder goes but the car is pitching to the nearside on straight non cambered road.

I am giving it to Audi to lok at, in the meantim I kep my old disks to be skimmed. It isn't the rears as the handbrak test reveals no judder from the rear so it is definitely the fronts again. I suspect Brembo are using Chinese steel for these which is known to be poor grade or recycled and it isn't up to the job.

[iana74]

See mine is OK at low speeds and light braking, the shudder comes from high speeds and mide to heavy braking and then when pressing the peddle to judder goes but the car is pitching to the nearside on straight non cambered road.

Pretty much exactly the same as mine was, new discs on the front have cured the braking vibration. It really shouldn't be happening so soon though. My driving is mostly "easy" motorway miles too.

Had an alignment check and wheel balance also, not at Audi though, they didn't bother with that.

[P_G]

Having had the chance to take the wheels off last night one thing I did notice is that the retaining screw to secure the disc to the hub at the front is missing. It allows a great deal of movment of the disc (you can move it wih your hands), albeit this is eliminated when the wheel is put on and the wheels bolts tightened. Not being too technically orientated, could this cause virbration when braking as it always appears to judder through the wheel from the front left which is the one with the retaining screw missing?