Brake pad sensors

[jbourne]

Have you tried draining the engine oil yet?

I think the explanation is that they're trying to get their dealers to sell the cars cheaply but make loads and loads and loads of money on maintenance.

Yeah I’ve been exposed to the oil stuff. I had an indie do it but I printed them the procedure manual because they had no idea. Then I had to replace a headlight bulb.

[welwynnick]

They say to attach a battery charger. Is this really required? I normally do my brakes in an empty parking lot...

Yes, you have to have a battery charger for both the car and the VCDS computer.

I know what you mean.

But Just think of the extortionate dealer costs you would save. They do charge a lot for a few brake pads.

in fairness, handbrakes are always a bit painful, and most people mess it up by using the cable adjustment to set the pads/shoes.

nick

[jbourne]

Read up on the procedure, looks like the benefit is that I can remove the rotors without removing the callipers. That’s a nice benefit. I’ll take it I guess.

Fronts aren’t as easy right? Callipers still have to come off to take the rotors off? And I assume I still need a calliper spreader tool to push the pistons back?

[Jim Haseltine]

Yep, front calipers off and you'll need a spreader. The caliper bolts are 195Nm (if I recall correctly) so not easy to tighten.

Two pad sensors at the front, none at the rear. I bypassed my sensors after they gave no warning that the pads were low but then gave up while I was fitting them to new pads, throwing the warning as soon as I started the car.

[jbourne]

Thanks. Noted on the torque, I'll double check that to be sure.

I'm really confused on ECP/CP4L pad options. For fronts, they have two ATEs: 101441785 and 101221235. For rears, they have 101441245 and 10144154C "ceramic" (but not for ceramic brakes). It looks like the first ATEs do not include mounting bolts or shims, whereas the second ATEs and Pagids do, and the Brembos also include mounting shims.

Any advice on these pads? I considered Ferodo DS2500s, but I won't track the car until the next set of pads, so I feel like going cheaper is a good option - for now.

[edit] by the way, are C5 RS6 rear brake pads 1:1 compatible or is it a wild card and I better not get into it?

[Ed Chappell]

For those experiencing pad warnings intermittently.
The most likely problem is dirty connector pins on the connectors at each front wheel.

The system is very simple.
There is a power feed via a pull up resistor in the dash panel on the yellow wire on the passenger side and both sensors in the pads (or shorting links) are in series and provide a path to earth on the drivers side back to the dash panel.
If either of the connectors are dirty or corroded then the pad sensor light comes on about 1 second after a key on. The system stays active all the time the ignition is on so can signal when you are driving too.

The male and female connectors are difficult to clean adequately so use plenty of contact cleaner and a needle to scrape the debris away.
Ideally the resistance of the connections should only be a few ohms.
As the resistance increases over time the noise immunity of the system decreases and the system becomes intermittent, especially with vibration.
I hope this helps someone.