Movit Ceramics Fit under 19" Titanium Rotors

[R1NGA]

It was with some trepidation that we offered up the wheels to the big brakes now fitted to my B8 S4 and at first it looked as though they weren't going to fit. I had gone to the expense of buying another set of wheels (5-Arm Rotors) to replace the 20-Spoke Audi/BBS Split-Rims - together with a new set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports - on account of the BBS's not having the clearance required. At a gnat's chuff shy of 400mmx40mm, these discs really are rather large.

But, they fitted and now provide the car with the sort of braking reserved for Le Mans racers - they really are rather good. They came off my C5 RS6 and now of course have a lot less weight to haul down, so they should work jolly well too. They are considerably lighter than the OEM 345mm S4 discs - the huge 6-pot billet calipers are also lighted than the horrid single-pot cast iron unit fitted as standard. All in all a good (if expensive, if you didn't already have the Ceramics in a box in the garage....) conversion - both dynamically and visually.

And having put some more miles on the car now, the exhaust note has deppened a little and the rasp as the revs stretch beyond 5000rpm is becoming addictive. The other "S4 Sound" thread might be stock after all...... These cars are great by the way!

Anybody want those originals - unmarked and with P-Zeros @5mm and 6mm tread?

[HYFR]

wow looks awesome!

you need the get the 'supercharged' wing badge with the black sqaure to go with your optics

the B8 S4 is a great great car ... just wait til they start putting out 400PS ... bye bye B7

[R1NGA]

You mean this one I assume....

This is the only external evidence of the Rotrex fitted to my Panda 4x4, which now has the ability to surprise people..... quite a lot!

[HYFR]

yes that one

that Panda must shift !

[R1NGA]

It does - was 59bhp/75torx, now 110bhp/100torx and less than 900Kg. Better in the snow than the S4 and almost as much fun, in a slower kind of way..... And remarkably only about a 5% hit on fuel consumption, so efficient are those little Rotrex units. TTS (who made the fitting kit for me) have a Rotrex solution of course for the RS4/5 4.2 that MRC helped develop and I can well believe the figures being passed about, as those things are really that good.

But with the brakes on the S4, together with the full Drive Select, I now have a car that is a very worthy replacement for the old RS6 and I am chuffed to bits.

[Nickyboy]

Those brakes are ridiculous. I thought the standard brakes were pretty good, can't imagine what these are like.

Regards to the exhaust note, I have heard a few times now that the FL note may be slightly different to the pre. I can't make an informed comment as haven't been in a pre FL.

[HYFR]

stock brakes are crap ! try some proper brakes then try the S4 brakes !

[Nickyboy]

Do you think you're Michael Schumacher or something? All I hear from you is how bad the S4 is. As only my third car I think it's rather good.

[HYFR]

LOL ... the S4 is a great car, I've had 2 !

but the brakes are crap compared to an RS product, but yes, they are probably better than other fast VAG products

[HYFR]

but i tell you worst brakes .... TT TDI ! my god, those brakes were boardering on dangerous!

[Nickyboy]

You'd hope the RS brakes would be better considering the cost difference. Guess you get what you pay for. One thing I have noticed is the brake pedal is much stiffer than the vrs on gentle braking. Passed 1000 miles today and I'm still not used to it.

[R1NGA]

Brakes are a hugely expensive component for car makers and the miserable Marketting bean-counters will do whatever they can to avoid having to fit something that works properly, if they aren't forced to. When the Jag XK-R (original supercharged version) was released, it used tiny 300mm brakes which wilted after a single lap of the Autocar test track. They should have been ashamed. No doubt they would argue that the target buyers of XK-R's don't drive like that....

..... which partly explains the S4 brakes, but remember that they are A) spec'd for what Audi think the average S car driver mioght reasonably be expected to do with them and B), they have to differentiate them from RS brakes and the increased cost of the cars. Each range has their target buyers and the S models will be aimed at different people than the RS cars - the latter want more noise and drama and agressive looks, where as S-Man is still expected to live by the mantra "the more you know, the less you show" or whatever tag line they used for those early Audi 200CD adverts in the early 80's.

Occassionally, a car comes along that exceeds expectations (and design parameters and target audience too) and I firmly believe that the current S4 is such a car. I've come from a very well developed C5 RS6 with over 530bhp and similar torx, Bilsteins and all manner of careful upgrades, but it wouldn't see which way the S4 went down anything other than an Autobahn, once that cheeky Dynamic button has been pressed.

Yes the ceramics are awesome and I look forward to taking it to the Ring for the (cars) first visit, as I think it could be one of the best I've had there !

[longdog]

Nice brake job there R1NGA! So far I don't have an issue with my S4s "crap" brakes but if I do track it I may well discover some fade but for day to day use they exceed the fit for purpose tag.
What I would say is that I'd be surprised if the standard RS4 stoppers perform much better than the S4s, that opinion comes from driving my B7 S4 and a mates B7 RS4 back to back. Both cars stopped well, the only difference was a bit more initial bite but less progression with the RS, he regularly tracked his and always commented on the fade suffered after a few hard laps.
One thing to bare in mind with the new RS4, Audi are selling this car as the 4 series flagship and as such people are buying it because they assume it's the best and as we have seen with the RS5 this is not always the case.