Is a big brake kit needed ?

[Kiteral]

Having a bit of a hoon today

And on very heavy braking one of the front tyres skidded/locked up, traction control was on so the only thing I can think it was that kicking in.

Would a set of bigger brakes help ?

[MikeFish]

if you locked the wheel the brakes did their job. bigger brakes will stop the wheel even more efficiently, meaning it will lokc up even quicker. What would have helped you is better tyres. Perhaps warmed up more.
I assume ABS kicked in too?

[Kiteral]

Tyres are almost new Michelin super sports, ABS did not kick in.

What I think might of happenned is that the asr might of braked that wheel as it was quite an undulating road.

[MikeFish]

if you were braking and the wheel left contact with the floor then it will more than likely lock up. Not much you can do about that.

[Nickyboy]

I was thinking today bigger brakes could be an option.

I think RINGA has some big brakes, ask him his thoughts or do a search on here.

[535dboy]

if you locked the wheel the brakes did their job. bigger brakes will stop the wheel even more efficiently, meaning it will lokc up even quicker. What would have helped you is better tyres. Perhaps warmed up more.
I assume ABS kicked in too?

All if this!

[bam_bam]

I was thinking today bigger brakes could be an option.

I think RINGA has some big brakes, ask him his thoughts or do a search on here.

I think Mister Ring(er) has 'ramics...

[R1NGA]

I was thinking today bigger brakes could be an option.

I think RINGA has some big brakes, ask him his thoughts or do a search on here.

I think Mister Ring(er) has 'ramics...

Indeed correct Mr Bam, but quite by chance I have just had an enforced 3 week sabatical from the ceramics, as I had a leaky piston in the supposedly top-quality billet 6-pots, so both calipers had a refurb. During the break I went back to the stock S4 setup, so I can add pertinent comments to the question in fact.

For normal tooling around on the road, the standard setup is just fine. Definitely over servo'd, but pretty powerful and for the typical 15 mins of back road honing, all well and good. Slightly difficult to modulate during heal & toe (I have an old school, alloy, Paddy Hopkirk throttle pedal extension to make it easier....), but day to day perfectly fine. Despite being 345mm however, which in most people's worlds is big, they look puny under the 19" Rotors. That's the only downside for me, in terms of being the Mr Sensible S4 chap that Audi has as their core buyer....

.... So, ceramics go back on yesterday and I forgot how massive they look under those rims (400mm after all). The refurb'd calipers felt good and the pedal pressure has increased bizarrely, so they now no longer feel over servo'd . Typical stopping power for 'progressive" driving (as the IAM would say), remains the same, ie: just fine. But the difference comes when you need both ultimate stopping power and longevity on a track. Although they work great when cold, they get better with heat and work, so a stop from very illegal speeds on dry Tarmac (Pilot Super Sports) is eyeball poppingly awesome. And it simply keeps on working like that - on and on. We were at Bedford in the freezing wind and cold last Nov and I could do 10 or 12 laps before coming in, primarily as I was bored because all my mates had bailed out after about 4 laps. It was so cold that people stood around my wheels like they would a 3-bar electric fire, such was the heat being given off.

However, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and all that heat has to go somewhere. And it goes into the hubs and wheels and tyres and lifts the pressures to a ridiculous point (from 36psi to about 55 if you please), so ultimately you have to stop as the tyres just go to rubbish.

So, would I buy them again (or any BBK) if I hadn't have inherited these from the RS6? It depends whether I planned to track the car. If yes, then yes. If not, then probably not. Stick with the stock setup, fit something like DS2500’s, decent hoses and fluid and carry more speed into corners so you're not always on the anchors. Massive amounts cheaper that Ceramic too, I can tell you.....