Brake squeal - Technical Bulletin

[KiwiRS4driver]

There have been a few posts on here about brake squeak/squeal - well I'm currently on a bit of journey in this regard with my local dealer and Audi NZ...

I fitted new rubber about six weeks back and asked them to check the brakes as I was getting a fair bit of squeak at low speed and light braking (e.g. rolling up to a red light, or in crawling traffic). The dealership said pads and discs were fine (28,000 km) and had given them a good clean which should have solved the problem. Well, it did for about 2 weeks and then it was back with a vengeance - sounded like all four corners and much worse than before.

So back to the dealer, who then informed me that there was a Technical Bulletin out on the brakes in my car (late 2014 manufacture). Some counterweights were sent out that apparently attach to the calipers to eliminate the noise. Sounded weird to me, but anyway, that's what was prescribed. Three days later the dealership still has the car and calls me to say they're still not happy with the result. Apparently the dealership is now in a "discussion" with Audi NZ about the need for "brake replacement" (not sure if that's just pads, or pads and discs, or more...) and who is to pay for it.

Meantime I have the car back and I can see why they're not happy - it was good for about 20km, then back even worse than ever. Now when I pull up to the lights, people around me start looking for the 20 year old garbage truck that's making all that awful noise!

Apparently I'll find out early next week what the solution is. I'll post again once I find out - but meantime would love to hear from anyone else who's had similar issues and knows anything about this "Technical Bulletin".

[innercry666]

I have a bit of brake squeal from one of my calipers which appears to have a piston that is slightly seized. Caliper and pads have been cleaned up but the issue I have is still there and the brake squeals slightly when braking at slow speed. I've not heard anything about a technical bulletin but I will be speaking to Audi about tomorrow so will mention it and see what response I get! I will let you know.

[Acprc]

Brake squeal seems to plague lots of the S and RS range. The RS3 is really bad for it. On my S1 it appears on one caliper only at low speed and the usual cure is a couple of huge stops. I have a theory that the squeal is from under use somehow (just my theory) as whenever I get them warm and have a few huge stops the issue goes away for a couple of months. They have previously been cleaned checked (for sticking pistons) and pad/disc thickness with no issues. Pads have also been replaced with OEM to no avail.

[KiwiRS4driver]

Well, I finally have an answer back. My local dealership has apparently been duking it out with Audi NZ about who should pay for the full front brake replacement which is what they've determined is required to eliminate the problem. Because I bought by car second hand from the local Audi dealer with no service plan, Audi NZ won't cover it even though there's a technical bulletin out - i.e. it's a known manufacturing fault. Anyhow, my dealership has decided it will wear the full cost as they don't think it's fair I should have to fork out NZ$5000 for the job on a relatively new high end car that they sold me. Very very happy with that decision and they've certainly earned my loyalty - they've been around for years and do have an excellent customer service reputation. Nice to experience it first hand.

Thanks for your comments Acprc - yes I also had a theory that hard driving would "blow out the cobwebs" and quieten the brakes down again. That's not been the reality though - I did a track day and while the brakes were quiet for a day or so afterward, the noise was back worse then ever shortly thereafter. A long-distance trip in driving rain also seemed to quieten things down, but again only very temporary. Clearly a manufacturing problem of some kind and by the sounds of comments on here, not all that uncommon.

[Acprc]

Good to hear you are getting it sorted, i do also wonder if its a build up of brake dust somehow? Luckily i don't suffer with it on the RS4 just the S1 and as mentioned above I can remedy that with a few stops for a couple of months. I will be replacing the S1 brakes with OEM discs and different pads so will see what happens then, maybe a pad material change will help?