mishar

That is hardly true. Doing it on car means using wheel bearings to hold rotor. Compared to the lathe or grinding machine bearings they are funny and they can introduce quite a bit inaccuracy. Connection of a tool support and knuckle is another big problem. I believe it is just another sales gimmick. It also save some workshop time. That's why they like it.

Are your rotors OEM? What pads are you using?

idf

See, every shop I go to complains to high heaven... "oh you must to change the rotors". One guy flat out refused to do the work unless I changed the rotors as well.

I wish I could do the job myself but I dont have any of the specialist tools.

By the way guys, please give me a break with the 'quit complaining' comments. I see no reason why I shouldn't look for opportunities to save some money. I knew what I was getting into when buying the car.

Brozee

We all want to save money bud. You'll meet some of the most frugal people on here, ha, including me. But let's be realistic there are always rotor and pad changes on every car.

You don't necessarily need any specialist tools to do the change. For instance this coming up weekend I'm having my friend who is an out of garage mechanic (normal tools) change all the pads and rotors on my 07 W12. Only special tool he needs is my VCDS tool to retract the rear parking break.

I was very leery to try to do any maintenance on these cars for the first two years I owned them, but then I just dove in and was able to do quite a few minor things myself. What I couldn't do I learned how to do so I could save money and have someone do it for me with my knowledge on it helping me save that money I would otherwise be jerked around for.

awdinut

Zimmerman rotors. The place that did the install on the front rotors and pads initially used some Italian brand rotor, against my wishes, and they warped...or whatever happens that causes vibration...with in two weeks. So they were changed out to Zimmerman.

MP4.2+6.0

Front brakes on this car are very easy. As easy or easier than other older or lesser Audi's I have done, Toyotas, Fords, Mini's, Chryslers, etc. No tools needed besides jack, a few screwdrivers, a large clamp and scrap of wood and a few sockets with drive. Rears the same, plus the VAG COM (which takes arguably as much time as the whole mechanical job does). As a D3 owner, we will all tell you buy the VAG COM anyway, even if you go w/ professional service. Way reduces diagnostics cost.

Yeah many shops will probably tell you they want to change rotors. They are in business to make money, and more parts = more $, even more so unfortunately if they could actually use cheap crap aftermarket. Fortunately at least with the D3 it doesn't draw the same volume for low quality third party manufacturers like a Toyota or Honda model would. And whether they use decent parts or not, they also want to eliminate any variables they don't control for return complaints like squeaking, vibration, chatter, etc. But candidly if they gave you that input on rotors without mic'ing them and reporting back against the spec., that's sub par in my book and I would just walk.

The later D3's all have 3mm wear specs too (some of the early 4.2 brakes are only 2mm in front), so the wear specs are more generous than on various other Euro models (Bimmers and Mini's come to mind--own the Mini and have done a late M6). Thus, if they are using rules of thumb that are inapplicable to this model, again they don't actually know what they are doing in the end. Walk... Meanwhile, several of us have told you independently already from Audi and D3 specific experience the "rule of thumb" for this car is two pad changes per rotor set. And in my case for one, it's not just shade tree stuff or a guy who wants to sell parts; it's with a calibrated mic. and maybe two million miles of accumulated family vehicles worth of brake experience, on Audi's going back to 1977 and both the B and C1's.

Brozee

Fwiw I've been driving my w12 with the pad light on for the past month. The light came on with a good 3-4mm left. Quite a bit of pad left, a bit more pedal travel but I've been monitoring it as I waited for my rotors to come in. The pads are still low but driveable and not grinding or making noise. I check them often to not be dangerous but in my circumstance the pad alert came on quite early...

MP4.2+6.0

And if you pull the pads quickly after the light comes on, you typically see how the sensor is embedded in the pad with a fair amount of material still left when it grids away the contact that makes that wear light appear. My sense from what I have seen w/ the worn pads is it gives at least a couple thousand miles leeway typically.

DTHREE

While we're on that subject - why are there no rear pad sensors?

Brozee

The parking break measures the pad every so often.

MP4.2+6.0

Exactly. Audi has never used rear sensors AFAIK, and until this motorized parking brake set up, didn't track/warn about rear wear.