My A4 is due to arrive next week. (Woohoo!) Since I'm still hearing a lot of complaints about the brake dust problems, I'm thinking of buying 3rd party brake pads - a friend of mine is concerned that these pads might cause more wear and tear on the rotors. Any thoughts?<br>

Sort of. I have Mintex brake pads on the back brakes. To answer your question, I really don't think that these pads cause more wear and tear on the rotors. A lot of people have used them with no problems. <p>I did exactly what you are talking about, bought the pads before my car arrived. Mintex came highly recommended so I went with them. I went to have them installed the day after I took delivery: back brakes no problem; front brakes a slight problem.<p>The front brakes have wear sensors ( a wire comes out of the pads with a plug, which connects to the car.) Well Audi decided to slightly change the plugs for the 99.5's. So the Mintex pads have a slightly different plug than the stock pads do. I've been lazy and haven't really tried to work with the problem. The fix is to replace the plug on the Mintex with the plug on the stock pads. A little soldering and I'm there, just haven't done it yet.<p>But my back wheels stay clean for weeks! What a difference the pads make. Just gotta get the front ones done.<p>Mintex is coming out with something, but it may be 8-10 months before we see anything, what I'm told.<p>I got my pads through Camra Motorsports. Talk to Andrew. He is very responsive and knowledgeable person on this stuff. Feel free to e-mail or repost with any questions. Almost forgot the price.....about $75 for the front pair, and $40 for the back pair.<br>http://camramotorsports.hypermart.net/<p>Disclaimer: I don't work for Camra Motorsports and wouldn't see a dime if everyone and their mother bought parts at Camra.<p>Ed<br>99.5 1.8TQMS 1/2 Mintex

Though my rotors were still like new at 14,000 miles (incl. 2 racetrack weekends), I went ahead and swapped for slotted DBA rotors when I did the pads (I went with Rofrens, although there's much debate on which aftermarket brand's best on the A4). Whole job was under $500....<p>-- David F.<br>1.8TqMS<br>E30 325is

Have gone thru the writeup that came with them on bedding in pads, but they still squeal on moderate stops to zero when they're cold. Otherwise, no complaints. Were straight swapout w/ stock 98.5 pads.

I switched to mintex. brakes fine, lots less dust. IF you wait awhile and try new pads on used rotors, you may have squeal problems. If you are going to change, its better to do it right away.