I love my little wagon. Only one problem; lots of squealing from the brakes. This occurs mostly at low (10-20mph) speeds. The car only has 7500 miles on it, and I have had the brakes looked at by 2 Audi dealers at least 5 times. Each time they make some minor adjustment, tell me that the brakes are fine and give me a pamplet from Audi of American explaining why this noise is 'normal.'

It's is NOT normal and I am getting annoyed. I love this car and really want to enjoy it.

Anyone else had the same problems? Suggestions?

...the my dealer worked their "magic" on the pads at around 7,500 miles also. They would squeak/squeal during low-speed stops...very annoying. After they "fixed" the problem, the bakes were quiet for another 7,000 miles or so and then they started squeaking again. This time I decided to fix the problem myself so I bought Rofren pads for the front and back and installed them myself (thanks to the FAQ). Now I haven't had a single squeak out of the brakes in over 10,000 miles and the brake dust is 95% less than stock.

<A HREF="Mailto:andy_hedin@hotmail.com">Andy Hedin</A>
'97 A4 1.8Tqms, Wett 1.0 Bar, ABT Filter, Euro Headlights, more...

It is the composition of the break pads. Your "typical" break pads are made of an asbestos composite, and Audi has chosen to go with a semi-metallic breakpad, hence the metal-on-metal squealing. Yeah, indeed an imbarassing noise on such an expensive car (my former car was a '90 accord, so to me, +$25K is expensive).

What I do not know is "why?". Do they dissapate heat better? I do know there seems to be an issue of rotors warping prematurely and that they have been accused of being "too thin". It may be an environmental issue (I'm looking at the word "asbestos" here).

Andy is absolutely right, in that switching to an non-factory brakepad (say Rofen or Raybestos) will solve the problem. There are a lot of testimonials in the archives about how this solved the problem.

Also, after my dealer gave me that silly little break-noise pamphlet, he told me to do a few "hard" stops from 35mph to shave off the smooth portion of the break pad.

I myself haven't done the breakpad upgrade yet, but it is definitely on my list!

-Dave

... that is with a smooth baked surface, not good for braking. Mine had the squeal, then I was forced to do an emergency braking from around 40mph and guess what - no more noise.

Seems you can get rid of (at least some) of the glazing by doing a few hard braking stops from around 35-40 mph.

Just don't blame me if it doesn't work :) And keep it safe when trying this recipe.

adc
Red 1.8T QMS

First off, there hasn't been any asbestos in brake pads since the '80s. Other organic compounds which are not proven carcinogens are used, as well as some metallic compounds.

Second, for those familiar with Repco Metalmasters, which are certainly a metal compound pad, they do not squeal. Therefore, your assertion that the metal causes the noise is not entirely true.

The *worst* squealing pads I ever had were Porterfield carbon fiber pads, no metal there. Horrible dusting, squealed like pigs, but those babies could STOP!!!

The stock Audi pads are actually pretty decent pads for performance, but they also dust and squeal. As stated elsewhere, hard stops will temporarily change the noise. You can also change the pads for aftermarket units, which have different characteristics.

>>>>>Bernie

Just goes to show you that just because it's in the forum dosen't necessarily mean it's true ;)

Actually, all of what I said was pulled from memory of reading this forum over the last two years, I just figured I save an archive search.

Anyway, if they sound so bad, why does Audi insist on using them? My guess is that they didn't know and are contractually bound somhow, which would be sad!

If my demo ride squealed this bad, I may not have bought the car. Aparently, the problem is so prolific that Audi had to release a pamphlet about brake squeal.

Thanks for the info.