<b>Condition</b>

Customer expresses concerns about brake squeal.

<b>Service</b>

Brake squeal is mainly the result of vibrations between components of the brake caliper assembly.

The following procedure has proven effective in reducing brake squeal and may be used for both front and rear disc brake systems:

– Remove wheels, disassemble brake caliper and remove brake discs

<b>Brake discs, cleaning</b>

Clean brake discs using a power disc–type sander with 80 grit sanding disc.

Sand brake discs as follows:
– Lightly sand rotor in a clockwise direction using the leading edge of sanding disc.
– To achieve a cross hatch pattern, continue sanding in a clockwise direction using the trailing edge of sanding disc.
– Deglaze and clean face of brake pads with sand paper as necessary

Slightly chamfer (bevel) edges of brake pads with a file.

<b>Note:
Some front/rear brake pads were supplied with an adhesive (sticky) backing which helps adhere brake pad to the brake caliper
housing and/or brake carrier.

If vehicle is equipped with this type of pad, remove this (sticky) backing and residual adhesive from brake pad and brake caliper
housing and/or brake carrier.

Some front/rear brake pads are supplied with an anti–vibration backing (non–sticky). Do Not remove this type of backing.</b>

– Clean brake pads using a suitable cleaning method.
– Apply a thin coat of Plastilube Moly 3 high temperature grease to the back of the brake pads.

<b>CAUTION!
Plastilube Moly 3 ) high temperature grease must not come into contact with the braking surface of the brake pad or the brake rotor.</b>

– Reinstall brake calipers and wheels.

My car goes to Clair Nov. 1 for scheduled maintenance. I will complain good and loud about my wet braking horror show last weekend (and other occasions).

If they offer the shields, and if between now and then no one here reports bad experiences, I may let them try this fix.

Is there a good reason I shouldn't do this?

Bill, only thing I have seen is CONCERNS about the extent of work needed to get these suckers in - apparently calipers/rotors come off as do drive hubs. Concern was getting everything right on reinstallation.

HOWEVER, for all the talk of bad brakes, and the existence (supposedly?) of the shield "fix", NOBODY has stepped forward and said they got it done. I wonder why?

Just had my brakes modified yesterday by the local dealer. Here (Sweden) all A4 owners with the "dangerous" brakes have been receiving letters from Audi (first came in March this year) to have their brakes replaced.
I thought this was done everywhere as it should be the same problem no matter country.

The mod includes new brake pads and larger brake shields. First impressions with the new brakes are that they have a "softer" feeling, not tried them in rain yet though.

/ Ulrik
A4 2.6 -96

Ray, I wonder why, too. I will find out what I can from the Service Manager at Clair on Nov. 1 when I bring me car in. He's usually very well informed -- reads A4.org and seems in close touch with Audi about customer problems. We'll see. I will post what I learn.

Don't know if it will help, but I will INSIST that my complaints about wet braking are reported clearly on my service record so I have documentation in case of accident. Maybe that will perk them up.

Roth Audi in Erie,PA replaced the shields on my car a few months ago after much complaining. Said they got them thru the rep who got them from Germany. Anyhow, it has improved the wet braking on my car.

One way or the other I will chip my car, However if it would cause warrenty issues I might wait till the car has past it's 3 years (I'll still be in University) Can I just ask the dealer how they handle chipped cars or will that have the service department looking at my car with extra scrutiny?

I just had my 5k service, during the final inspection of the car, I asked my service advisor what chipping would do to the warranty. He said that it was not a problem, and if any issues were to arise with the ECU then these problems would NOT be covered. Nothing else would be affected. This is what he said, I wonder what will happen if I ever have problems with the wastegate rod, etc though. BTW, I went with the spare ECU. HTH

Kevan
99.5 TQMS (Soon Garretted)

chip sellers are preying on our uneasiness regarding warranty service. If I don't need to buy an extra I really don't want to spend the extra couple hundred. I've also not heard one case of refused service on the forum, so why is everybody making sure they have an OEM ECU available for service? Are we wasting our money?

From everything I've read, there isn't much danger of a dealer refusing to do routine scheduled service simply because he knows the car's been chipped. But that isn't the issue. The problem will arise, if at all, when something non-routine has gone wrong with the engine and the car is still under warranty. In that situation the dealer may (rightly or wrongly) attempt to avoid doing the work for free under warranty by attributing the problem to the chip. Since you don't want to tip off the dealer to such a possible "defense" should that situation ever arise, you want to have a spare ECU in order to swap the original back in whenever the car is taken in for service. That's the thinking behind having a spare ECU; if you don't want to give your dealer ammunition to fight a warranty claim, swap the ECU before each service visit.

Rick