I recently decided that I wanted news pads on my A4 but felt that the fade induced at high speeds was also something I wanted to change so I decided to swap out the rotors and pads. After much scrutinizing of brands I decided on ATE Powerdisc rotors in stock size with Mintex Red Box pads. <br>I had heard much about the rotors, only good things, never anything bad. Most enthusiasts saw them as a great upgrade with a lot more to offer than just a pad upgrade. One key feature of the Powerdiscs is that they are slotted which to me was more preferable in this setup than cross-drilled.<br>SO after a lot of shopping around I found some good places to get these parts from. I will remind you that during my shopping I was told by a few vendors that either the pads and rotors would be hard to find as they are in short supply and in high demand. Here are the places I got my parts from.<p>Wolfsport-VW/Audi parts in Ca.<br>www.wolfsport.com<br>Mintex pads for $55 per front pair<p>Adirondack Parts in NJ<br>http://www.germanautoparts.com/<br>ATE rotors for $102 per front pair<p>My total package cost me about $165 with shipping, a great investment IMO.<p>Now for some trials. <br>I have had the new parts on for about a week now and there is a substantial increase in braking feel and stopping ability. No not as much as with Porsche brakes, etc. but compared to stock they feel like they should on this car. The initial bite is farther into the pedal stroke but not much. But when the bite occurs the stopping power is greater and at least with my car I dont have to continue to pound the pedal into the floor to get it to stop. SO the overall pedal travel is less and I have not had to put it close to the floor yet to stop quickly.<br>Bed in time though is critical and will take about 200-250 miles.<p>HTH,<br>Chris<ul><li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/9179/index.html">My A4 page</a></li></ul>

I mean most important provided that you have enough stopping power to lock the wheels. What you said here is you have to press a little more and then suddenly it would bite harder than stock - this does not sound very appealing to me. <p>I think modulation is the word for the brake's ability to bite proportionally to brake effort. How would you describe this particular parameter of your brakes?<p>Otherwise they look great and think they are probably worthy at only $165. Thanks for sharing.

In general A4 brakes do not work for about first second when hit them in heavy rain/slush (my experience). Seems like the slotted rotors would eliminate this; was wondering what your experience was.

Take note that the pads aren't nearly bedded in yet, so the brake modulation and performance ought to improve as he puts more miles on them.<p>That's one of the reasons why we in the US get these pads (along with prodigious amounts of brake dust): They require no break-in and pretty much provide maximal breaking power right out of the dealer's lot. But, like they say, TANSTAAFL!<p>As for me, I've put up with the dust for 20K and am ready to switch to the Redbox. The question is do I buy the slotted or see if I can get another set of OEM rotors under warranty...<p>Jim