Avantadrive_Original

So... pretty irritating. We bought this car used at 31k miles about 2 months ago and the brake pad wear indicator went off. On quick visual inspection, it appears the pads are pretty thin on all 4.

From browsing the forum, it appears this is not terribly uncommon... although to me seems pretty lame for a 31k car!

Strongly considering a DIY... I usually do my own brakes, and have the VAG tool to release the rear parking brakes.

A few questions...
- best DIY tutorial? I've found some for Q7 (not SQ7)... basically the same, right?
- parts... I found some threads from just last year saying no aftermarket parts are available... but I usually go to rockauto, and they had some. Came up with this list. Any thoughts? I'm sure some might say this is "cheaping out", but if Audi's own brake pads barely made it 30k miles, I'm not really interested in dumping a bunch of money on their stuff
- anything else I need to know?

SVJ

Yeah, depending on your style of driving, it can go through a pair of pads pretty quickly. It's a heavy car.
Don't forget to buy sensors themselves. Also, you need an OBD tool to release an electronic parking brake when doing the rear brakes.

Avantadrive_Original

Ah yes I’ll get the sensors too. I have the VAG took and software somewhere, just have to dig it out.

any recs on good walkthrough videos or write ups would be appreciated.

Lorryist

Would definitely take advantage of FCP euros lifetime warranty.

GDawgA4

Looking at the brakes, I'm going to say that the steps will be the same, if not very similar, as any other 4M Q7. It was the easiest front brake job I've ever done. Here's a video on the front:
As for the rears, if you've done rear brakes on any Audi model in the past 10 years, you'll be fine. It hasn't really changed.

SVJ

Youtube is full of them. This one isn't bad:

Avantadrive_Original

Thanks all

Chawski

Calipers appear similar to what I had on my sq5. Overall quite easy job but jacking and getting stands in seems quite a pain in the *** on the sq7

Advice for the front… there’s a rubber hose and a solid line with a clip attaching it to the body somewhere. Unscrew that clip, the hardline easily kinks/cracks if you just try bending it out of the way

get a pad spreader doohickey. I think it’s a 6 pot caliper. Pain in the *** to retract them one by one.

Avantadrive_Original

Thank you - yeah I'm trying to figure out how to safely elevate the vehicle, I saw someone made a floor jack adapter, was thinking about picking one of those up and just leaving it up on the jack while I do the brake job. Just not sure where to put a jack stand.

Avantadrive_Original

Do folks recommend replacing the rotors every time as well? Audi certainly does, but I'm seriously considering that rotors with 33k on them should last quite a bit longer, and maybe just a pad slap for now would be appropriate. Of course I can make sure rotor thickness is appropriate first.