mhoran89

if you pad slap the car I guarantee you will have increased NVH in the brakes sooner than you wear out the next pads. every Audi I have tried to pad slap has come out poorly. unfortunately the brake rotors are not cheap either. best of luck.

Avantadrive_Original

Yeah that's always been my understanding as well... just really struggling with $1500+ for front rotors. Rears are no problem. Considering going with the Dynamic Friction rotors on rockauto in the front. Worst case they're not great, and I replace them in 6 months, out a couple hundred bucks.

mhoran89

what is the price difference? have you looked into sourcing OEM ones from one of the big dealer wholesale sites?

Avantadrive_Original

Price difference is massive. FCP Euro quotes $621 front right, $776 front left (why there's a $150 price difference between practically identical rotors... I have no idea). Those are about the best prices I've seen, but if you have other sites you'd recommend please let me know.

Dynamic friction Geospec rotors are $105 each. So that's roughly a $1200 difference. I'm talking myself into this I guess, I'd honestly rather risk blowing $210 to potentially save $1200. Dynamic Friction seems to be a good brand, and rock auto parts have always worked out well for me in the past. Hell, I put Centric rotors on my A6 7 years ago and they're still going strong.

mhoran89

I would take the gamble on the rotors. Just know you might only get 15-20k out of them before they go wonky on you. But that’s 1/2 a brake job worth and if you do the labor it’s definitely worth it. Centric makes a great rotor actually. Always had good luck with centric blanks as long as they were coated.

Zimmermann doesn’t make anything for the sq7?

Avantadrive_Original

Yeah I'm heavily leaning that way right now. So far the only evidence of quality I have is that the factory pads lasted a measly 30k miles. Not sure why I'd dump 3 grand on replacing those with the same ones!

Zimmerman does make rears (which I will get), but not fronts. At least, not yet. That's the other thing. I'm thinking if I can knock out the brake job with rockauto stuff for now, if needed in a year or two maybe Zimmermans will be available (or just more aftermarket options).

mhoran89

by chance, does anyone make SQ8 rotors? I have to imagine they are the exact same but maybe someone has not cross shopped that before. I almost feel like there have been more SQ8s sold than SQ7s because they have been offered for a few more years...

Avantadrive_Original

Yeah I've looked for SQ8 rotors as well and have bugged them on that forum, unfortunately it seems to be the same situation. I do think they have the same rotor, just no aftermarket there either, oddly enough. FCP lists the same OE front rotors ($1500 total) for the SQ8 and SQ7.

mhoran89

try brembo for the rear. part number 09.D424.11

front are below at a lower price. not sure about shipping though...

https://newparts.com/product/genuine...di/4M0615301BM
https://newparts.com/product/genuine-vw-audi/4M0615302K

GeoJoe

I looked for aftermarket rotors and pads for our SQ7 for months. Many sites claimed they had the fit, until the actual order was placed. Even Adam's Rotors (RIP) had OEM blanks to work with.

Are there confirmed installations of non-OEM pads and rotors on an SQ7 yet?

As for wheel and brake work, QuickJacks are excellent