van-s4-02

I'll try to keep it brief and juicy.

I have S4 which is 2 year and few month old. Your standard factory car except for the tires.

In past few weeks I started getting "parking brake is engaged" warning while doing regular driving. Randomly. Sometimes on a highway just rolling with the traffic (not braking, not accellerating), sometimes when turning on a street light, etc.

So I went to a dealer, and right away they said it's probably caused by a low level of brake fluid, which in turn meant (as per their explanation) worn of brakes and so it may need a replacement of both pads and rotors. I.e. they deduced the need for replacing rotors from the 'parking brake' indicator coming up randomly.

That was a red flag number 1.

I left the car, they looked, and lo and behold I DID need a replacement of front pads and rotors. Hmm. How about that brake pad wear indicator that never came on, I asked. Oh, they said, these only are in rear brakes, not front. This sounded pretty dumb to me since fronts typically wear off first. Oh, they said, not on Audis.

That was a red flag number 2.

I told them to wait, called Audi Care and explained that I am nowhere near being an aggressive driver, use brakes very consciously and I just can't see how _rotors_ could wore off in less than 26K. It must be some sort of a manufacturing defect or a f#ckup on dealer's part during one of the previous services. Not much we can do, they said, besides rotors are under 2 year only warranty anyhow.

So I bit the bullet, paid them and had pads and rotors replaced. For $600, which seems kind of low to me.

All this was a week or so ago. In past few days I started noticing that a weird sound and a vibration-like feeling when I'm _fully_ releasing the brakes from a full stop and the car starts to move forward. Pretty much like as if the brake pads continue to be slightly engaged with the rotors. It doesn't happen all the time, but it is fairly easy to reproduce.

That was a red flag number 3.

To me, the last item means that the dealer screwed up something with the rotor/pad replacement. This in turn makes the above f#ckup theory plausible and it would explain how the rotors managed to go kaput so soon and without any wear indicators going off.

So ... I wonder if anyone can answer these for me:

1. There are no brake pad wear sensors in Audi's front pads.

2. Audi's don't wear off front pads first as all other normal cars do.

3. If it's normal to have front rotors replaced with 10K/year non-aggressive city driving.

4. If the condition of seemingly engaged brakes is normal after the brake change.

Cheerio and thanks,
Alex

proport

1. Wear sensors on front pads ONLY
2. Audi replaced my rear pads at no cost during one visit.. had them install hawks on the front that I brought in.
3. So, you're having to replace the front rotors at 20k? That's a bit ridiculous... but if the pads even wore away, you wouldn't be able to drive the sound is like running finger nails down a chalk board..
4. After the pads are replaced, braking is going to feel a little weird till they seat right and you start to break them in.. few days maybe.

abednego

But $600 for pads and rotors. Holy crap.

Kenny

and yes, rotors, particularly the fronts can easily wear out within 30k miles with reasonably aggressive driving.. The S4 is a very heavy car being hard on brakes and rotors..

but nonetheless your dealer stinks

BTW- my car came with new brakes and rotors all around when I purchased my car at 25k miles..

diehlryan

therefore it could be possible that the rears are wearing faster than the front.

charliemike71

Because streets are not an appropriate place to pretend you're Lewis Hamilton?

MKV Aaron

And yes the sensors are on the front, not back.

Kenny

right, that's why you need an S4, when a comparable A4 2.0T would do just fine..

MKV Aaron

Exactly. There is a difference between driving aggressive and driving stupid.

Phil G.

I'm paying for the pads, and dealer is installing at no cost. So $200 for the changeover sounds reasonable to me.