gpj111

The brakes on my '13 S6 have a horribly loud squeal to them. I have had it back to Audi multiple time ( they replaced the brakes and have cleaned them on multiple occasions), but now tell me there is nothing they can do, that its a known problem. They turned me over to Audi Care. Audi Care told me to take it back to the dealer, but the dealer won't do anything.

I read all over the forum that people are having this problem, but there appears to be no resolution. How can Audi be OK with this. I never hear brakes of a BMW, Mercedes or a Toyota for that matter.

I love the car, but am so disappointed and frustrated in Audi that I am close to the point where I trade it in for a different brand.

Any help out there.

HyperS4

Did it just start with the recently cold weather?

goliath1

my front passenger has been doing this for the last 20k miles. I told my service manager but they also said. "they all do that". Odd that it is only the right front. It is intermittent and if I slam the brakes on from 50 down to 5 or 10mph the squeal will go away. But then it returns. It is embarrassing I must admit.

I plan to change out my pads and possibly rotors in the next month. Let's see if that makes a difference. I also read that using Anaerobic adhesives (loc-tite) applied to the piston edge will cause the brake pad to become one with the piston making the frequency change and eliminate the squeal. Gonna try it.

HyperS4

This might sound funny but when was the last time you really cleaned your wheels and brakes? Like, with a good cleaner that you let sit for about 10 minutes when youre washing the car?

gee2dasahn

Alas... supposedly it is a normal occurrence. I got an audi brochure on the different braking systems and there is a section that states that with frequent light braking, a glaze will form on the rotor and cause squealing (gets worse in the cold). Just emergency brake a couple of times and it should clear up.

I took it as a sign that I was "babying" the car too much A couple of italian tune ups and some aggressive braking took care of that lol

DD1546

Good to know. I was going to mention it to the dealer who, I was afraid, would tell me I need a $2K brake job at 19K miles.

eric strauss

1. As mentioned before, rebed the brakes with a few hard stops from 60mph, but don't go all the way to zero.

2. With some brake setups, the squeal sound is actually the pads chattering in their mounts do to a lack of lubrication on the back of the pads. This can happen if the assembler of the brakes did not properly lubricated the pads upon assembly - or - you use a high pressure was on the wheels and brake assemblies. The repeated exposure to the high pressure soap can flush out the lubricant.

In addition, are there irregular scuffs on your rotors that might be a telltale sign of trouble?

The above procedures are attempting to localize the squeal to either the front (rotor contact face) or back side (facing the caliper basket) of the pads.

Please let us know the results of your investigation

Eric

gpj111

Started in the cold over a year ago, and then got better in the summer, but always there.

gpj111

I attached a sound file. This is from being in slow moving traffic, with my windows up. This just went on and on and on.

It's worse in the cold than in the heat ( but still there).

I've tried everything posted. Audi replaced all the brakes, cleaned everything on numerous occasions, I've done the hard braking.

It can't even be a performance thing, b/c I hear they have this problem on the Q5. I'm in the market for a new SUV, and wanted to stick with Audi but can't b/c I am so frustrated.

How can an engineering company be ok with this? Am I naive or unreasonable? For 80k I just expected brakes at a minimum to sound as good as any other car out there.

Just really frustrated.

eric strauss

… the dealers are constrained to a small set of solutions. Your car has many pad options - the choice is a compromise of: performance, dust, noise and wear. Both the pad and the rotor are sacrificial surfaces, usually the pad much more so. There should be a good shop in your neighborhood that can sort this out, because you are otherwise happy with the car.

I have often turned to a company in North Carolina - Carbotech for brake solutions (Superformance Cobra with Wilwood calipers, Saab Aeros) and they shave been great. You tell'um what you need and they cook up the formal for you.

Also, I have had good luck with Eurocode in LA.

Jason at ECS has helped me as well.

Plus, let ,e triturate that bedding in and getting the glaze off is not just a couple of stops - they brakes need to get real hot. We are likely talking 8-10 hard runs.

I just went through brake hell with my new RS5 that needed completely new pads and rotors at 10K! Turns out there was a factory defect in the rotors that was driving me crazy… in this case the brakes worked fine until they heated up. Very dangerous on our long canyon runs (100+ miles).

Sorry this is such a hassle…

Eric