Brake squeaking/grunting sound upon coming to a complete stop

[Xpander]

I recently purchased a brand new Audi Q5 3L here in Qatar. The rear brakes make a loud grunting sound as soon as the car comes to a complete halt. This sound is the loudest when the brakes are cold especially when i take the car out in the morning for work and goes away if i am driving the car for an hour or so with regular braking. The mileage is currently 2500 kms.

I took this to Audi Qatar Service Centre for a check-up but unfortunately the brakes were not making noise at that time. They said that this sound occurs due to grinding of metallic brake pads on the metallic discs especially when the pad locks on to disc upon a complete halt. They also said that it is a common issue as due to the EU regulations, asbestos is no longer used inside brake pads that was earlier helpful in absorbing some of this vibration. They also said that there is no solution as such and this sound should go away when the brakes become hot.

Honestly, I find this sound very irritating and more so because you spend so much money to buy these german cars and in the end you have to deal with these issues.

Anyone else facing a similar issue? I would appreciate your feedback on this. Thank you.

[McTaste]

Sounds like they dont really know the cause, as they couldnt make it happen. Have you tried new brake pads?

[freesole]

I have just been experiencing this exact thing today. Barely 7K miles and my brakes have been making this loud grinding sound to a stop. It has been cold and this is my first winter with the car but wow. This is way beyond a high pitch squeak. I'm taking the car in on Friday to get it checked out. It only happens when the vehicle is cold though.

[Reckon]

Don't think its uncommon for the brakes to squeal and grind like that, especially cold. My 14 S4 did it a lot on the front brakes, especially in cold weather. The SQ5 doesn't do it but we don't really have cold temps here in FL. Hopefully its not anything that requires fixing!

[riceboy22]

If you're only talking about the first few stops or first few miles while things warm up, then a grinding noise is pretty normal with brake pads these days. You shouldn't be hearing that though once you've done a few good stops and any moisture or rust has been taken care of in the pads and on the rotors. It sounds like you're saying that it does go away once things are warmed up. If that's the case and it still bothers you, then as @McTaste said, you can consider a different type of brake pad. That's honestly probably not worth it though, because to reduce that noise, you're most likely going to make some sacrifices in terms of durability and/or performance.

[freesole]

Yeah I read a similar thread on Audiworld and it confirmed that several people had the issue. Some of the older cars had their brakes replaced but that might have been to wear rather than defect. I'm going to try "bedding" the brakes in and see how it goes from there. It is only when it is cold that I hear and feel the grinding. It was just alarming how loud it was.