Need suggestions for break pads and rotors (2012 A4 Prestige)

[skanna]

Hi everyone,

I took my car to my Audi dealership for a service and they said I needed to change my brake pads and rotors. They gave me a quote of $1500 for both the front and rear wheels.

So, I am planning to take it to an authorized APR tuning shop (http://www.grdchicago.com/home.html) to get them fixed. They quoted $480 for all the wheels without the parts.

Does anyone know which brand are the original pads and rotors that come with the car and how expensive are they?

Also is there an equivalent cheaper version of those? What is everyone using? Would like to hear your suggestions. Thanks!

[JeriQo]

ecs has a few options for rotors and brake pads. no tax, free ship.
and man honestly, rotor and pad replacement is one of the easiest things to do. theres a few DIYs in this site.

[mtroxel]

and man honestly, rotor and pad replacement is one of the easiest things to do. theres a few DIYs in this site.

This

[BeerBrent]

Lots of guys on here recommend Akebono pads because of the much lower amount of brake dust. I'm installing them later this summer. I'm not sure on what rotors I'm going to go with yet.

[JeriQo]

also if youre gonna get rotors, id get drilled/slotted rather than OEM. why not upgrade looks?

[skanna]

Thanks JeriQo. I would love to do that, but I don't even have the basic knowledge of car mechanics. I am planning on learning those basics though.

I would love to watch the DIYs and make the replacements, but I am a little scared if something goes wrong.

[skanna]

Also checking this site suggested by another friend.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...brake+pad,1684

[rcprato]

Brakes are not a hard job to do if you have some tools and a place to do it (not in a parking lot) but you do need to retract the rear caliper electronically, I use my Ross-Tech cable and their VCDS program.

My go to rotor are the Brembo HC Rotors, a few different sources you can get online and I go with www.FCPEuro.com. good pricing and quick shipping.

There are a lot of choices for pads and even more opinions on what are best. IMO there is some trade off for initial pad bite with most low dusting pads, harder pad material dusts less but need friction to get material warm to start them to grab.

All brake pads have a coefficient of friction, see this link http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~smacadof/DOTPadCodes.htm

I have been wrenching on cars for 40 years and lately it seems the OEM pads offer the best stopping with a smooth linear braking.

I hear Akebono are good pads, Textar has a new "E-Pad" that I can only find for rear that looks interesting. Textar is probably one of the biggest friction material manufacturers in the world.
https://textar.com/passenger-cars/textar-epad/

FWIW I think a shop can do all 4 corners in 2-3 Hours max, so your shop is getting at least $160++/hour for brake work. Seems steep to me

[mortimersnerd]

I'm running S4 EBC slotted rotors and EBC red stuff pads. Only did the rotors because I got them cheap, otherwise would have done something more generic. Love the pads. Low dust and good stopping.

[skanna]

Cool. Thanks for all the info. It should be a 300mm disc for my car model right?

[hardfive]

b8 a4 is 320mm front and 300 rear

https://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_A4...raking/Rotors/

[CanadaRed]

I went with slotted rotors, pads have less bite than the OEM ones but dust less.

https://www.autoanything.com/brakes/stoptech-brake-kits

[languiduck]

It's really hard to beat Centric rotors, that's what I went with. I don't like drilled and slotted rotors, never had good luck with them. They are for race cars, show cars, or track duty. IMO. I went with Akebono pads. I have nothing new to add, they do just what everyone else says. Less initial bite, but same hard stopping power, and less dust. I dunno, I kind of miss that hard initial bite of the stock pads, but I don't miss the dust.

[BeerBrent]

I ordered Akebono pads via Amazon yesterday.
I think I'm going to go with these rotors. Chip_ here on Audizine put them on his allroad and is happy with them.
http://brakeperformance.com/brake-ro...nc-coating.php

[JeriQo]

Thanks JeriQo. I would love to do that, but I don't even have the basic knowledge of car mechanics. I am planning on learning those basics though.

I would love to watch the DIYs and make the replacements, but I am a little scared if something goes wrong.

take your sweet time. if you can assemble something from ikea, you can change brakes and rotors.
plus if you ever hit a bump in the middle of the change, you can always post here or private message any of us.
this is the beauty of this forum, enthusiasts are always up to help anyone out.

the hardest is removing the rotors if its seized. i swapped mine at 30k and it was in there.
rent this tool from oreilly before you start so you wont have to hammer it off

[dennej1985]

I recently did mine and went with some Akebono pads and Vaico geomet rotors I got on sale at ECS. Nice quiet pad with little dust and the rotors are basically stock but with a coating to keep them looking new. I personally found that a compressor tool for the brake pistons was not needed at all for the fronts but definitely was needed for the rears, everyone seems to have their own opinion on this job.

[ILVTRANCE]

I always go oem. Zimmerman rotors is what i went with on my brake job which is the Audi supplier I believe, and the same thing with pads. Got it done at a local shop

[skanna]

I went to a shop to get an inspection of the brakes and they said that I don't need to change the rotors for another 10k/15k miles. Saved some money there for now. Instead I got stage 1 of APR tuning done for a discounted price.

And now that I got a little bit of idea on the brakes, I will have more time to explore all the options. :)

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

Btw, is anyone from Chicago/Naperville area?

[shellraider]

You can always bolt on upgrade.


This is what I went with on the wagon.

[cuda2000]

Akebono for the win! I did front and rear myself, don't need vagcom for rear. Watch my videos for tips!
Front:
https://youtu.be/i00ZIJSOA8w
Rear:
https://youtu.be/34G3qDPNldE

Please subscribe to my channel if you like the videos

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