SQ7 Brake discs must be changed after 15K kms

[kickoff07]

Hi All ! Let's see if somebody can give me some light regarding a brake problem I have on my SQ7.

I bought the car 1 year ago, and with 10.000km, the front brake discs generated some vibrations and the official audi service told me that I needed to replace them. The guarantee did not cover nothing because they said it was a wear issue.
ok. I changed them... and after 15.000 km, the brake discs must be replaced again !! (for the same reason)

Audi Spain says it's because of my driving :// and to be honest, I drive only from home to work every day... with no aggressive or racing experiences.
I can not believe every 10.000 or 15.000 km the brake discs must be replaced.

On my old car (Mercedes GL63AMG) the brakes was not changed until 60.000km or more.... and I'm the same person driving this one... in the same way...

I'm desperate. Anybody has suffered something similar ? I'm starting to hate Audi commitment on this case ://

Anybody has experience with NO OEM replacements ? As Audi is not going give me a solution... I would need to find for alternatives. I have read that mtec are good (and better than the oems) but no idea.

Thanks for your comments !

Regards,

[jragan]

About every 40,000 km is more like it. The sensors go out and alarm at around 30,000km.

The Q7S uses Brembo braking components which are higher performance and have rotors that are “softer” steel that wears more quickly. Combine that with the heaviness of the Q7 and you have a recipe for rapid rotor wear.

[YotoWerks]

So rotors dont actually warp, the world likes to call it that but in reality there is brake pad material that transfers to the rotor surface and changes the thickness or the surface profile of the rotor.

Having Porsche Cayenne brakes on my Audi TT I did experiance some rotor warpage after a few thousand miles since installation, what I had to do is take the rotors off and hone them with home tools basically wire brush and high speed drill on the surface which actually peeled off the glossy appearance that was on the rotor. In the areas of high bite or vibration there was material coming off that looked a lot like fish scales.
Long storry short, 10min later the issue was fixed without replacing any rotors or pads.
Something simillar may be happening to you.

For example if you come to a complete stop from 120kph in a hurry you put a ton of heat into the rotor and pad. When you finally come to astop and you continue to hold pressure on the brake pedal, part of the pad surface melts and distributes between the rotor and the pad. Once you take off theat melted layer hardens and breaks away as soon as you start moving. Now that is in tiny tiny amounts. The end result is next time the pad travels over the surface of the rotor there is a spot that has some pad friction material stuck to the rotor itself. When the pad travels past that point it has different coefficient of friction and thus bits more. So as that problem worsens at some point you start to feel the pulsation of the pedal due to friction and material build up on the rotor itself. In early stages it can be removed thorugh some machining. Audi likes to replace parts just like any other OEM. Take it to a local shop that does brakes and ask them to resurface your rotors.

[RAudi Driver]

If your brakes are wearing out due to vibration, your'e not bedding them properly.

I change brakes on my Q7 every 18k miles. I can change out the rotors and pads to a different type but the braking on the stockers is great, so I stick with it. My brakes wear out to the bottom of the pads before I get a vibration. I do bed them everytime I install new pads and rotors.

Install rotors
Take car for a drive near your home

I do about 4 to 6 stops frm 30 to 0.

4 to 6 stops frm 40 to 10mph.

4 stops from 60 or 70 to about 25 to 30mph.

When I apply the brakes on this bedding process, I try to stop the car in as short of a distance as possible. I'm romping down on these brakes like my life depends on it. I then take the car back to the house, park it without the parking brake and let it sit overnight.

the brakes are notready for whatever you feel like throwing at it wether it be a mild commute or a spirited drive through the canyons.

Hope this helps

[Timtheguru]

These instructions came with my last set of pads, but they are hybrid ceramic/carbon fiber, so maybe a little different as far as deposit transfer for DTV that it mentions. Keep note of the instructions at the bottom.



OP, when you look at the rotors, are there grooves in them to where the thickness of the rotor (where it would need replacement) comes into question? Otherwise like others have said try to re-bed the pads. With so many short trips I can see DTV happening.

[kickoff07]

Many people said that !!! I joined several FB Audi groups asking for recommendations, and this is what most people said.
So then, I understand it's a "design" problem from Audi ??¿¿ Amazing. It's unbelievable they do not want to do anything...

Then I understand that, mounting "hard" rotors... with solid braking components should resolve the issue right ?
Sorry to ask, but I'm not familiar with mechanics :) (well: starting to become because of all the findings...)

[blackfunk]

Timtheguru for the win.

The problem that most people don't recognize is that you may need to periodically repeat the bedding process. The only time you should need to replace your rotors is when they're below the manufactures recommended thickness threshold. I see people changing rotors with every pad swap when all that's necessary is a re-bedding of the new pads to the existing rotors so that they mate well and there's sufficient pad material that gets transferred to the rotors.

Your dealership is either lazy or incompetent. I would suggest bedding the brakes but there's a possibility that your pads/rotors are already glazed and then you might make it worse. Either way, you can try removing the wheels and cleaning the surface of the rotors with a wire brush and some aggressive sand paper or if you're feeling frisky do it on both the pads and rotors.

[Timtheguru]

Many people said that !!! I joined several FB Audi groups asking for recommendations, and this is what most people said.
So then, I understand it's a "design" problem from Audi ??¿¿ Amazing. It's unbelievable they do not want to do anything...

Then I understand that, mounting "hard" rotors... with solid braking components should resolve the issue right ?
Sorry to ask, but I'm not familiar with mechanics :) (well: starting to become because of all the findings...)

Not sure how we got to a design issue, the dealer should have either bedded the pads (unlikely), or expected you to do it. Did you get any instructions after service?

I've never had a dealer do brakes before, always done them myself, so I have been very conscientious about bedding the pads after years of wrenching.

I don't know what you mean about hard and solid braking components. Rebed and report back. :)

[ICU2]

Although not identical, a VERY similar problem was initialing occurring w/RS5's in the not to distant past. Stateside, it became a known problem to AOA (Audi of America) & their solution(s) seemed rather inconsistent. Some forum members reported receiving help, other were told the same thing as you were, tough luck, your're own your own. Of interest may be a read of this thread (https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...re-AOA-letters) or this one (https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...than-10k-miles). You may find some helpful info in either/both threads. I eventually replaced my entire system via a stateside company, ECS (NO affiliation). Very happy w/the brakes & it's performance. Not sure if you attempted to have a conversation/e-mail w/Audi of Spain (AOS) & or a "District/Regional" manager DIRECTLY employed buy AOS, but it couldn't hurt. Hope this helps, Cheers from across the pond!!

[kickoff07]

Hi all -

Just to circle back with my issue.

I finally find a solution... that for now works.

I bed and rebed as explained in this thread several times. The vibration improved... but was not solved completely.

I contacted a brake specialist that has been dealing with this kind of problems for a long time. This kind of vibrations occurs on Audi, BMW, Mercedes,... and he told me that, even changing the rotors and the pads... the problem might appear again after 5k/10k km.

Exactly what happened to me.

His solution: as soon as vibrations appears, rectify the rotors without removing the rotors. I did that and everything is working perfect, with no vibrations up until now.

The process tooks 4hours (2 hours for each rotor).

He said it should be ok until the end of live of the rotors.

Once the rotors are chaged again... the vibrations might reapear... and the recification process should be done again.

The cost is about 100EUR (both rotors)..

I know: itÂ’s an additional cost, but it has worked in my case.

To be honest: I can not understand How Audi official dealers can not offer a REAL solution like this ... without the need to change everything every 15k km.

Very disappointed with the service I got from them... but finally IÂ’m happy to have a an alternative to avoid these awful vibrations.

Just wanted to share with the comunity, as I have seen many, many people with this exactly problem...

Hope it helps. Thanks Audi for nothing 😭😭

Regards