What to order for my RS6, steel or carbon ceramic brake option?

[Gilligan]

New to this forum. Recently got an allocation and ordered my RS6. Probably days away from my order being locked and I wanted to ask the experts: steel or carbon ceramic for the brakes? At nearly $5K just for rotors and pads for front and rear, has anyone considered the benefits of ordering ceramic brakes just for the potential long-term costs savings?

Assume three brake jobs per 100K miles at about $18K total for those three brake jobs, compared to one set of ceramic pads per the first 100K miles. Obviously the second set of ceramic brakes will cost considerably more than the $8.5K option when ordering, but probably around $20K-$25K at around 100K miles, but potentially less as technology improves and prices come down. For the better braking, less dust and reduced sprung weight, does it make sense to order a new car with ceramics just based on cost savings? Assume no plans to ever take the car to a track. Appreciate anyone sharing their thoughts on this brake topic, as I am days away from locking in my order and still learning so much from this forum.

[MichaelScott]

If you go back to the ~beginning of the RS6 waiting room thread we had this conversation esrly on without even knowing how mych the steels would cost to service, some of us came to the conclusion it'd be cheaper. Which now I'm convinced it will be.

New to this forum. Recently got an allocation and ordered my RS6. Probably days away from my order being locked and I wanted to ask the experts: steel or carbon ceramic for the brakes? At nearly $5K just for rotors and pads for front and rear, has anyone considered the benefits of ordering ceramic brakes just for the potential long-term costs savings?

Assume three brake jobs per 100K miles at about $18K total for those three brake jobs, compared to one set of ceramic pads per the first 100K miles. Obviously the second set of ceramic brakes will cost considerably more than the $8.5K option when ordering, but probably around $20K-$25K at around 100K miles, but potentially less as technology improves and prices come down. For the better braking, less dust and reduced sprung weight, does it make sense to order a new car with ceramics just based on cost savings? Assume no plans to ever take the car to a track. Appreciate anyone sharing their thoughts on this brake topic, as I am days away from locking in my order and still learning so much from this forum.

[Meelum]

Two months into mine and it's the one option I wish I had gotten.

[sdaudiguy]

Two months into mine and it's the one option I wish I had gotten.

Second this as well with the cost to service and the dust...

[Avalon911]

No brainer for me. I went with Ceramics for all those reasons.

[Daily Driver]

I was really on the fence about it. I ended up choosing steel for these reasons: first, I only put about 8K a year on my daily and it will probably be even less since I kept my 6MT S4. Second, I'll never track this car. Third, half the year is winter weather where I am and I was concerned about lack of initial bite in frigid/snow conditions. Others here have since driven their RS6s with ceramics in cold weather and have had no issue, so maybe that really wasn't important...

[coldair]

Not going with ceramics is my only regret with my car. I had ceramics on my GT3 and the gloss black wheels never looked dirty. No brake dust whatsoever. I order the carbon optics packaged with my RS6 and the wheels look filthy 30 minutes after a fresh wash. Now, I know it's crazy to spend $9k on brakes solely to keep your wheels clean - but, I totally would if I could do it again.

[L0U]

Im really tired of rusty rotors, followed by uneven pad wear, followed by scored lines in rotors, then poor braking performance.....all in the hellish brown dust of post washing spots all over rims. The futility.

Its a cycle that I’m just played out of. Unless your car is driven in nice weather and stored inside a garage, go ceramic.

As to performance, they are adequate. Rubber makes a bigger difference.

[Gilligan]

Thank you MichaelScott for mentioning an earlier discussion in the 'RS6 waiting room thread' about the tradeoff and general thoughts on steel vs. ceramic brakes. I searched back and found this discussion. I am not sure how to add a link to another thread, but the discussion starts on page 115, comment #4595. Interesting read and good links to external articles on the subject.

[Izzone]

If you plan to keep the car just one brake change, its worth it to me

My original spec did not have them, the brake dust was really bad

My new car and wifes rsq8..only was ceramic


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[71camaro]

Are they the same calipers, but with different pads/rotors? Or are the calipers different as well?

[sammypedram]

My question as well. I assume slightly different calipers but if not, woohoo! hahaha

[FBAnder]

I did steelies. I don't drive a ton and can count on one hand the number of brake jobs I have needed to do on my cars (and all but one of them are on my 22 year old B5 S4...). If I end up paying money to do a brake job...or two with this car, then so be it. An item I wouldn't consider a regret that ruins the car.

[BucksCtyMike]

My big concern with the CCR has always been damage, be it from improper wheel removal/install or road debris.

Never had a car with them, is that being overly cautious?

Brake dust can easily be managed with a proper pad and some coated wheels.

[Corgiman30]

My big concern with the CCR has always been damage, be it from improper wheel removal/install or road debris.

Never had a car with them, is that being overly cautious?

Brake dust can easily be managed with a proper pad and some coated wheels.

+1

[Avalon911]

My big concern with the CCR has always been damage, be it from improper wheel removal/install or road debris.

Never had a car with them, is that being overly cautious?

Brake dust can easily be managed with a proper pad and some coated wheels.

I guess YMMV, but I had a very different experience. I had two cars with very similar wheels (both matte black BBS OEM). One car had ceramics and one car had steel. Both were professionally coated with C-Quartz. The difference in keeping the wheels clean was literally day and night. The ceramics seemed to never be dirty, while the steels needed cleaning after a short blast (and were still very hard to clean) and always looked terrible. Before that direct comparison, I was always on the fence about ordering ceramics and the up front cost. Now, I find it hard to not go with the ceramics, especially where I'm not tracking the car and I can factor-in the savings of at least one rotor change that would have been necessary with the steelies. For any car that would regularly be tracked, I would not go with ceramics. I realize it's counter-intuitive, but I'm convinced you don't want to be replacing ceramics on a track car. Just my personal experience.

[BucksCtyMike]

Wish I would have given it more thought before ordering. My initial reaction to the choice has always been steel, no brainer.

Now I’m not so sure, not that I have a choice at this point.

Maybe I’ll lead the way for low dust pads ... lol

Thanks for input Avalon.

[TFarrell]

so no issues with ceramics in cold fridgid conditions? im in Michigan and it gets cold here...

[MBrock]

They are great and worth the 9k premium. No issues in below freezing Ohio temps and snow. The only thing I've notice is when I come out of the touch-less car wash the brakes don't grip well until you pump them hard several times. It's almost like they have a coating of ice on the surface. First time this occurred was a little scary. Thank God I didn't smack into the car in front of me.

[Avalon911]

so no issues with ceramics in cold fridgid conditions? im in Michigan and it gets cold here...

I’ve had no problems driving my RS6 so far this winter in the Phila area. My other car with ceramics (GT3) gets put away for the winter, so not much to go on there.

[Jimminez@Nemesis]

so no issues with ceramics in cold fridgid conditions? im in Michigan and it gets cold here...

No issues here. Tested them out in -20C (-4F) not long ago and no issues with initial bite and no squealing.

[Grundel76]

so no issues with ceramics in cold fridgid conditions? im in Michigan and it gets cold here...

I’ll chime in here. CCB holding up with the recent New England snow and cold. I did the McLaren CCB bedding procedure last weekend so not sure if that changes anything. No noise. I have not found the need to warm up the brakes. Then again, I take it easy in general until the engine is nice and warmed up.

[TFarrell]

well, I'm sold on em. thanks gents!

[gpoulos]

so no issues with ceramics in cold fridgid conditions? im in Michigan and it gets cold here...

Same here in NY. CCB. Got them for the brake dust issue. No squealing in freezing temps at all..heck no squealing at all since i picked up the car.

[skiiipi]

My big concern with the CCR has always been damage, be it from improper wheel removal/install or road debris.

Never had a car with them, is that being overly cautious?

Brake dust can easily be managed with a proper pad and some coated wheels.

This is still my concern with CCBs.....
Does this happen often? Or is it like a super rare thing?

[Gilligan]

Thank you all for the input on this post as well as the one referenced earlier in the post. I decided to go with carbon ceramics. One side benefit of making this decision, is that it pulled in my build date by two weeks: late April to early April. That was a nice side benefit of making this change to my order.

[Treeskier]

This is still my concern with CCBs.....
Does this happen often? Or is it like a super rare thing?

no one i've known has ever damaged theirs. i've always heard of it as a threat, but never seen it IRL...so not sure if it's more of an urban myth at this point, similar to cold squealing, from issues with older generation / technologies or what.

[skiiipi]

no one i've known has ever damaged theirs. i've always heard of it as a threat, but never seen it IRL...so not sure if it's more of an urban myth at this point, similar to cold squealing, from issues with older generation / technologies or what.

yea if you search the web..you get some stories on R8s, TTRS with cracked or chipped ceramics....but possibly they have become more durable/chip resistant with newer technologies.

[Bkhko]

yea if you search the web..you get some stories on R8s, TTRS with cracked or chipped ceramics....but possibly they have become more durable/chip resistant with newer technologies.

I’ve had a set crack on me from debris on the road. But that was on a 2014 car, so technology may have changed. I have a 2012 car with CCB and aside from squeaking and cold brake issues, they’ve performed flawlessly when operating at the right temp. Neither were Audi cars so don’t have direct experience with whomever supplies Audi.

For my RS6, it’ll be a DD for me so I spec’d steel brakes to avoid the costly replacement incase of accidental damage.

[Geburgess]

Wow - so glad you asked this. I called the parts dept and found out the rotors alone for ceramic were $13k; didnt think to ask about the cost of steel - $5k??!! Also I think ceramic will make a car rarer for long term resale, but likely not $9k worth.
-Gregg

[RTW S4]

Ceramics for all the 190mph grocery runs.

[sdaudiguy]

Wow - so glad you asked this. I called the parts dept and found out the rotors alone for ceramic were $13k; didnt think to ask about the cost of steel - $5k??!! Also I think ceramic will make a car rarer for long term resale, but likely not $9k worth.
-Gregg

But the ceramics last up to 100k vs the 25-30 on the steels plus the steels make more brake dust than any other car I’ve ever owned. If I could go back that would be my one change.

[gpoulos]

I honestly went ceramics for the longevity and the brake dust reduction. A 13k replacement at 7 years . I guess it depends on your finances. If this car is a stretch to begin with maybe stick with steels.


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[jmy_oak]

But the ceramics last up to 100k vs the 25-30 on the steels plus the steels make more brake dust than any other car I’ve ever owned. If I could go back that would be my one change.

Same. I went with steel and it is my one major regret. I don’t need the performance. I would’ve have done it solely to avoid the brake dust. I have owned Audis exclusively since 2000. This is my first RS car but by far the worst brake dust I’ve ever experienced.


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[Token Blk Guy]

I may be swinging in left field here but did I see somewhere in these threads that if you purchase the Brakes/ Audi maintenance plan it covers pad and rotor replacements for a set period of time. Does that include the ceramics? Would that be a bonus if so?

I thought the 9k was a bit steep for a set up I "may never use" but I do feel with this car I'm not going to be putting 30-40K miles on it a year like I have done with my other cars. So it may make sense to go steelies but all things considered if they last 100K.. I probably wont reach that for another 10 years or so. I plan for this to be my "holy grail car" and don't plan on buying another car anytime soon.

Reading everyone responses has me torn lol

[Jimminez@Nemesis]

I may be swinging in left field here but did I see somewhere in these threads that if you purchase the Brakes/ Audi maintenance plan it covers pad and rotor replacements for a set period of time. Does that include the ceramics? Would that be a bonus if so?

I thought the 9k was a bit steep for a set up I "may never use" but I do feel with this car I'm not going to be putting 30-40K miles on it a year like I have done with my other cars. So it may make sense to go steelies but all things considered if they last 100K.. I probably wont reach that for another 10 years or so. I plan for this to be my "holy grail car" and don't plan on buying another car anytime soon.

Reading everyone responses has me torn lol

Not sure how it is in the US but imagine it’s the same as in Canada and the brake plan does not cover the ceramics. Dealer tried to sell me on it but they needed to read the fine print.

[Treeskier]

I may be swinging in left field here but did I see somewhere in these threads that if you purchase the Brakes/ Audi maintenance plan it covers pad and rotor replacements for a set period of time. Does that include the ceramics? Would that be a bonus if so?

I thought the 9k was a bit steep for a set up I "may never use" but I do feel with this car I'm not going to be putting 30-40K miles on it a year like I have done with my other cars. So it may make sense to go steelies but all things considered if they last 100K.. I probably wont reach that for another 10 years or so. I plan for this to be my "holy grail car" and don't plan on buying another car anytime soon.

Reading everyone responses has me torn lol

Maintenance plan DOES NOT cover the ceramics, only steel brakes.

I went ceramics for all the reasons mentioned above. No regrets.

[FBAnder]

Steelies. No regrets.

[gopherblue]

So is the consensus that aside from the upfront $9k cost, the ceramics will only require replacement at 100k miles, while the steels will like have been replaced 3x in that time period? So the ceramics cost ($9k plus replacement ceramics) is about the same as the cost of steel plus 3 brake jobs? And the ceramics have the added benefit of no brake dust?

[Noggybowl]

In my opinion, it depends on where you live also. My car will be driven in the snow, it will have the possibility of gravel or rocks adding additional influence on the brakes. I swap my wheels 2 times a year for a dedicated winter set. While I do that myself, if you have others do it, that is another door for a wheel to chip the rotor/etc.

To me, the ceramics didn’t make sense. They are cool and less brake dust sounds awesome, but wasn’t worth the fragility of them.