Brake Pedal travel
 

In the last month with increasingly colder days I have heard some noise from my brakes most notably when the car is just warming up. The noise is kind of a friction/rubbing noise but doesn’t sound like the noise you get when the pads are worn down (it is less high pitched than that. The car is new with 7k miles.
Anyway, last night on dry conditions and also recently in other situations I noticed my brakes seems to not be grabbing at all and if I am going even 30mph and step down hard the stop seems to come dangerously slow. So slow that the antilock barely engages or not at all as the brakes aren’t slowing the car fast enough that the anti-lock would even have to engage.
Has anyone had a similar issue with the brakes or have any advice? I will take it in to the dealership to have it checked out but wanted to see if this is normal (which is does not seem to be to me). Perhaps my expectations are too high of the stock brakes, but I wouldn’t think I would have to press down so hard on the brakes to stop the car quickly at slow speeds (30mph and under).
thanks

Definitely not normal. . .Are you using the factory pads or aftermarket?

Hi kgw - I am using factory pads. I called the dealership and described it to the person at service and she claimed the break pedal travel was normal and that she has the same type feel on her A4. I may go in and have someone ride with me as a little extra pedal travel isn't a problem but having to hold down that hard to force a faster stop doesn't feel right. Have you switched to some aftermarket pads? I also note you have the HPA DSG stage 2, what is that? I am about to do the Haldex gen 2 by the way.

Cain,

I'm using Hawk Ceramic pads:

Hawk Performance Ceramic Pads Part #'s for 2006 A3 2.0T/3.2:
FRONT Manufacturer Part #: HB543Z.760
REAR Manufacturer Part #: HB544Z.628

They grab nicely; the part number is likely the same for your car, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check.

Marcel Horn, the principal of HPA Motorsports http://www.hpamotorsports.com/ ,
knows the DSG transmission like no one else, and he has developed 3 re-flashes of the software programming for it. Here's the cut and paste from their website:

Stage 1:
4750RPM launch control with disabled kick down in manual mode

NOTE: ANY Car which does not have factory launch control will now have it engaged!

Putting the driver back in control, the DSG will react as a true manual gearbox allowing better control and feel in mid corner entry and exit. With the higher launch control, the reaction off the line will radically improve as the 3.2 will launch within its TQ band.

Stage 2:
Stage 1 + shortened shift response, 7150RPM redline

With all the advantages of Stage 1, the stage 2 expands the control of the driver by shortening the reaction time of each shift upwards of 60%. With the redline bumped, no longer will the gearbox shifts begin its shift at 6500RPM. Breathing into the red, the motor’s power band will be fully unleashed.

Stage 3:
Stage 2 + higher TQ limit ,clutch engagement optimization, “D” mode reprogrammed for a sportier street feel

A MUST if you have 400hp +Intended for modified FI applications, we have revamped the clutch engagement curve to allow better grip with the OEM clutches or our aftermarket upgraded versions. The TQ limits that the DSG will accept have been increased. The D mode remaps the shift point for round town driving. No longer will the DSG shift through all 6 gears under 35MPH. With heavy power modes, the resulting kick downs are very abusive on the gearbox and erode the initial impact of the power band when looking to overtake.

***

Marcel is winding up a 5-city tour re-flashing the DSG's of those of us who signed up for the initial run. I was in the first group in Los Angeles. Here is the thread over on the Vortex with lots of info and reactions to the flash: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4158902 The response has been very good, so he will likely schedule more such tours.

The oem program for the DSG is very conservative; it actually commands the ecu to retard the timing at a certain level of torque. This flash will actually let any other performance mods loose. In L.A. one of the R32's had an aftermarket turbo and the owner was blown away by how much more alive the car's power had become. After my flash, the first thing I noticed was how much harder, and immediately, the car pulled! After Marcel would flash a car, the owner would take it out for a test drive and come back with a large grin!

Here is some video from the Texas group showing an R32 and an A3 using launch control after the flash: http://www.vimeo.com/2784810

Highly recommended!

kgw - Thanks for the info. I realized I could have gone right to the HPA site but thanks for giving me your view on it as well which is mostly what I was looking. It really sounds great. What happens though if you take your car in and the dealer reflashes your ECU for an update? Won't you lose your software at that time? I am going to check this out for sure.

im not sure but it sounds like you could have air in ur break lines (try flushing it. i heard it happens more often in colder temps, i think its someting to do with the moisture in the lines freezing or something) or maybe the break lines are cracking.... but with only 7k mi I really doubt it'd be that...

Cain,

Here is what Marcel says about the dealer flashing over the mechatronic flash:

"Our flash can only be lost through a dealer reflash. Your OE file will be archived on our servers, and we would be able to reflash your module without having to re read your ECM. Short of this, there is no other way the flash could be lost."

An ecu flash, ie, revo, unitronic, giac, does not alter the mechatronic unit in the DSG.