My daughter recently purchased a 2003 A4 3.0 cab. She had the car inspected and understood that the brakes would need replacing soon.

Well, her brake pad warning light came on last night. How much time does she have (approx miles) until damage starts to happen to the rotors? My BMW mechanic always replaces rotors when he does the pads (claims it is recommended by BMW). Is this recommended with Audis as well or can you just change pads with a possible resurface of the rotors? Are Audi rotors expensive (BMW rotors are surprisingly cheap)?

 

You can change pads without touching the rotors at all if they are in good condition. The reason people resurface the rotors is because the pads sometimes wear grooves in the surface of the rotor so they make them flush again.There is no reason you should have to replace rotors every time, it sounds like your BMW mechanic is taking you for a ride with your money.

 

As long as the rotors are smooth, and are at least the minimum thickness, then you do not need to replace them, or turn them for that matter.
If you do decide to turn them, I believe these need to be turned on the car. I think they no longer reccomend turning the rotors off the vehicle, they have a special machine that does it while on the car.
If they look like they have grooves in them, or the pads have worn down to metal, then I would just replace them (upgrade even) rather than having them turned.

 

not always, check the outer edge of the rotor for a large lip and excess tram lines on the rotor due to wear and tare because of heavy breaking

 

Isn't there an issue with glazing when you have new pads with "shiny" rotors?

 

Thanks for the quick feedback. Who do you recommend for pads (dealer, aftermarket - which brand)? Same question for rotors (if needed)?

 

ECS tuning has good packages. But it all depends on what you are doing with the car. OEM is pretty good if you are not really modding or driving hard.

 

If you're running stock brakes, the cheapest rotors you can find will serve you well. In fact - I have a set of rotors with about 9k on them. They were $30 each new and are in good shape. OH! I also have a new set of EBC greenstuff pads for the front. I have these on my car and they're a great set of pads. They don;'t squeak either (since I bed them in properly).

PM me if you're interested. I have no use for them!

 

No performance brakes needed here. Is the light on the dash indicative of low fluid (due to wear on the pads) or is there an actual sensor on the pads? How long does she have (approx miles) before she starts doing damage?

 

Once the light it on I'd say you have about 3k left - max