I just replaced the front disc rotors and pads on my 1998 a6 quattro (2.8 v6)

Piece of cake - use this article for break pad replacement:

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel25.shtml

if replacing discs too you need to remove the caliper bracket - 2 17mm nuts behind the bracket. Once the bracket is out of the way hammer the rotor from behind to get it pop off.
I used to zip tied to support the loose caliper while working on the pads.
Also I didn't use C-clamp or any fancy brake tool to push the pistons in - I had the old pads in place and used screw driver and other levers to slowly lever the agains the pad and push the pistons in - as said in the article keep eye on the brake fluid reservoir as not to over flow it.

Whole thing took me (alone) 2h and some, with lots of dicking around and chit chatting. Parts were around 160$ (brembo discs and mintex pads) including CA sales tax and shipping. That should beat the dealer pricing by a decent marigin. I bought my parts from http://www.purems.com - http://www.ecstuning.com has similaqr products and pricing - I just have previous good experience with purems so I used them.