My 2007 A8L's brake pad light turned on at ~67K miles. I brought it to the dealer for service and received a callback that both the front and rear pads and all four rotors needed to be replaced. The rotors were "worn and out of tolerance". The total job will cost north of $2000.
In my experience, front and rear pads never wear at the same rate, AND I have never needed to replace rotors when pads are changed before reaching the rivets,(let alone within 67k miles).

Is this normal for this vehicle or is this an indication of an unethical service shop that I should stay clear of?

 

Perhaps the front pads were replaced without the rear pads being replaced. Most German cars I've had get about 15-20K miles from front pads and 30-35K from rears (Audi, Porsche MB's). IF the rotors have never been replaced, then 65K or so is quite reasonable for 'normal' driving, based on my experience with the above models. Again, front rotors need replacing at about 2x the rate of the rears.

I have an A8 with ~65K miles, and I'll be replacing the front rotors when I do the next brake pad replacement on the fronts - probably 10K from now. Car has been driven very conservatively by my wife and the one previous owner.

 

Just to throw things, my A8 is the other way round. 2x rears for every front. The dealer said it is because I do mostly urban driving and the EBD uses the rears more at slow speeds for improved refinement.

 

You can always get a second opinion from a reputable independent Euro Repair shop. What I find on most European cars is the rotors wear with the brake pads. 80% of the time the rotors do need to be replaced with the brake pads.

 

Thanks for the feedback!
I went ahead with the dealer and had them replace all brake pads and rotors for a total of ~$1600. I then left the dealer and discovered a vibration on the highway. After returning and having the vehicle checked, I am told 3 out of 4 wheels are bent out of round. They rebalanced and rotated the wheels but the vibration is still there, (I can feel it in the steering wheel).
The car drove perfectly when I dropped it off a few days ago, so I don't understand how this could be a wheel issue. Any ideas what may be happening? Has anyone ever experienced an out of balance issue with new rotors?

 

sounds to me you got robbed on the brake job dealer here quated 1000 for front and rear pads and rotors. I would talk to the owner of the dealership that is insane.

 

I shopped around and found that this dealer price is on the high side but not exceptionally. Unfortunately these are the prices where I live.

Back to the vibration issue...
The dealer first rebalanced and rotated my wheels without fixing the vibration.
They then brought in their wheel guy to straighten my bent wheels, but the vibration persists.

As I told them, there was never any vibration prior to the brake job, (despite the fact that they identified 3 out of 4 rims as bent). The only thing that changed was the rotors and pads. Therefore it must be a bad rotor or something to do with the brake job. Looking online I have found what sounds like the same issue after replacing pads and rotors. However, it seems to have only occurred with aftermarket rotors, not OEM.

 

I would suspect rust or some other debris between the rotor and hub. Very unlikely a rotor is far enough out of balance to vibrate BUT,,,it has happened.

 

This vibration can happen with a warped rotor on the front. I've had it happen on my Porsche with an aftermarket rotor. Guess it 'could' happen with an OE rotor, but much less likely.

IF it is a warped rotor, either: (1) and OE rotor was unsatisfactorily checked in quality control, or (2), the dealer is using aftermarket rotors which also were unsatisfactorily checked in quality control.

The one I had that was bad came from a well known Porsche products retailer in the US, but I believe the rotor had been made in China.

Gary---

 

I am at 130K miles, replaced front 3 times with rotors and pads, approx cost of front in parts $400 and rears 1 time with rotors and pads and 2 times with just pads. Rear rotors and pads approx $300.

So if you have to do all four in parts alone rotors and pads it works out to approx $700 with OEM. I do it myself and save on the labor which doubles the cost.

Never had the vibration issue after, only prior when the rotors warp at end of life.