Had my 2003 A4 3.0Q in for a minor warranty repair the other day, and was informed by the service writer that my front brake pads are down to 3mm, and the rear almost the same. Apparently at 2mm is when the sensor will activate the warning light on the dashboard. When I asked him how much to replace the pads & turn the rotors, he said the rotors can't be turned, they must be replaced. Having grown up working around cars and having brought many brake rotors to the parts store to get turned, I found this rather strange, seeing as this is the first set of brake pads this car has ever had. It's at about 48,000 miles now.

Secondary question - my car has the ESP option and I read somewhere that when changing the brake pads that you have to reprogram the car's computer so that it "knows" that they were replaced. True or not?

I'm inclined to just change the brake pads like I've always done on my other cars, take the rotors in and have them turned at a shop, and spend less than a couple hundred on new front/rear pads.

Recommendations on good pads to get? I was looking at the Akebono and PBR ceramic pads at car-stuff.com

 

not sure about the ESP, you may wanna contact avant80@2.6 or auditech79 for that. as for the rotors i dont see why you cant just have them resurfaced, as long as the rotors arent grooved or burned or warped they should be good.

 

first i have never heard that about ESP. Brake pad wear does not matter so i say NO. Some cars can not have turned rotors for many reasons but the main reason is thickness. They will become so then that you will warp the rotors once you get on the brakes. Try to find the min spec on the rotors and mic yours to see how your compare.

 

youve never heard about Electronic Stability Program

 

no iv never heard about getting it reset. That is like reseting you abs system when you do tie rods.

 

I have ESP. When I had the pads replaced with semi-metalic ones,
there was no need to reset the computer. Your rotors are probably fine.
If your car has less than 50K mi. and 4 years use, have the dealer replace
the pads under warranty.

 

It is out of warranty (still covered by the certified pre-owned). Since the pads haven't cut into the rotor surface at all yet, I've got to assume there is at least some room left to turn the rotors at least once in their lifetime before having to replace them. Much as I like some of the service techs there, I'm dealing with a new service writer and he claims they will not change just the pads - they are required to change rotors per their policy (don't know if it's Audi policy or just that dealer's)

 

no need to even turn the rotors just do a pad slap and bed.

 

+1 ^

 

^^Ditto