LR Audi

As requested I'm doing a brake pad review on three brake pads, plus rotors. I have the 245mm rear rotors, single piston calipers and non-sport suspension.

First off is OEM Audi brake pads, which are manufactured by TRW as stamped on the pads. These pads are a semi-metallic compound and predicted they are generally good all-around brake pads. They do have quite a bit of dust but they are surprisingly quiet. They have average bite when cold and good bite when warm, although they do tend to fade after repeated use. With so many other manufacturers that offer far better performance for less money, I would never recommend going with OEM pads unless you're obsessive compulsive about keeping your car bone stock. These have a 1 year 20,000km warranty but should generally outlast this if you aren't too hard on your brakes.

Second is ATE brake pads. These brake pads I bought at Canadian Tire when they were on sale for roughly $70. They are a ceramic compound and they have significantly better bite than OEM pads. They far poor braking characteristics when they are cold, but when they are warm they have pretty strong bite. They are almost fade free. One thing that set me off was they were incredibly noisy, despite installation of shims and brake lubricant. Another reason why I would not recommend these pads is that their poor life expectancy. They only lasted a mere 15,000km! Granted I drive aggressively, but for these brakes to wear out that fast was mind boggling. Despite being under warranty, I decided there were far better options out there so I didn't bother with my warranty claim. These brakes have a 2 year 60,000km warranty from Canadian Tire.

Finally is EBC RedStuff brake pads. People always wonder what the difference between EBC's green, red and yellow. Green is good, red is better and yellow is best in regards to absolute performance. Green is an OEM replacement, red is high performance and yellow is track use. I purchased these off Fleabay for around $100 shipped. They are a ceramic kevlar compound and they have minimal brake dust. Surprisingly they are much more quiet than the ATE brake pads, but not as quiet as the OEM/TRW pads. What the hell does TRW do to their semi-metalllic pads to make them so quiet? Who knows. Anyways, EBC's RedStuff pads have very good bite right off the bat, even when they're cold. When they're warm, you better modulate that brake pedal precisely because they have tremendous bite! It seems the hotter these brake pads get, the stronger the bite, so watch out! They have zero brake fade, even going up and down the Upper Levels Highway several times riding the brakes I didn't experience any brake fade at all. So far I have put 10,000km of aggressive driving into these brake pads and there is still plenty of meat left in them, unlike the ATE pads. I would highly recommend these pads, and when it's time to do my front brakes this is what I will go with.


Here are some pics that I took today of my rear brakes. Also, my rear rotors are from a company called Regal Brakes based in Kingston, Ontario. They were selling these rotors for $50.00! What a steal of a deal!

Pic 1 - My rear calipers, painted red with VHT brake caliper paint.
Pic 2 - Another pic of my driver-side rear caliper, soaking in brake cleaner.
Pic 3 - Most of the grease and dirt removed from the brakes.
Pic 4 - My brakes behind OEM 16x7j "wineglass" wheels.

PhiDelt

Nice writeup. Thanks!

LR Audi

No problem. Good to see that amongst the many people who read my posts at least I have one response.

PhiDelt

I am probably due for replacements sometime this summer or thereabouts. Where did you get the EBC RedStuff pads from? Hw much did they run you?

awcjacobs

I put Hawk HPS pads on all 4s and there was significant improvement compared to the previous OEM pads. I find the HPS have a nice bite, especially when the brakes are warm. Lots of brake dust however, so cleaning your rims are a 'weekly' chore, but a reason to keep your car clean.

cheeba

Good info! Be sure to bed in your pads properly, as it makes a noticeable difference in braking performance: Wilwood. There are tons of procedures on the 'net, but they're all essentially the same.

I have several different pads for my car, so I just swap in whatever I want to run

LR Audi

I was strongly considering Hawk HPS are many other Audi owners use them but I didn't care for the horrible brake dust. Many 2.7T and 4.2 40V owners run them front and back. They are
supposed to take require a slightly longer warm up time compared to Redstuff but have overall better braking performance. Unfortunately there is no Yellowstuff available for my particular application, but I heard from many Z06 guys that Yellowstuff is the best.

LR Audi

Unfortunately, where I live there is plenty of traffic so when I bed in my brakes I have to wake up very early in the morning to get it done. I always bed in my brakes properly. I see people spend plenty of money on high quality pads and rotors and then just start driving off as if everything is all good.

Cheeba, you have a serious ride. I'm sure not a lot of people would suspect a TT with the capabilities yours has.

A6Newbie

LR, did you get around to the front brakes yet? I would also like to know 'Where did you get the EBC RedStuff pads from? Hw much did they run you?' question from Chris. Although I have the 2.7T with the 321mm four pads gurling calipers and it's hard to find the right pads for them. I am due to change them out and got a set of Zimmerman X-drills waiting but still researching the right pads. Any help out there would help.

LR Audi

I replaced my rotors with cross-drilled/slotted directional rotors and I matched the pads with EBC RedStuff. I might do a write up later.