Brake Balance

[Grant Lenahan]

No, its not normal. Typically, any front-heavy car will go through 2 
pairs of front pads to 1 pair of rears. This was true of my 2000 S4, my 
1991 90q20v, and my present c5S6 (but it is better thanb the previous 
two).

You could have:

1. a bad proportioning valve
2. A poor pad-to-rotor seating on the fronts (I saw a pair of rears 
basically go beyond their adjustment and do nada - even though they 
"worked"
3. A stuck (open) piston, btu I doubt this or it would pull to the 
side. Not exactly subtle

Of course a really weird ABS glitch could mimic #1. Dont even think 
about it.

Grant
On Jan 10, 2007, at 11:46 AM, Dan DiBiase wrote:

> In the past, I have questioned the 'balance' of the brakes on my car 
> ('04 A4 1.8T) - the rear wheels consistently display a larger amount 
> of brake dust than do the fronts. I understand that the front brakes 
> do most of the braking, normally, in a car. I think I have some proof 
> now that something is unusual with my car, if not amiss.
>
> As part of the oil change service by my local (trusted) shop, they 
> provide a printout with a bunch of other data - tire tread depth, 
> pressures and 'brake life remaining', which I assume is a simple 
> measurement of the pads. My reports states that the front brakes have 
> about 65% life remaining, while the rears have 45%. Now, I'm assuming 
> that the pads begin at the same thickness (i.e., rears are not thinner 
> for any reason).
>
> So, what would explain this? I have not noticed any lack of braking 
> power from the car. 90% of the driving done in this car is with only 
> the driver aboard. I have just over 40k on the car and these are the 
> original pads. Is this normal for a quattro?
>
> Thx,
>
> Dan D
> '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
> Central NJ USA
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