Re: Audi Braking (not breaking)

[Law Guest Account <lawguest@wppost.depaul.edu>]

Well, in my opinion, the stock brakes on Audis are nothing to write home
about.  They may be adequate for "street" use by the "typical" driver but
are generally inadequate from an enthusiast's point of view.  I utterly fried
the brakes on my first Audi, an '81 Coupe GT, the first time I took it for a
spirited mountain drive with its upgraded tires and shocks.  The front
brakes were solid 9.6" discs with drums in the rear.  Anything with a
great big  "GT" designation on the trunklid should have had better brakes,
IMO.  On my current car, the 5KCSTQ, the brakes are bigger and
ventilated at the front but still look a little meek overall compared to the
beefy units I see on BMWs and Porsches of similar or lesser weight/size. 
My friend's 924S with its relatively weak motor has excellent brakes that
are more than adequate for the top speed of the car, something I can't
say about my car. I think even a VW Corrado had better brakes than my
TQ!   I have never seriously faded my (stock) brakes yet but I have really
never pushed them hard  because I only got the car relatively recently
and it's got a bad shock.  But I bet that if I had to haul the car down from
130mph more than once I'd fade the brakes.  Lots of Q-Listers have made
reference to the fact that they toasted their stock brakes at various track
events.

I don't know first hand about the brakes on something like an S4,
however. The RS2 comes with a set of gargantuan Porsche brakes, from
what I understand.  

I was poking around the Audicar magazine site and read the letter to
Autoweek by the guy who publishes (?) Audicar on the web.  He's got
an A8 and his biggest (and just about only) gripe about the car was its
borderline-adequate brakes for spirited driving.  And I see why:
compared to other cars in its class, the A8 has small rotors and calipers.

I solved the problem on my Coupe by putting a set of ventilated Brembos
on the front.  I found a set of caliper-mount brackets from a later 4K at the
junkyard and bolted them right on, with stainless lines.  Then the brakes
were much more secure. I did the same thing to my erstwhile 4KQ.  I
intend to get a set of slotted and/or drilled Brembos for the front of my
current car when I am ready to do the suspension.  But without going to
larger wheels (I have 15x7 Fuchs) I can't go to larger rotors/calipers, and
that means $$ that I don't have.

BMW's new ad in (I think) Road and Track focuses entirely on the
superior brakes of its cars.  Unfortunately I'd have to agree in general if I
were comparing notes with a BMW owner.


Still love my Quattro,

Alex
'86 5KCSTQ