Re: 91 200 TQ Brakes (longish ANTI-UFO)

[Sargent Schutt <sargent@novagate.com>]

I would never ever recommend buying UFO brakes to ANYONE. I bought my 91
200q (the one in EC) WITH UFO brakes, to the advice of many who say they
are great brakes and have not had problems. I can NOT corroborate that
story.

I bought the car in Michigan (during a snowstorm :-)) 1/2/97. On 1/4/97
I drove from MI to Vail, CO. By the time I was in Vail, after a few
mountain passes (high speed) the infamous UFO brakes had started to
warp. Heat should not have been an issue. 90 or so MPH on the freeway,
little use of brakes on downsloping passes, near to below freezing
temps, and yet they warped. By the time I made it to Telluride a few
days later, they were nearly trashed. A couple high-speed stops
straightened 'em out a little. Compounding the problem was the fact that
between Vail and Telluride it snowed pretty hard, and the snow/slush
became clogged in the brake cooling scoops. That's some real FINE
engineering; a quattro that isn't designed to be driven in the snow.

Upon returning to San Diego, something had to be done. After waiting for
AVS to put together a bracket kit using the UFO strut tower with a
caliper bracket holding a four pot caliper over the OE S4 rotor (don't
know if Max ever got this together or not), I went with the 'upgrade'
kit. The upgrade kit (I bought from AVS) used the conversion strut
towers and calipers used on the S4/S6/92+V8. Cost $1200 - used strut
towers/rotors; new pads/rotors. I do not believe these calipers are the
G60 units, but shamefully I do not have data on this. (Can anyone give
me the answer -> S4/6 = G60s??) Regardless, they do not stop as nice as
the UFOs, but no spasmic steering wheel, either. And replacement rotors
don't cost $700. What a JOKE. Sorry, but I feel I got ripped-off by Audi
on this one. How could they have done such a piss-poor job of
engineering on such a major component, arguably the most important thing
on the entire car?!?

Bottom line - get someone to knock off around $1500 for a car with UFOs,
buy it and throw some four pot calipers on it. You'll be pleased as
punch. I had my two-pot set-up at Thunderhill, and I can only say that
they were fine, not superb. The pedal felt a little spongy after 30-40
minutes of hammering, but that may owe more to the OE fluid I had in
there. Unfortunately some last minute snafus prevented my getting the
car set-up properly. Next week it is getting stainless lines all around
(DOT approved), new rear calipers, e-brake cables, and some Motul
high-temp stopping sauce. This should cure the high-temp spongy problem,
improve feel about 10%, and give a good measure of how well the calipers
are working. Pads are PBR metalmasters. They did well, I did not notice
tremendous fade, even after an hour and half on the track (only
sponginess - more a function of the fluid, me thinks). Rotors are OE
S4/6 rotors - not drilled or slotted.

Oh, when I bought my car, the previous owner had installed *NEW* UFO
calipers, rotors and pads 15k miles before my purchase. They were *not*
warped when I bought it. I got only 2k miles or so out of them. Yes,
they are like anchors, stopping feel is nice, very nice. But they are
fragile as all hell. Not a commendable charactarisitic for BRAKES.

Anyway, that's my .02 on these things. Actually more like $1500. I'm
still fuming about it.

Regards,

Sarge

91 200q
86 5ktq