re 99 A6 brake Problem????

["Smith, Kirby A" <kirby.a.smith@lmco.com>]

J. Kris Baca [SMTP:kris.baca@nwa.com] wrote:
> 
> I just bought an A6 and occasionally the brakes feel *very* strange.  It
> has happened twice now in 2 weeks.  Both times it was when I was leaving
> a parking lot and braking to see if the road was clear.  What happens is
> that the brake pedal feels like it is connected directly to the calipers
> and I hear and feel a grinding type noise. It's as if the power brakes
> completely shut off.  I really have to stand hard on the brakes and the
> pedal actually vibrates my leg.  Then once the vehicle stops and I take
> my foot off the brake pedal and reapply it, they work normally.  This
> has never happened on the highway or anywhere else.  Has this happened
> to anyone else?  I can't imagine it's normal.
-------------------------------------------
I can't speak to the A6 directly, but both of my 90qs automatically test the
ABS after starting.  I have never been certain whether it is at a fixed
time, or when you press on the brake within a certain time.  On my car it is
very subtle, but on my wife's, built only a few VIN earlier, you would
believe that the brake pedal was scraping on the brake rotors.

Its not however.  The vibration you feel is the ABS functioning; and when
you use it in an emergency, it will feel like this.  Its best to be mentally
prepared for it.  I suspect your A6 is just testing its brakes for you, just
as you should test your brakes when you start out at your convenience, not
at the convenience of an incipient accident.

                .... Kirby   (Kirby A. Smith)
                              2 x 1988 90q
                          New Hampshire USA