re: UFO brakes

[Phil Rose <pjrose@servtech.com>]

>Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 10:01:56 -0700
>From: John Cassidy/Sallyann Mulcahy <jcasidy@uswest.net>
>Subject: UFO brakes
>
>   I've been a quattro fan for 12 years now, and have just stumbled onto
>your get together here.  I am in the market for a '91 200tq.  What is
>all this talk about UFO brakes?  From what I can gather, you don't want
>them.  How do you tell if they are on  a perspective vehicle, and if
>they are...then what?  I appreciate your attention!

Well, it depends on your "perspective". :-) If from a kneeling position,
with front tires mounted, you'll be able to peek through the wheel slots
and see parts of a heavy, strange cast-iron network--where normally you'd
expect to just get a glimpse of caliper and rotor disk. But if a front
wheel is removed, you'll know immediately if UFOs are present--a big
cast-iron basket affair in which the basket's topside (i.e., the opening,
toward the interior) forms the brake rotor.

What then? If the UFOs look decent and don't pulsate from being badly
warped, just go with it, I guess, if the rest of the car is good. But if
badly worn and/or lots of pulsating--plan on a fairly costly parts bill for
new UFO rotors and pads. Some claim that UFO rotors can be turned
successfully--but even new, they are prone to warp if not carefully used,
so re-faced rotors will be that much more likely to warp, I guess.

The alternative is retrofitting struts/rotors/calipers from an S4 (or
earlier model 200q), and then having "normal" brakes. The retro-conversion
is very pricey ($1-1.5K or more?), and might equal the cost of two cycles
of replacing the UFO rotor/pads. BTW, the UFO brakes, when they're working
well are considered to give much better stopping ability for this car than
the conversion-style.

My car had the non-UFO conversion already done by Audi. So I've never have
had to deal with the decisions.
HTH,



Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
'91 200q				mailto:pjrose@servtech.com
'89 100