The Audi mechanic gave me a PhD thesis defense on the message machine about the new materials in Audi brakes, the “high performance,” and how crud [my word, not his] can easily gather on the brakes, and how the mechanic cleaned them, and how I should slam on the brakes often to “clean” them.
When I saw the car care “consultant” in person when I went to pick up the car, I told him I’d been driving for 50 years, and squeaky brakes were always something to fix. He said, in an extremely condescending tone, that I had been driving with the “old” style brakes [yes, the ones that stop the car without squeaking, I politely thought to myself], and that the mechanic checked the brakes thoroughly, cleaned them, and they are fine. He repeated that I should just slam them on forcefully once in a while and not shift down. So, I can’t wait to come up behind this “care consultant” at a stop sign at about 60 MPH and slam on the brakes at the last minute…just to show him I was following his instructions. I drove out of the garage, and they squeaked at the first light.
Now, I read that the asbestos on “old” brakes was harmful, so Audi has styled the newer ones and this is the result—the materials they use instead of asbestos attract stuff that makes them squeak.
What I, in my presumptuous way, as the poor schlub who just makes the payment every month and doesn’t know anything, want to know is whether the “stuff” that is building up and that they cleaned off is or is not interfering with the ability of the brakes to grab…or “work”, that quaint term?
This is the dealer garage where I bought the car, so I want to continue to go to them for warranty purposes.
Anytime you change the friction material compound on brake pads to something other than what the vehicle manufacturer specifies, it can result in brake noise or unsatisfying performance. This is one of the reasons why I try to sway people away from installing brake pads where the friction material doesn’t meet the manufacturers specifications. If they insist that I install these non-OEM type brake pads, I make it clear to them that doing so may result in unwanted brake noise. And if it does, the only fix is redo the brake job installing OEM type brake pads.
Also, when purchasing new brake pads, they come with instructions on the proper break-in procedure for new the brake pads. If this procedure isn’t followed, it can also result in brake noise. Even when OEM type brake pads are installed.
So make sure that the brake pads meet the specifications of the vehicle manufacturer, and that the proper break-in procedure is followed after their installation, and there should be no brake noise.
Tester
My son bought an A3. he also has had these squeaky brakes.
the solution IS to do a couple hard brakes once you start driving to clean off the residue on the pad surface.
If you are like my son ( a low mileage driver) the car being parked a few days lets a slight build up of rust form on the rotors. it is this rust layer that squeeks.
seems to be a common complaint.
These are not new brake pads. This is a brand new car. This is the entire brake system that came with the car from the manufacturer.
They perform well. But they squeak.
I just purchased a used 2008 Audi A3 with 33,000 miles on it…same problem! The brakes squeak, not metallic, but a “squeaky moan” under light pressure. I’ll try the hard braking, but don’t really like the sound of that solution.