S3 brake fade/ disc and pad upgrade??

[redlinehigh]

Hi Guys,
I am finding the o.e.m. brakes fade very quickly on a hard drive and i am doing a track day soon and wondered what anybodies thoughts were about up grading to brembo etc
I am happy to stay with the same size 340 mm but wish the fade wasnot so quick and it feels liki the discs are starting to buckle under the heat!!
Your thoughts and recommendations would be much appreciated as i get conflicting advice from audi themselves.
many thanks

 

[Damo S]

Blimey. You must be really hammering it to get brake fade I've never had an issue with mine. I tried a set of brembo pads once my original ones had worn out, and they didnt fit very well, rattling a little in the callipers creating little metallic clunking noises when going over bumps which interfered with the knock sensor (my belief, never proven). Went back to standard pads.

 

[AlS3BE]

Will second that. Found the oe pads can take a lot of abuse before even a light hint of fade. Only issue is brake dust is really bad on oe pads. I’m looking for a set of oe pads for front soon so glad Damo mentioned fitment issues with brembo. Generally don’t need a fast road pad as I don’t get much opportunity to go fast. It’s the kids taxi and grocery run since covid started.
Anyway, On previous cars including cars I tracked I used ferodo ds2500 pads. A good compromise between fast Road and track pad. Disc wise I think the golf club sport discs might be a good disc. Certainly looks the part. Neither is cheap though.
maybe get your brake fluid checked/changed depending on age of car as it’s more likely fluid is boiling and giving you a mushy brake feel rather than the pads fading.

 

[alpesh26]

I went with Ferodo DS Performance pads on the front with stock/TRW disks and Brembo Max pads on the rear with stock/TRW discs.

The Brembo pads are quite dusty compared to the Ferodo which is surprising as they're on the rear

 

[AlS3BE]

I went with Ferodo DS Performance pads on the front with stock/TRW disks and Brembo Max pads on the rear with stock/TRW discs.

The Brembo pads are quite dusty compared to the Ferodo which is surprising as they're on the rear

How do find the ds performance for dust?
The ds2500 was pretty bad for it, not sure if they have updated the compound used since I’ve had them.

 

[alpesh26]

How do find the ds performance for dust?
The ds2500 was pretty bad for it, not sure if they have updated the compound used since I’ve had them.

A lot less dust than the OEM pads and seem less dusty than the Brembo on the rears. The Brembo squeal on low speed reversing sometimes too. This setup feels good on braking though

I was going to go DS2500 but AFAIK they're not ECE R90 approved (unlikely that any one would check) and over spec for what I need

 

[Gazwould]

DS2500 were dusty in my experience and not good at braking either !

Also good experience of Ferodo Eco Friction .

The DS Performance sound great .

 

[Damo S]

Another thing: personally I would not track this car. Mine is tuned so I would 100% not track my car, but I dont think I would in stock form either. The problem is that turbo cars don't make great track cars. If you are all in around the track and on full throttle a lot of the time except when braking it will be getting very hot under the hood. The number of times I've been at track days there are always a few cars limping off with blue / black smoke pouring out the exhaust and they are always turbo cars. They are probably modified but still this configuration doesn't really enjoy sustained abuse. Nothing beats a bigger normally aspirated engine for better track day reliability.

 

[Gazwould]

One of the biggest is people not having baffled sumps .

 

[Harvey]

Don't forget to change your brake fluid before your track day to something like Motul RBF 600 or 660 otherwise it'll be the fluid that boils and you'll loose your brakes no matter what performance pad you have fitted. It's the brake fluid+pad compound that make the difference on circuit, brake disk not so relevant and yes I'm talking from experience When you change your pads if you're keeping the existing disks sand the pad contact face of the disks so the new pad compound transfers correctly otherwise the old compound will still be present which can affect braking performance.

 

[AlS3BE]

Nothing beats a bigger normally aspirated engine for better track day reliability.

no replacement for displacement

 

[redlinehigh]

Thanks for your reply guys, useful info!!