Brake Pad advice

[Kuljit Singh]

Hi guys, have a 2015 Audi A3, 1.4tfsi (150) Manual. I went for a health check with Audi today. Mechanic told me that my front pads are at 5mm and require changing soon, the sensor on the dash has not triggered yet. Also he suggested that the rear discs are rusted badily and require changing.

So never had these changed before on this car. Can someone suggest which Brand brake pads would be the best (closest quality to stock) for the Car? TPS no longer sell to the public so would be difficult to obtain the stock ones.

Also which brand of discs are decent for the A3? I would appreciate if someone who has had their discs/pads changed can suggest me some.

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[AlS3BE]

Brembo , trw, ate and loads more are oe manufacturers. My personal preference has always been trw for oe quality stuff, they always including fittings, new bolts, shims and some include sensors.
Make sure the discs have some kind of coating on it as the really cheap discs don’t and get that rusty look within a day.

 

[Kuljit Singh]

Brembo , trw, ate and loads more are oe manufacturers. My personal preference has always been trw for oe quality stuff, they always including fittings, new bolts, shims and some include sensors.
Make sure the discs have some kind of coating on it as the really cheap discs don’t and get that rusty look within a day.

Thank you for the advice. Im struggling to find TRW ones on EuroCarParts. They have Brembo but theres a range of them so im not sure which ones would be best. They have a set for £88.

I have attached a photo of my rear discs from the inspection. Thats the rust condition. Would you say they need changing? Also if so, would it be good to change the rear pads also? My MOT is due next month, wondering if they would fail on that? Thank you.

 

[AlS3BE]

If you are changing disc change the pads as well. False economy not to do it while it’s apart. Judging by your pic the discs looks pretty corroded, rusty lip on inner and out parts of the discs which would mean the pads will scored like that so reusing the pads will ruin new discs.
Try autodoc for parts. Takes about a week delivery but about the cheapest out there and they have pretty much everything.

 

[Steve D]

I changed my rear discs and pads a month or so ago. I used Mintex coated discs and Mintex pads. The pads a came with new calliper bolts and shims. I think I paid around £75 for them.

 

[leonwilliams]

Before I got rid of my 8p I put brembo disc and pads all round

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[Booti]

I’m a big fan of Brakes International for these parts. Used them for years on multiple cars.

Brake Parts for Cars

UK's largest distributor of car brake parts. Brake pads, brake discs, brake calipers, brake shoes, brake drums, brake wheel cylinders, brake master cylinders, brake flexible hoses, brake kits and all Vauxhall brake parts.

www.brakesint.co.uk

 

[Neil C]

Had Pagid discs and pads installed all round last year. Reasonably priced, great quality, easily available and no sign of any corrosion after the winter.

 

[Gazwould]

They are total rubbish as ECP bought the OE division and cheaped out , worst brakes I've ever had .

 

[Neil C]

Pagid ?

 

[Gazwould]

Yes .

 

[Neil C]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and, whilst I cant claim any knowledge of the ECP / Pagid buy-out situation, rubbish is far from how I would describe them.

 

[Gazwould]

That's the problem it isn't just my option .

Then there's the dust....

 

[Neil C]

I can only think that he did get a bad set.

Plenty of good reviews on the 'net and I've had no issues with dust either.

 

[Kuljit Singh]

Brembo , trw, ate and loads more are oe manufacturers. My personal preference has always been trw for oe quality stuff, they always including fittings, new bolts, shims and some include sensors.
Make sure the discs have some kind of coating on it as the really cheap discs don’t and get that rusty look within a day.

Thank you for the advice. Will look into that.

 

[Gazwould]

I can only think that he did get a bad set.

Plenty of good reviews on the 'net and I've had no issues with dust either.

Everything is dusty until you experience pads with some ceramic content .

 

[stubbly46]

Had the coated Mintex and pads done recently on my wife’s Golf mk7 and we’re great quality, as said before were around £75 from eBay, make sure you get the correct size though as there are some different variants.
5mm on your front pads is fine and to be honest from the pic the rears don’t look that bad either, looks like Audi are trying to get a bit more of your money, might be worth a second opinion.

 

[8YARWY]

Redstuff worst pads ever.


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[Bigjase88]

Redstuff worst pads ever.


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I don’t mind EBC redstuff

fast road pads i would totally recommend mintex 1144’s though

 

[Gazwould]

Redstuff best street pads ever !

Stops a heavy A7 !

I wonder why I've got three vehicles with full sets


Going to try Ferodo Eco Friction next , has ceramic in them !

EBC REDSTUFF CERAMIC BRAKE PADS for the RS3

I'm repeating this post to commence a new thread, as it may well be a cure-all for some owners. Pulled my 47i6 brake pads after 1750-miles if only to compare mine with those of others (Veneeringman) and yes, you've guessed right, my 47i6 pads are braking up around the edges and have chunks...

www.audi-sport.net

 

[8YARWY]

They are ok for polishing up a disc to a mirror finish.... eh @Marshy


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[Gazwould]

Most of the poor reviews are from those who have put them around the track .

But they are not for the track , strictly street / fast road only .

I knew that back around 2005 , so why didn't other people ?

 

[Bigjase88]

Most of the poor reviews are from those who have put them around the track .

But they are not for the track , strictly street / fast road only .

I knew that back around 2005 , so why didn't other people ?

They are sound i have also used a few sets of them.

there are better fast road pads but for the price you can’t really grumble.

they are NOT track pads though. Are track
pads not yellow stuff / blue stuff.

 

[8YARWY]

Most of the poor reviews are from those who have put them around the track .

But they are not for the track , strictly street / fast road only .

I knew that back around 2005 , so why didn't other people ?

Who mentioned tracking them

I didn’t track them neither did @Marshy @Beebee-one and several owners on the RS3oc site experienced severe issues from using them in ordinary daily driving.

The shiny mirror disc effect has always been to me a pointer towards poor brake friction, as the pad material isn’t grabbing at the discs to slow the car. Hence the mirror finish.

@Marshy had a set literally fall apart on him and had to get a refund.

I even foolishly tried Yellowstuff on the 8P RS3 and had the pads fall apart after 2 days on the car, EBC insisted it was ‘normal’


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[Gazwould]

So I've three cars full sets and pops had some up front on his previous car .

28 pads of satisfaction .


As for the RS3 .

More satisfaction .

 

[AlS3BE]

My go to was ferodo ds2500 for fast road/odd track days. Never been a fan of red stuff, tried in some of my previous cars and would say they are not as good as the ds2500 but they are like half the price of the ferodos. If I remember right there’s also a license losing bedding in procedure which if done right should stop the squeal and clean the discs otherwise they can get noisy.

 

[Gazwould]

I've had those DS 2500 , full set with refurbished 4 pot std calipers too .

Unimpressed and dusty I sold them and went to a big brake kit with Redstuff .

 

[AlS3BE]

I've had those DS 2500 , full set with refurbished 4 pot std calipers too .

Unimpressed and dusty I sold them and went to a big brake kit with Redstuff .

Dust never bothered me as long as the brakes do their job well. Found the ds2500 was more consistent from cold to hot compared to the red stuff. Would rather have dusty brakes than sh1t brakes.
Brakes are kinda like tyres and are subjective. Some folk love some and other hate.

 

[Gazwould]

But there's always a majority...

 

[8YARWY]

So I've three cars full sets and pops had some up front on his previous car .

28 pads of satisfaction .


As for the RS3 .

View attachment 235549
View attachment 235551


More satisfaction .

0120raptor actually lives not far from me, he took the Redstuff off shortly after contacting me about issues with braking using them.
Said he came to a roundabout and they barely stopped the car in time.

@Beebee-one went out with Doug from MRC to do some logging in his RS3, they’d barely been out 5 mins and Doug insisted he turn back, why ? Because the Redstuff weren’t pulling up the car in time.

RS3Dell, DukeRS3 and others all say the same, Redstuff are rubbish, nothing but Disc polishers.....

Thread full of satisfaction here.

Advise needed wheel wobble still with new discs

Advise needed wheel wobble still with new discs - General Chat

Advise needed wheel wobble still with new discs - posted in General Chat: Hi Just looking for some advise on where to start with this problem. I fitted Reyland discs all round less than a thousand miles ago floating front / fixed rears with red stuff pads Fitted them as had some wheel wobble on...

r.tapatalk.com

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[Gazwould]

We can go to and fro all day long .

They stop an S7 , I'm sure that's heavier than an RS3 .

I personally witnessed Karl go around Combe with just Redstuff up front on his 1800 Kg tuned B8 Avant 3.0 tdi , sure they stopped working after 5 laps but that isn't bad for a brake pad that is not for the track .

So he came to the conclusion that they would do everything you wanted out on the road .

If you don't believe me ask him .

You must except that these bad experiences are the minority and that the majority are happy and still alive and still purchase them as I have done for the last 16 years .

 

[8YARWY]

We can go to and fro all day long .

They stop an S7 , I'm sure that's heavier than an RS3 .

I personally witnessed Karl go around Combe with just Redstuff up front on his 1800 Kg tuned B8 Avant 3.0 tdi , sure they stopped working after 5 laps but that isn't bad for a brake pad that is not for the track .

So he came to the conclusion that they would do everything you wanted out on the road .

If you don't believe me ask him .

You must except that these bad experiences are the minority and that the majority are happy and still alive and still purchase them as I have done for the last 16 years .

Lol yeah, brilliant pads.

No need to ask anybody thanks.


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[8YARWY]

Dust never bothered me as long as the brakes do their job well. Found the ds2500 was more consistent from cold to hot compared to the red stuff. Would rather have dusty brakes than sh1t brakes.
Brakes are kinda like tyres and are subjective. Some folk love some and other hate.

Agreed.
I’d actually say the DS2500 and DS performance are no more dusty then the rubbish oem pads.

Can’t go wrong with Ferodo pads in my opinion.


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[Gazwould]

I'm willing to try them next , either DS Performance or Eco Friction .

Redstuff are expensive and there wasn't alot of ceramic choice back in the day .

 

[45bvtc]

Thank you for the advice. Will look into that.

Ferodo Eco-Friction Green brake pads. See: https://www.ferodo.co.uk/products/light-vehicles/eco-friction-brake-pads.html

Have 'em fitted on my 8P RS3, 8J TT, and 8R SQ5 and for sure cannot fault 'em for both legal and rapid road work on either car; 100% recommended and no question.

See here on ASN or: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/ferodo-eco-friction-green-brake-pads-for-the-8p-rs3.397139/

Note: Ferodo Eco-Friction Green brake pads have been fitted as Original Equipment on Mercedes-Benz C-Class since March 2014 and Audi A4 since September 2015

 

[Marshy]

As @T-1000 says
Back in 2015 I fitted redstuff to my 8P RS3 and found they actually solved my consistent brake judder issues that the dealer failed to resolve.
From there I then fitted redstuff front and rear to my brothers 5 series bmw again without any issues.
Roll on to 2017 I fitted yellowstuff pads and ebc drilled and grooved discs front and rear on my Golf R, only issues I had were poor cold bite squealed like hell and general pedal feel was a step backwards from the original pads, After a couple of thousand miles I removed the front pads and refitted the originals.
This year I bought a brand new brake upgrade for my current Golf R which consisted of calipers hoses discs and pads, the pads being redstuff.
This upgrade was more visual and improved braking for the road, not being hard on brakes and never doing any track work I thought the redstuff would be ok for my intended use.
Fitted the kit and the brakes were a little soggy but as they bedded in the pedal did improve. After about 750 miles I was travelling on the motorway at 70mph and everything slowed up to around 20-30mph I found a horrible whirring sound from the front!
I used the car for another 150 miles on my work commute where the braking felt very poor and pedal feel was hard.
When I stripped the front brakes that weekend I found the redstuff pads had polished my new discs to a mirror finish to the point I could’ve shaved in them and the pad material had broken up.
After a few emails between the supplier and Ebc they refunded me and said that redstuff shouldn’t be fitted to a performance car as they aren’t a sport pad.
Then I ordered and fitted some ds2500 and have done nearly 2000 miles since without any issues.
I use my brakes so little I barely get any brake dust so lesson learnt, buy cheap buy twice.
Pics below showing my 900 miles redstuff pads.

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[45bvtc]

As @T-1000 says
Back in 2015 I fitted redstuff to my 8P RS3 and found they actually solved my consistent brake judder issues that the dealer failed to resolve.
From there I then fitted redstuff front and rear to my brothers 5 series bmw again without any issues.
Roll on to 2017 I fitted yellowstuff pads and ebc drilled and grooved discs front and rear on my Golf R, only issues I had were poor cold bite squealed like hell and general pedal feel was a step backwards from the original pads, After a couple of thousand miles I removed the front pads and refitted the originals.
This year I bought a brand new brake upgrade for my current Golf R which consisted of calipers hoses discs and pads, the pads being redstuff.
This upgrade was more visual and improved braking for the road, not being hard on brakes and never doing any track work I thought the redstuff would be ok for my intended use.
Fitted the kit and the brakes were a little soggy but as they bedded in the pedal did improve. After about 750 miles I was travelling on the motorway at 70mph and everything slowed up to around 20-30mph I found a horrible whirring sound from the front!
I used the car for another 150 miles on my work commute where the braking felt very poor and pedal feel was hard.
When I stripped the front brakes that weekend I found the redstuff pads had polished my new discs to a mirror finish to the point I could’ve shaved in them and the pad material had broken up.
After a few emails between the supplier and Ebc they refunded me and said that redstuff shouldn’t be fitted to a performance car as they aren’t a sport pad.
Then I ordered and fitted some ds2500 and have done nearly 2000 miles since without any issues.
I use my brakes so little I barely get any brake dust so lesson learnt, buy cheap buy twice.
Pics below showing my 900 miles redstuff pads.

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Marked 'wow' and agree 100% with Marshy. I've found EBC friction material 'mix' to suffer inconsistency in manufacture; maybe Mondays 'mix' is good but BEWARE Friday's mix, or is it the other way around

 

[8YARWY]

As @T-1000 says
Back in 2015 I fitted redstuff to my 8P RS3 and found they actually solved my consistent brake judder issues that the dealer failed to resolve.
From there I then fitted redstuff front and rear to my brothers 5 series bmw again without any issues.
Roll on to 2017 I fitted yellowstuff pads and ebc drilled and grooved discs front and rear on my Golf R, only issues I had were poor cold bite squealed like hell and general pedal feel was a step backwards from the original pads, After a couple of thousand miles I removed the front pads and refitted the originals.
This year I bought a brand new brake upgrade for my current Golf R which consisted of calipers hoses discs and pads, the pads being redstuff.
This upgrade was more visual and improved braking for the road, not being hard on brakes and never doing any track work I thought the redstuff would be ok for my intended use.
Fitted the kit and the brakes were a little soggy but as they bedded in the pedal did improve. After about 750 miles I was travelling on the motorway at 70mph and everything slowed up to around 20-30mph I found a horrible whirring sound from the front!
I used the car for another 150 miles on my work commute where the braking felt very poor and pedal feel was hard.
When I stripped the front brakes that weekend I found the redstuff pads had polished my new discs to a mirror finish to the point I could’ve shaved in them and the pad material had broken up.
After a few emails between the supplier and Ebc they refunded me and said that redstuff shouldn’t be fitted to a performance car as they aren’t a sport pad.
Then I ordered and fitted some ds2500 and have done nearly 2000 miles since without any issues.
I use my brakes so little I barely get any brake dust so lesson learnt, buy cheap buy twice.
Pics below showing my 900 miles redstuff pads.

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These were the yellowstuff that ebc advised to try after I complained about the Redstuff

100 miles and look at them.

EBCs Responce ?

They are falling apart because they are working wtf !?

Best part of £400 spent on front brakes and I got nowhere with EBC customer Service, charlatans if you ask me.

Fitted Ferodo DS to the 8P at the time and problem went away, was ridiculed at the time for fitting Ferodo pads though.


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[AlS3BE]

I think the ferodo gets a bad rep cause they are expensive. £200+ for a set of pads is like almost double others like ebc and they can sometimes be difficult to find for cars that aren’t very common/popular. Can’t argue the pound per performance the ebc is right up there and I would say the ferodo isn’t twice as good for double the money but we are talking about £40k+ performance cars so a few hundred here and there for pads isn’t a lot.
Think everyone has good points whether they like ebc or not but it’s finding one that suits your driving style. I’m 99% kids chauffeur(best behaviour) and 1% hooligan when I’m on my own. Audi oe pads fades too quickly for me so when time comes I will be looking at something better, previous cars have had ds2500 so might look at them or try something else.

Anyway a good oe low dust alternative is the trw cotec/dtec range. Had these on my a6 and the dust level was very low and good consistent braking. Note this was the family bus so rarely got driven hard and I don’t think trw market them as performance pads/discs anyway but daily driving up and down motorways, school runs etc they were good and lasted much longer than the Audi oe also less than half the price of Audi.

 

[Gazwould]

These were the yellowstuff that ebc advised to try after I complained about the Redstuff

100 miles and look at them.

EBCs Responce ?

They are falling apart because they are working wtf !?

Best part of £400 spent on front brakes and I got nowhere with EBC customer Service, charlatans if you ask me.

Fitted Ferodo DS to the 8P at the time and problem went away, was ridiculed at the time for fitting Ferodo pads though.


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It's such a polar opposite to my experience.

On a big brake kit I went for Yellowstuff up front at first but 500 - 1000 miles in I decided they were too dusty for me , the formulation at the time was on the high side for dust , now medium I believe .

I sold them to a different car forum member and they looked like new .

So I went with Redstuff and found the bite better and way less dust so happy kept with them but wanted them for the rear too for a small 4 pot rear caliper except they existed only as a part number and illustration so no physical pad had ever been made.

So I emailed the CEO , Andy Freeman at the time and he said he would get some made up , charged me less than advertised too and shipped out .

More recently I did 20K on a front pair of Redstuff and wanted to change the crappy Pagid "warped" discs .

A previous look and the pads were in remarkable shape and sure enough they were good to go again except with Brembo discs and all has been well for the last few years .