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B5 A4 Quattro Brake Pads

M

Matt-Matt

B5 Enthusiast
Good evening all,

I am looking at ordering the 312mm kit from ECS either tonight, or tomorrow night.

What I need to confirm before I order is what kind of pads I need? From what I can tell I should have the sensor wires on mine, but unsure of if I'll have the "Square/Round" connectors or the "Round" connectors?

Does anyone know / is there a way to find out without pulling the wheel off?

I'm also stuck between Akebono pads, or Hawk pads. Both are Ceramic pads.

If I luck out and have the "Square/Round" ones I'll be able to get the Akebono pads relatively cheap off ebay. (Cheaper then ECS!)

I've also seen/heard that the sensors are removable, could I order the akebono pads without checking and just swap the sensors over potentially?

TIA.
 
I reckon you could just about buy a new B5 for the cost of shipping a brake kit from the ECS/US. What's stopping you picking up rotors here? I think a set of rotor would prob only cost you $300 from audi spares (meyle).
Are the carriers different given your brakes are 288mm factory? You don't have to use sensor based pads, you can run them without but you'll need to short the connector with a resistor - something like this
 
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Actually, it doesn't seem too bad on price, 300USD for rotors and carriers..I've used Hawk ceramics before, they weren't a bad pad at all, not as much initial bite as the Ferodo's I use now but very low dust and noise and they stood up to a good beating.
My suggestion would be to use them with a slotted rotor (not cross drilled) for better braking performance. I read an article somewhere a few years back saying the hawks performed better on a slotted rotor vs flat faced. At the expense of some extra wear.

Flush the whole system out and refill it with some quality fluid like RBF660. I boiled some Pentosin SuperDot4 when I was driving through some hills a few years back but haven't had the same problem with Motul.
 
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G-Ride said:
Actually, it doesn't seem too bad on price, 300USD for rotors and carriers..I've used Hawk ceramics before, they weren't a bad pad at all, not as much initial bite as the Ferodo's I use now but very low dust and noise and they stood up to a good beating.
My suggestion would be to use them with a slotted rotor (not cross drilled) for better braking performance. I read an article somewhere a few years back saying the hawks performed better on a slotted rotor vs flat faced. At the expense of some extra wear.

Flush the whole system out and refill it with some quality fluid like RBF660. I boiled some Pentosin SuperDot4 when I was driving through some hills a few years back but haven't had the same problem with Motul.
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Yeah it seems quite good considering. I'm actually planning to use something like "Hop Shop Go" to reduce shipping costs. I've heard that they can in some cases greatly reduce it.

Also I'm planning on getting a snub mount from ECS while I'm at it, want to avoid getting the pads from ECS as it will just drive shipping up and they aren't actually much/any cheaper buying from ebay US.

And yeah slotted is the way to go.. Was wanting Slotted + Drilled, but have been warned by a few people that being drilled can cause issues too.

Brake fluid was my next question, I've potentially got to replace my ABS unit (I have it here, but waiting to get my brakes and do some testing) so I'll do a flush then. Not sure what to go with, was thinking just stock as it's cheap and easy to find and I don't really race the car so to say.. But upgraded fluid probably isn't much anyway and I might as well go with something better if I'm going to spend lots on the brake upgrade to make the most of it.

Also yes, the 312mm rotors need new carriers. I have looked a little, but can't find much and I guess I'd rather go with something new and 100% know it works.

Plus I can't seem to find slotted rotors for anywhere near that price.. Once I've got the carriers I'll be able to eventually source rotors locally when I need to replace them and order performance pads off ebay.

Also to add I would like to retain the pad wear if I can without spending too much.. lol I'll pull a wheel off tomorrow and check I suppose.
 
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Matt-Matt said:
Yeah it seems quite good considering. I'm actually planning to use something like "Hop Shop Go" to reduce shipping costs. I've heard that they can in some cases greatly reduce it.

Also I'm planning on getting a snub mount from ECS while I'm at it, want to avoid getting the pads from ECS as it will just drive shipping up and they aren't actually much/any cheaper buying from ebay US.

And yeah slotted is the way to go.. Was wanting Slotted + Drilled, but have been warned by a few people that being drilled can cause issues too.

Brake fluid was my next question, I've potentially got to replace my ABS unit (I have it here, but waiting to get my brakes and do some testing) so I'll do a flush then. Not sure what to go with, was thinking just stock as it's cheap and easy to find and I don't really race the car so to say.. But upgraded fluid probably isn't much anyway and I might as well go with something better if I'm going to spend lots on the brake upgrade to make the most of it.

Also yes, the 312mm rotors need new carriers. I have looked a little, but can't find much and I guess I'd rather go with something new and 100% know it works.

Plus I can't seem to find slotted rotors for anywhere near that price.. Once I've got the carriers I'll be able to eventually source rotors locally when I need to replace them and order performance pads off ebay.

Also to add I would like to retain the pad wear if I can without spending too much.. lol I'll pull a wheel off tomorrow and check I suppose.
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I got 2 bottles of Motul RBF 660 for .... I think $65? It's not terribly expensive considering what you get out of it. I've only ever seen round square plugs, but let us know what are on your car so others can find the info when they need it.
 
Sensor are just 2 wires and plug and that's about it, nothing special. If its the wrong plug, you can always cut/re-solder to the correct plug (reuse the old plug).

My car was 2000 model and Akebono was direct plug in.
 
Khoa said:
Sensor are just 2 wires and plug and that's about it, nothing special. If its the wrong plug, you can always cut/re-solder to the correct plug (reuse the old plug).

My car was 2000 model and Akebono was direct plug in.
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Good to know Khoa, from what I've read all Australian cars appear to be the Square/Round plug.

I did think about cutting the old plug, but ideally wanted to try and find the correct pads first.

I'm going to go on the basis that the pads use the square/round plugs and order the akebonos as they are cheaper than the Hawk Ceramics are so I'll give them a go.
Both have really good feedback and I'd be happier with something that's a bit cheaper and only marginally worse anyway.

I shall order the Akebono Pads tonight, as I can guarantee the shipping will be slow as from the states..

The next question is the carriers, I can't seem to find anyone willing to sell Audi TT ones.. So I'll probably grab the ECS kit relatively soon.
I'll confirm that nobody else I know (locally) requires any stuff from ECS to try and make shipping cheaper.

Thanks for the input khoa and g-ride!

Cheapest place I could find these was ebay and it worked out to be ~$120 AUD with shipping and conversion.

By far beats the ECS price of $109 USD without shipping (I am doing an order anyway).

They'll be here by the end of the month; I've now got to just find some carriers and rotors. Attempting to find some carriers is proving more difficult than expected.
 
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Khoa said:
look on gumtree man, plenty of wreck tt there, thats how i got mine.
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Currently there is only 1 available in the Country from what I could find. I've messaged him on there and called the number listed (at 6-7PM yesterday) - which I'd consider reasonable and they didn't answer and it dialed out/no call back.

I guess I'm sort of in a position to go new and since I'm having troubles it's probably easier to go new. I don't normally have this approach, but it is to do with braking and I'm sort of needing to do it soon.

Plus I'm going to grab a snub mount and a few other things while I'm there, so it's not totally wasted!
 
Matt-Matt said:
Currently there is only 1 available in the Country from what I could find. I've messaged him on there and called the number listed (at 6-7PM yesterday) - which I'd consider reasonable and they didn't answer and it dialed out/no call back.

I guess I'm sort of in a position to go new and since I'm having troubles it's probably easier to go new. I don't normally have this approach, but it is to do with braking and I'm sort of needing to do it soon.

Plus I'm going to grab a snub mount and a few other things while I'm there, so it's not totally wasted!
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Give me until the weekend. I reckon I have 2 B6 312 front carriers in my spare parts bin you can have. However - I might have thrown them down the tip recently..
 
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