20 Steps To B7 Brakes

**carguy138** · 11-21-2010 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by aaron1085

I'm looking at upgrading my brake lines. Do I need anything special for this? I've been told some cars have to disable the ABS system using a VAG tool in order to install new SS brake lines...

If you try bleeding the lines with the car off, it will not open the ABS module and you will not get all of the old fluid out. The trick is to put the key in and turn it to the accessory position, and that will open the abs module.

I run HPS's for street (plus's in front for track), ECS SS lines, motul 600 fluid, and adams drilled rotors. The combo of this works awesome.

Make sure you get the power bleeder off of ECS and do not exceed more than 15-17 PSI, it makes the process much easier. Also wear eye protection. I was in a hurry and got a bunch of brake fluid in my eye when the hose slipped off the nipple on the caliper and got a bunch of that crap in my eye. Couldn't see straight for several days.

**adam's rotors** · 11-21-2010 03:39 PM

feel free to let is know about pads & lines...we do those too!

**4ty-phive** · 12-10-2010 08:52 PM

Thank you so much sir

**Grada89** · 02-27-2011 08:03 PM

Just did my discs/pads yesterday. Funny thing is the first side took me about 1 1/2 hours while the second side took like 35 min. Once you know what you're doing its quite easy. Good DIY but I didnt disasemble the caliper. Just removed it all at once. Found it to be easier and way faster.

**Mrcsels** · 03-14-2011 05:31 PM

Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.

**dantm** · 06-13-2011 03:06 PM

Question for you guys ** if replacing the rotors, pads, calipers, wouldn't there be a way to remove the whole assembly? I assume that the rotor is free on the hub (other than the torx screw?) and then all we need is to remove some bolts holding the caliper carrier to the back of the suspension/control arm and the whole caliper/pads/rotor assembly should come right out ** correct?

Thank you!

**DBMoody18** · 06-14-2011 03:28 AM

Great DIY! Whole project front and rear only took about an hour. The front retainer clips are more than meets the eye. Is there a trick? If I didn't have four hands on it I'm not sure how I would have gotten it.

**cujo05** · 11-06-2011 02:23 AM

Thanks a ton for the DIY , just used this yesterday. Only difference is that I too only removed the two 21mm bolts instead of disassembling the caliper. I will say that by not disassembling the caliper in half, retracting the piston is made sinificantly easier by just getting a loaner tool from Autozone. Used a coarse sanding attachment on an air tool to deglaze the rotors. As another member stated, the first side took a while but the second side went extremely quick. One tip, if you are going to tackle this without air tools have some muscle ready. Those two 21mm bolts took most of my time trying to get them free.

**jjvwg** · 07-11-2012 05:30 PM

Does anyone know the torque specs for the torx bolts that hold the caliper halves together? saw the torque listing on the first page but didnt see those. also, should loctite be used on any of these bolts? thanks for the info guys.

**fordyoz** · 08-22-2012 08:48 AM

courtesy of SkyFire:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...tions-and-tips

**2006SLine** · 12-23-2012 01:27 PM

Ok, pretty annoyed with the first DIY poster that said the rear brakes are exactly like the front. They are not. You don't need the T55 Torx and the rotor is a T27, not T30. So, this may be a trivial question, but anyone know the size of the allen bolt holding the caliper carrier onto the trailing arm? I looked around and couldn't find anything exact, but sounds like it may be 7mm? Can someone confirm possibly?

Thanks and to audizine, don't make something a "sticky" unless you know the info is correct, just wasted 2 hours because of this guys saying one thing but the facts being something else.

**naiku** · 12-26-2012 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by 2006SLine

Ok, pretty annoyed with the first DIY poster that said the rear brakes are exactly like the front. They are not. You don't need the T55 Torx and the rotor is a T27, not T30. So, this may be a trivial question, but anyone know the size of the allen bolt holding the caliper carrier onto the trailing arm? I looked around and couldn't find anything exact, but sounds like it may be 7mm? Can someone confirm possibly?

Thanks and to audizine, don't make something a "sticky" unless you know the info is correct, just wasted 2 hours because of this guys saying one thing but the facts being something else.

You should give the OP a bit of slack, I have typically found that a lot of the sizes listed in DIY's are different on my car to those posted. The way I see it, having to find a different size wrench is a pretty minor problem than having to figure out everything on my own.

I can't remember if the allen on mine is 7 or 8mm, but it is one of those 2. I ended up grinding an allen wrench down a little shorter to fit in there a little better..

**crew** · 04-21-2013 07:53 AM

The hex is most definitely 7mm, which is not as common a size as 8mm. I found mine at Sears, but also realized that you can use a T45 as well, the bolt is designed to accept both, and the T45 is much more readily available at most hardware stores.

I bought the 7mm and used it no prob, but realized that the T45 I bought for the window reg would've worked as well.

**sa_seahawker** · 04-21-2013 08:46 AM

I agree with all...this is a great writeup.

I did notice something and it got me thinking. I always like the way new shiny rotors look on my car. The problem is that the vent and inner mounting ring are always the first thing to start building up surface rust. Has anyone ever thought about masking off the contact surface and shooting the aforementioned sections with some silver or black caliper paint or something? Seems like it would be a great way to clean up the overall wheel appearance.

Parts I was talking about:

**crew** · 04-21-2013 09:34 AM

I fully agree that it would look better.. can't image how difficult it would be to mask properly, though. I imagine any overspray would burn off eventually.

I've heard of people using the hi-temp caliper paint to do rotors, that's probably where they painted them!

**B7Joe** · 05-02-2013 09:55 AM

I've done it. Granted I'm in SoCal, but they seemed to last that way forever. I didn't even prep them. Just a quick wash down the day before, masked and painted with high-heat black paint. You can get a bit of overspray on them and its no prob, but I personally would not just spray them without masking. It's very easy.

**//S POWER** · 07-16-2014 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by Asimko

..................Please let me know if I missed anything.

Good write up Asimko

Additional step required for new brake installations

Step Twenty One: Brake Bedding Procedure

http://www.pagidracing.com/fileadmin..._procedure.pdf

**Wiggler** · 05-04-2015 04:53 AM

Originally Posted by Heratik

You should add that there is a good chance you'll need a drill for the T27 Torx screw.

If you use a T30 you are less likely to strip it and need to drill it out (screw is a T30, not a T27).

**konarider94** · 05-06-2015 09:40 AM

Why is this still a sticky? This is not the best way to change your brakes. No offense meant but a real mechanic would never split the caliper to change brake pads. Once you get to step two jump straight to step 7 to remove the whole caliper in one piece.

**Roaldtm** · 06-02-2015 06:14 PM

Any other tools for the rear brakes? I don't have many tools at home and will have to buy the Torx and Allen bits

**allstock** · 12-20-2015 07:03 PM

Step 11 is partly incorrect. That is a pre-abs method. You don't want to completely open the system via reservoir cap. You'll end up with a spongy pedal. You need to open the bleeder screw just enough to let fluid to escape, but not enough to leak by gravity. After you compress the caliper just enough to fit the new thicker pads onto the disk close off the bleeder valve.

After the brakes are mounted THEN turn on the ignition and give it a few pumps and top off if you've let too much fluid out earlier.

*never pump your breaks with the calipers disassembled; you'll eject the caliper puck. Then it becomes a messy two man job to get it into the boot.

**P1Racer** · 10-01-2016 03:33 PM

This was an excellent write up, however i ran into an issue with my rotor bolts. They're actually T30 torx screws. ended up stripping one of them out and having to impact drive it out. then ordered two news ones by a part number from audi and the VIN. maybe just my year has the T30? Just a heads up for others following this, if youre doing it at night double check the bit size.

**lumberwood** · 09-01-2018 07:47 PM

Great write up, OP. I followed this for my first time doing my fronts. Personally, I liked doing the full caliper disassembly as it meant I could carefully re-install everything to torque and not wonder if it had been done properly by the last person/mechanic. Car has 137k miles, I'm the fourth owner so plenty of room for errors along the way there.

I installed the StopTech Preferred Axle Pack service kit - Front (and rears incl. - doing those next week) link: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-stoptech...906.33015~stp/
The rotors are painted everywhere except the friction surface, which is a nice touch, and the quality is excellent. Bedding went well, they bite nice and hard.

Cheers!

**DownhillA4** · 11-25-2018 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by konarider94

Why is this still a sticky? This is not the best way to change your brakes. No offense meant but a real mechanic would never split the caliper to change brake pads. Once you get to step two jump straight to step 7 to remove the whole caliper in one piece.

Agreed, I just tried this method of replacing the pads/rotors by following the DIY on page 1.. DO NOT! Will cause unneccessary stripped bolts, anger and time.

Terrible way, I'll be posting a new refreshed DIY for B7 A4 vehicle.

**rlopez** · 01-09-2019 11:30 AM

Nice write up! Torque specs help and shortening the process by removing carrier with caliper speeds up the process. I will be doing mine this Spring/Summer

**rlopez** · 01-09-2019 11:39 AM

very helpful write up, pics, torque specs, removing carrier w/caliper speeds up process.

**EvolutionArmory** · 01-09-2019 03:11 PM

This is a write up of how NOT to do brakes.

**abbottcostello** · 02-22-2019 01:06 PM

+1

**rlopez** · 08-07-2020 03:15 PM

What are the minimum rotor depths in front and rear rotors of 2006 audi a4 2.0T Quattro before replacing rotors?

**wayneair** · 10-02-2020 07:24 AM

Originally Posted by rlopez

What are the minimum rotor depths in front and rear rotors of 2006 audi a4 2.0T Quattro before replacing rotors?

Not sure about minimum rotor thickness but here is the general safe way to know when to replace your rotors. I’ve had my B7 since March 2008 and have had about every kind of rotor on her at some point.

For OE, replace after 2 sets of pads, regardless of what anyone says, they can not be turned as they are a harder alloy than aftermarket rotors.

For aftermarket plain rotors, turn between the 1st and 2nd set of pads. Replace with the 3rd set.

For aftermarket cross drilled/dimpled/slotted/any combination thereof, replace with each new set of pads. Reason being that for all the advantages, those advantages also shorten the life of the rotor via heat stresses and excessive grooving especially if you thrash your car.

To increase reliability if you do thrash your car, it’s a relatively cheap upgrade to get B7 S4 caliper carriers for the fronts which will allow you to run the larger 345mm rotors which can easily handle more heat, as the B7 S4 runs the same calipers and size pads as our A4s. The rears require different calipers/carriers as the S4 has larger diameter vented rotors in the rear. I’ve never had an issue running the A4 rear setup.