2014 Audi S4 Front Brake replacement how to install - Sponsored by my wallet.

[Midnight_Rider]

So, I had hard time trying to figure this out. It's not a hard job, but there are almost no resources on some of the things, especially the brake sensor. So, while the memory is fresh (did it this morning), I'll do a write up.

Things you need:

- 17mm Bolt + Extender (for 19" wheels)
- 13mm Bolt (for the caliper screws)
- C-Clamp
- Way to lift the car up
- phillips head screw driver, medium length
- three package of brake grease - I used synthetic high temp
- Elbow grease

1. Take the wheel off. I have the 19" wheels, so I used the tweezer looking thing to take the plastic caps off. it's $4.95 at Audi, but if you call the dealership, they might just give you one for free. They used mine and forgot to put it back when I got my tires done. But it's in the back of your car underneath the spare tire.

*19" spec: 17mm bolts, 90lb torque

2. I got the TRW ceramic brake pads. They're OEM manufacturer for a lot of European cars. The fit and finish was excellent. Also, the middle is cut out, which is good, because you can see the OEM brake pad cracking in the middle.

Comes with two sensor wires, pack of grease, and two retainer clips.

One thing I did was took a metal shaver, and shaved around the brake pad edges. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkfmAB-oKaQ This makes sense to me.




Grease the back of it plentifully. I grease the new clips too.


This is important. This is what took me another hour.

THERE IS NO CONNECTOR FOR SENSOR ON THE PASSENGER SIDE. YOU DON'T NEED IT. ALSO, THIS WIRE ON THE PASSENGER SIDE IS FOR YOUR TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM:



3. Take two of the 13mm bolts out. You go Right to loosen them. For more information about this, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vohg3t_JQ This was for S5, but was done very well. And it covers majority of taking the pads out.

*What I did was pull and push the caliper back and forth few times. This pushes the piston back so you have room for the caliper to come out.



4. You have to pry the none piston side pad off, since it's glued on there. The one on the piston side has those clips you see above, so they just pop out easily.

*Get your C-Clamp out to squeeze the pads and outside the caliper to compress the piston. You have to do this otherwise, caliper will not go back into the rotor. I used the old pad to squeeze it in.

This time, I took the time to just clean everything, all the brake dusts.



5. Reassemble the calipers after you put the new pads in. It's important that you hold the pad that's not touching the piston, because it'll move around. Grease helps a little.

*When you're putting back the caliper, you have to lift out the spring retainer for the 13mm bolts you took out in order for the caliper and the new pads to fit. This is for top and bottom. Otherwise, it won't fit, and you're going to wonder what the hell is going on.

6. The trickiest part. These spring tension retainer clips are super tricky to get on.



What I did was put the top and the middle in place. Then, hold the top and the middle with my one hand, then just force the rear clip over the bolt, and man handle it in place. Then adjust it a bit. They don't align flush, and they stick out a bit. Doesn't matter which one, they're the same size.

7. On the driver side, there are three wires coming from the engine. The one in the middle that's mounted on the swing arm is the sensor. ONLY ON DRIVER SIDE. There is only one wire coming down on the passenger side, and that's for the tire pressure monitor.

Clip that. You have to undo the triangular top side, twist, then pull down after you unclip it. Unclipping this sensor was pain in the ass. But you press the bottom of the left side sensor, then it pops out.

*The sensor goes in the little hook on the caliper. Make sure the wires follow the channel that's on the clip sensor.



Once you've done all this, put everything back together (wheels - annoying plastic clips), then start the car. Pump the brakes until firm.

Then take it out and embed the pads. 20mph, stop hard. 40, stop hard. 60, stop hard. etc.

There shouldn't be any tire sensor warning or TPMS (Tire pressure) warning out.

IF the TPMS (tire pressure) warning does come up as an error, and not functioning, all you have to do is go to Car setting, and store your tire pressure. Then, it'll go away. This happened to me, because I pull the TPMS sensor out and mated with the pad sensor, because I didn't know the passenger side doesn't require a sensor.

The brake pads were $42 (free shipping next day with my Amazon Prime): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00

The Audi dealer quoted me $1,000 for front pads, rotors, and labor. I spent $42, about hour and a half. Rotors were fine.

After the short break in:

The pads don't have that abrupt stopping that the stock pads had. I really didn't like that at all. I wanted a progressive stopping, and these pads did that. On the hard breaking at 80mph, the pads stopped nicely, without activating the ABS until the very end for a second or less (it could be the DWS 06 tires).

I'm really liking how progressive the breaking is now. It's very smooth for morning traffic, or just general run around in town. But it does break well. And I like the fact that now I have the control over how to stop, instead of just biting on every tiny touch on the break.

Also, no squeek so far. I mean, not even little. I'll do a 10k mile follow up.

Thanks, and hope this helps.

[Midnight_Rider]

Just some freshly wash pix.

[14S4GWM]

Heres a great write up from shickadance

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...or-Replacement

[Midnight_Rider]

Heres a great write up from shickadance

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...or-Replacement

We have one more now.

[jrivera]

Great write up. Thank you for taking the time to do a write up.

[DGVR6]

It's good to have multiple write ups for reference.
Does anybody know the caliper carrier bolt torque specs when installing rotors?

[14S4GWM]

It's good to have multiple write ups for reference.
Does anybody know the caliper carrier bolt torque specs when installing rotors?

Did you read the other thread for reference? Lol

Post 83

Fastener Tightening Specifications

Brake Pedal Bracket to Body Nut - 8 nm
Brake Pedal Mounting Pin to Bracket Bolt - 8 nm
Electromechanical Parking Brake Control Module Nut - 3 nm
Electromechanical Parking Brake Motor to Rear Brake Caliper Bolt - 12 nm
Front Brake Caliper to Brake Carrier Bolt - 30 nm
Front Brake Carrier to Wheel Bearing Housing Bolt 1 - 196 nm
Front Brake Line Connection to Brake Caliper - 20 nm
Front Brake Pad Bolt - 5 nm
Front Cover Plate Bolt - 10 nm
Gas Pedal Module to Brake Pedal Bracket Bolt - 8 nm
Rear Brake Caliper to Brake Carrier Bolt 1 - 35 nm
Rear Brake Carrier to Wheel Bearing Housing Bolt - 100 nm + 90 degrees
Rear Brake Hose in Brake Caliper - 19 nm
Rear Brake Hose to Brake Pipe Line - 12 nm
Rear Brake Pad Bolt - 5 nm

• 1 Always replace after removal.

[DGVR6]

Nope, read the DIY post.. Thanks though OP can add that in there

[Midnight_Rider]

Brake Pedal Bracket to Body Nut - 8 nm = 6 ft./lbs

Brake Pedal Mounting Pin to Bracket Bolt - 8 nm = 6 ft./lbs

Electromechanical Parking Brake Control Module Nut - 3 nm = 2.2 ft./lbs

Electromechanical Parking Brake Motor to Rear Brake Caliper Bolt - 12 nm = 8.8 ft./lbs

Front Brake Caliper to Brake Carrier Bolt - 30 nm = 22.1 ft./lbs

Front Brake Carrier to Wheel Bearing Housing Bolt 1 - 196 nm = 144.5 ft./lbs

Front Brake Line Connection to Brake Caliper - 20 nm = 14.7 ft./lbs

Front Brake Pad Bolt - 5 nm = 3.6 ft./lbs

Front Cover Plate Bolt - 10 nm = 7.3 ft. lb

Gas Pedal Module to Brake Pedal Bracket Bolt - 8 nm = 5.9 ft./lbs

Rear Brake Caliper to Brake Carrier Bolt 1 - 35 nm = 25.8 ft./lbs

Rear Brake Carrier to Wheel Bearing Housing Bolt - 100 nm + 90 degrees = 73.7 ft./lbs + 90 degrees

Rear Brake Hose in Brake Caliper - 19 nm = 14 ft./lbs

Rear Brake Hose to Brake Pipe Line - 12 nm = 8.8 ft./lbs

Rear Brake Pad Bolt - 5 nm = 3.7 ft./lbs

I don't have newton meters on my torque stick, so converted.


Let me just say this. I saw the other post. Are you sure that's for 2014 B8.5 S4? I don't know what's changed, but it looks slightly different. Also, what is "Front Brake Pad Bolts?"

[SR7D1]

Thanks for the write up. Should lubing the sliders be part of the process? Also, I always crack the brake reservoir lid to make it easier to force the caliper piston back in? This may not be necessary, who knows?

I am doing pads, rotors and lines later this month.

[Oloung1]

It's good to have multiple write ups for reference.
Does anybody know the caliper carrier bolt torque specs when installing rotors?

thanks OP and shickadance for the DIYs. id rather have 10 different DIYs on the same subject then the occasionally entertaining "i murked a 2020 twincharged m3 on spray coming home from grocery store" thread

[Midnight_Rider]

Thanks for the write up. Should lubing the sliders be part of the process? Also, I always crack the brake reservoir lid to make it easier to force the caliper piston back in? This may not be necessary, who knows?

I am doing pads, rotors and lines later this month.

My setup was clean. The sliders looked brand new, so I didn't bother with the lubrication. I did push the spring retainer part to see if it moved smoothly, and it did.

It's a bit of pain in the butt, since you have to take apart a lot of things to do it properly.

[Krusty]

Nice work, dude. Is your wallet looking to sponsor other cars?

[SR7D1]

OK, cool. So on our cars, the sliding part is under the rubber grommets and not the pins or bolts themselves? So I really don't need to lube the pins/bolts the calipers use in attaching to the bracket?

[Midnight_Rider]

Nice work, dude. Is your wallet looking to sponsor other cars?

My wallet is in denial, and won't come out until I rip that SC out and put a GT35 in it.

[Midnight_Rider]

thanks OP and shickadance for the DIYs. id rather have 10 different DIYs on the same subject then the occasionally entertaining "i murked a 2020 twincharged m3 on spray coming home from grocery store" thread

I so destroyed that Twin GT35 ZO7 coming home with the kids in the back seat, with my brand new $40 pads! hahaha

It's funny, because I don't have kids.

[zcspec]

Love this community...I plan on upgrading my AR rotors to the S4 specs and this will come in very handy. Very much appreciate the torque specs as it will satisfy my OCDness.

[mr shickadance]

Thanks for the write up. Should lubing the sliders be part of the process? Also, I always crack the brake reservoir lid to make it easier to force the caliper piston back in? This may not be necessary, who knows?

I am doing pads, rotors and lines later this month.

imo it should be, two reasons, 1) it's already out there, and if you are doing this you should already have high temp brake grease ready, so why not and 2) just because it looks great now, doesn't mean it will look good in 20k miles or more.

brakes from b8 to b8.5 i believe are identical.

[bonzomatic]

LOL you go to the same car wash I do in Duluth.

[SVtracker]

"4. You have to pry the none piston side pad off, since it's glued on there. The one on the piston side has those clips you see above, so they just pop out easily."

"6. The trickiest part. These spring tension retainer clips are super tricky to get on.
What I did was put the top and the middle in place. Then, hold the top and the middle with my one hand, then just force the rear clip over the bolt, and man handle it in place. Then adjust it a bit. They don't align flush, and they stick out a bit. Doesn't matter which one, they're the same size."


I just changed my front brakes for the first time last week. Oh my gosh!!! These 2 steps alone made the job a PITA!!!! If not for these two steps, i would have finished in 30 minutes. It ended up taking about 3 hours total. My original OEM brakes have been on there for a long time (many many miles), as I dont drive it much. The glue on the original brake pads was so strong (in your step 4). I spent more than 15 minutes trying to pry one brake pad and there are 4 pads (two per rotor). First, I used a hammer (as instructed by a professional mechanic on a youtube video) to hammer a pad out and it didnt work). Then I used ALL of my arm strength to pry a pad with a screwdriver. No such luck. The glue was super strong.
--Of all the cars I owned (dodge dakota, acura rsx, volvo s70, toyota camry, nissan frontier), none of them had the original brake pad glued to the caliper!!!! NONE!!!!
---I had to use penetrating oil to get a small sliver of opening between the pad and the caliper. That helped somewhat for me to shove a screwdriver in there to pry for about 15 minutes (per pad). You can literally hear the glue tear (like velcro ripping from each other).
---There was so much residual glue left on the surface of the caliper after removing the pads that I did not want this sticky stuff around for when I change my pads again. So I spent another 15 minutes per inner side of a caliper to scrape off the residual glue with a razor blade (from a box cutter knife) and Goo Gone. Using the blade alone was not enough, I had to spray the glue with Goo Gone and let sit for 10 minutes before glue was soft enough for me to scrape the glue off the metal of the caliper. Scraping the glue was not fun--It was all over the insides of the caliper. Spent another 5 minutes removing any Goo Gone with brake cleaner and wiping down with a microfiber towel.
---Why oh why Audi did you add glue, when none of my other cars had them????????

Your number 6 was also tricky and took some time. The retaining clip is much stronger and thicker than other retaining clips I have seen in previous cars I have owned. After 10-15 minutes of fussing with one clip, I decided to take two needle nose pliers to slightly straighten these retaining clips just enough to get it to fit into its grooves on the caliper. These clips are not fun to remove or put back on.

I also had to spent a considerable amount of time with the bedding process of my Hawk HPS pads. Simple street driving for 30 minutes did not do the trick. I needed some serious braking and repeated bedding processes to remove the squishiness of the new brakes. And I'm sure I did not introduce air into the brake lines to cause the squishiness.

......
That was a good write up, however. Wish I read it before I replaced my front brake pads. Hope everyone else has an easier time with their brake pads. Gosh, the glue on the original pads suck!