R8 ceramic brakes - advice, please

[robbom3]

Hi all. Hoping for some advice.

I have an R8 V10 plus, which has Carbon Ceramic brakes as standard. The brakes started making some very strange noises, which I can best describe as “grinding” a few weeks ago, and has been with the dealer for the past two weeks. I got a call yesterday saying that they have deglazed and cleaned the brakes, but that this issue is not covered under warranty, and is a “characteristic” of R8 brakes. They have agreed that they will cover the cost of the work “this time”.

Frankly this sounds like complete bullst to me. It seems that they expect the issue to reoccur, and are setting me up to pay the bill if / when it does.

Any thoughts on how I should address this when I collect the car ?

[PompeyReece]

robbom3 said:

Hi all. Hoping for some advice.

I have an R8 V10 plus, which has Carbon Ceramic brakes as standard. The brakes started making some very strange noises, which I can best describe as “grinding” a few weeks ago, and has been with the dealer for the past two weeks. I got a call yesterday saying that they have deglazed and cleaned the brakes, but that this issue is not covered under warranty, and is a “characteristic” of R8 brakes. They have agreed that they will cover the cost of the work “this time”.

Frankly this sounds like complete bullst to me. It seems that they expect the issue to reoccur, and are setting me up to pay the bill if / when it does.

Any thoughts on how I should address this when I collect the car ?

If you haven't already done so and unless you get some answers here, I would register on R8talk.com and pose the question. As a dedicated R8 site, albeit slightly US based, it has a wealth of resource which may help you identify the issue. If you know what the problem is likely to be, it will help dictate your actions when collecting the car.

I know R8 brakes are known to squeak occasionally but definitely not grind so I'm initially sceptical of their diagnosis.

Also I'm unsure where you are based, but there is an excellent R8/supercar indie in Swindon called RE Performance, run by Ricky Elder. He is extremely helpful (I do a 200 miles round trip to get him to service my R8) and is another avenue you might want to strongly consider. He might need to see the car to fully diagnose but he'll definitely be able to answer the "characteristic" question.

[Trev450]

You may be better off asking this question over on R8talk.com It is without doubt the best place for discussing all things R8.

Edit: Beat me to it, Reece.)

[Dr G]

If you wanted to fire me your reg or chassis number I'll dig up anything I can find on brake noise/feel complaints.

The dealership should/will/may have followed what Audi call "guided fault finding" to come to the conclusion they've given you. If this is indeed a characteristic rather than a fault/damage Audi usually have a 'TPI' (Technical Product Information) document explaining it that they're referencing. They're not supposed to be customer facing documents and the info in them is usually only given verbally.

[Mr Moley]

robbom3 said:

Hi all. Hoping for some advice.

I have an R8 V10 plus, which has Carbon Ceramic brakes as standard. The brakes started making some very strange noises, which I can best describe as “grinding” a few weeks ago, and has been with the dealer for the past two weeks. I got a call yesterday saying that they have deglazed and cleaned the brakes, but that this issue is not covered under warranty, and is a “characteristic” of R8 brakes. They have agreed that they will cover the cost of the work “this time”.

Frankly this sounds like complete bullst to me. It seems that they expect the issue to reoccur, and are setting me up to pay the bill if / when it does.

Any thoughts on how I should address this when I collect the car ?

Is it a Gen 2 R8?

I had constant problems with the brakes on mine, typically just as I was slowly braking to a halt the brakes would sort of shudder and vibrate. It didn't happen every time and the dealer didn't believe me until I took a couple of videos (the shudder was clearly audible) at which point and after much head scratching they changed the pads under warranty. This helped but didn't solve the problem. I sold the car before they got to the bottom of it!

Oh and it was West London Audi if that helps...

[Guffy]

My V10 Plus ceramic brakes occasionally squeal, i find it helps to find some quiet sections of road and give them a damn good thrashing basil.

[Dr G]

Guffy said:

My V10 Plus ceramic brakes occasionally squeal, i find it helps to find some quiet sections of road and give them a damn good thrashing basil.

That does just sound like ceramics being ceramics, they definitely work best when they've got a bit of temperature in them. V10 S8s on ceramics when cold were the worst, the torque covertor fighting against them at low speed made a bloody awful groany moany noise sometimes. The "grinding" decribed above doesn't sound right to me.

[robbom3]

Guys, Apologies for the delay in replying, and thanks for the comments. I'm collecting the car today, so will see what the dealer have to say for themselves, and whether they've managed to quieten the brakes down (which they claim to have done). To answer the specific question, yes, it's a Gen2 V10Plus. I've done some more research since my initial post, and there is a lot of talk about the warranty replacement of brake pads. In this case Audi have NOT replaced the pads. They claim to have cleaned and geglazed the brakes, and are saying that this is NOT covered under warranty, but they'll cover the cost this time. i am forced to wonder whether they'd be saying the same thing if the car was not under warranty, or whether they'd change the pads and give me the bill !!!

[Trev450]

If this works, and I hope it does for you, deglazing is a very simple task and can be done with very limited diy skills. I mention this because if it happens again, from what you've said Audi won't cover it again.

[nn7man]

The problem is addressed here:

https://www.r8talk.com/forums/138-2nd-generation-d...

[robbom3]

So, I picked it up at lunchtime today, and had a fairly gentle drive home. At the moment, the brakes are MUCH quieter than they were, so I'm happy for now. If they glaze again, and start making the same level of noise as previously, I've made it very clear to the dealer that I'll be back in touch with them. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'd be interested to know how I would go about de-glazing the brakes myself, should the need arise.

Thanks again for all the feedback so far.

[Trev450]

On the basis that prevention is better than cure, give the brakes a good workout now and again and this should stop any glazing occuring. Deglazing requires ruffing up the disc face and pads with some emery paper.

[robbom3]

Thanks Trev. Yes, they did recommend really standing on the brakes every once in a while, so I'll definitely be doing that.

[Dr G]

Seems Gen 2 R8 brakes can make all sorts of noises, some normal, some involving fettling - although an Italian tune up is probably the easiest!

[James_B]

A few very hard stops from 200mph once a week might help.

I tend to stamp on the brake pedal from high speed once in a while to se pe what happens, and have not had any funny noises yet.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc and all that...