Hier gibt's der Englischen Version
Source: Autoblog.nl
Audi RS3 brake problems
Suppose you buy from your hard-earned pennies a brand new Audi RS3. A car with a starting price of 71 860 euros (NL), with some options the price sets to about 80,000 euros. If you spend as much money on a car you simply want value for money. At least!
A Dutch owner of such nimble Audi e-mailed us with the following story. Indeed, he bought a brand new RS3 in March of this year. In April mailer put (we'll call him from now Piet, real name withheld) 4,500 km on the clock of the Audi, during a vacation. Back in the Netherlands the brakes started to squeak. Piet went to the dealer that the discs replaced under warranty. That ends well.
From here to nowhere
NOT! In July Piet noticed some vibrations when braking. Closer inspection revealed that the brake pads were warped. Mind you: at that time the Audi had 10,000 km of life experience. After that secondly replaced after much grumbling by the dealer, the brake pads. Secondly, yes, because another dealer refused to cooperate because Piet would have used the car on the circuit track. According to owner, Piet has never been on any type circuit or whatever. At least this dealer was convinced by its own right. Especially strange as Audi advertises the RS3 (RS stand for Renn Sport, racing sport) as full grown and track able beast.
The vibrations came back in full force. Obviously Piet went immediately to his dealer, who surprisingly said that there were just a few known examples of bent discs. Unfortunately for this dealership we at Autoblog have our own encyclopaedia Willem in our basement, who knows to report that it is well known that the RS3 has a problem with the pre-brake wiper system (rainy conditions to keep the discs clean from dirt and water spill). This system allows the brake pads to touch the brake discs, thus creating heat, in order to remove, for example, moisture or dirt from the discs. This principle is not only used for the function to bring the car to a halt, but also to reduce understeer. The RS3 has no LSD in the front differential. In order to prevent the RS3 from excessive understeer, torque-vectoring was introduced. This system is able to brake each wheel individually, therefore ‘pulling’ the car into a corner. The ESP simulates a reverse-operation with the brakes. Therefore, the discs must always be 'clean'. Especially sold in Germany and the UK, large amounts of RS3’s also having problems with bent brake discs and excessive wear from the brake pads. Thestatement of the dealers there looks like to be nonsense.
Piet is not the only one
Piet isn’t letting it down and he goes around to other owners of RS3's (nationally and internationally) identify the size of the problem. In addition, he receives a story of three Dutch owners of RS3 who reported the same brake problems at the same dealership. All three owners were told they were the first to recognize this problem. Will this be ‘the TFSI story’ all over again? For the record: a total of approximately 60 (Dutch) RS3 owners reacted to Piet which also having vibrating brakes (!).
In August Piet’s car was taken away for repairs, but unfortunately he received the RS3 not in time for a planned road trip. Thereby PON (the Dutch importer) does not seem to be very willing to resolve the situation. With nonsense like " racing product properties" and "it is just your car that has these problems" Piet is clear that the importer has little appetite to solve this problem nicely.
To make clear to us that Pete is sick and tired of the hassle with the brakes of the RS3 has sent along a whole bunch of e-mails between him and several dealers. Reading his e-mails, we can draw only one conclusion: Pon and the dealers are not willing to solve the brake problems. Pretty poor for, a new car that quickly costs around 80K. Other owners of RS3 with brake problems of course, can report to us, let us know!
Salient detail: another RS3-owner picked up his Audi RS3 on the same day as Piet. You'll never guess, this owner experienced exactly the same brake problems! An Audi Sport salesman who still dares to argue with a straight face that Piet is simply unlucky, would be a sad joke.
INSTANT UPDATE: also eight other Dutch RS3 owners reacted themselves, through a mail to us. All having similar problems with the front brake discs.
One of the eight owners is a true Audi adept, he also owns an A1 Quattro and R8 GT Spyder. At his first RS3 8P (previous generation) he received 3 sets of front brakes all under coulance. So there is definitely a problem known by Quattro gmbh. The final set was just under the car when there finally came a recall after one year to replace the brakes, almost any new discs are then replaced again after a month. Before that the owner had a Megane RS, then RS-Q3 (never had any problems with the brakes, or increased wear of the brake pads). The latter has again traded in at a brand new RS3 (8v).
By specing the car options they are already discovered a problem, ceramic brakes are optional in the sales list but can't be selected on the vehicle due to internal reasons (according to Audi) . He decides to buy the car anyway, but clearly indicates that he expects the brakes could cause problems like his previous RS3 (therefore he would have gone for the Ceramic option). According to the dealer these problems are all under control yet. Meanwhile, he drives around with his third! set of discs, but there is still no structural solution. Also, the wear on the brake pads by torque-vectoring and pre-brake in rainy conditions is extreme, every 4000 km, he must replace the pads (pads are 550 euros per set).
The second RS3 driver gets a similar story on paper. His would be the first, to having discs that are bent and vibrate after 3500 km and it was getting worse by the day. After two months and 5,000 kilometers dealer was contacted. At 9800 km the car was in the workshop getting new discs .
A week and 1,300 kilometers later, the story starts all over again. The frustration of the owner is evident from the following passage: "After five minutes (! Cold motor yet) they begin to vibrate like hell... and is getting worse by every day of driving’. Now we were told that an owner can only get one set under warranty. So now this owner has a car which is 4 months old, has almost 12 000 km on the clock, and faulty brakes. ‘He has to live with it’ the Dutch Audi sport dealer told him. No solution, o guarantee nothing more, no coulance, really nothing! ". Also he’s been told, he would be the first RS3-owner having these problems. And there would be certainly no question of a design flaw or commonly known problem. At the redaction from Autoblog we slowly begin to doubt this statement…
From straight to bent in a few kilometers
For making things visible we received an email from an Audi TT-RS-owner and technical specialist from the TTRS and RS3 Club Netherlands. He sends us a picture of a newly mounted disc (because the first set was already bent after 6000km), which has been fitted for only 200 km and has been ‘driven in’ according to Audi standards. What is striking though, a part of the disc still remains the honed pattern that is present form factory new discs, while it's been graded of in other places due the contact between brake pads and brake discs. Concluding: the uneven wear (therefore causing the vibrating) of the brake disc seems to start from the first kilometers. Or could the brake discs be bent even before leaving out of the factory ...? (Probably due to cost savings)
