I am a first time Audi owner, I just bought a 1995 A6 Quattro, 2.8 v6. The gentleman that sold it to me told me he just had the front brakepads installed, but (and I quote) "the new pads don't have the little sensor thing, so the dash light wont go out"...

After doing some reading, it doesn't sound like the sensor is on/in the brake pad itself, sounds like it's on the outside, on the caliper, and it measures the distance the brakes need to travel before the pads contact the rotors. Is this true? Or is it my worst fear (with this beautiful car) and I will need to get new brake pads? I haven't gotten the time to jack up the car yet, I'll do that sometime this week. I'd like to know what I'm looking for though when I take a wheel off. I'd appreciate any help I can get!

btw - I tried posting this in another thread (some forums prefer that so more info is in one thread) but it's been a day or so and no one has responded, and I'd like to get this figured out before the temp inspection needs to be done. If I can get the light to go away by DIY then I'll take it to the Audi dealer and have them inspect it (to see if there's anything else I should know about it) if not, I'll take it to my buddy who wont give me a hard time about the brake pads, unless they really are low.

 

That old? i don't think they do have a brake pad wear sensors, but you know your gonna have to get under there and check for any wires or anything coming from the brake caliper area if it were true, it sounds like a load of crap for a 95, it were an 04 or newer i would believe it. The 04 and newer A8 is the only car i know of that can calculate the thickness of the brake pads, and thats because it uses a electronic parking brake.

 

:-) I love technology. Did I mention this car is FULLY loaded? Want me to scan the manual pages that discuss the brake pad sensors? :-P I'll root around, but I'd like to know more about what I'm looking for.

 

Hell, you said you had a fault light on in the cluster right? When an A4 or whatever has worn front pads it has a warning light that looks like a circle with parentheses around it. Does yours look like that? Check your owners manual if you have it and see what the light actually is.

 

"(O) - Brake pads worn" (pg. 6)

"See your Audi retailer promptly to have front and rear brake pads checked and replaced as necessary." (pg. 76)

 

I have never done this on a Audi but one time on our bmw I ordered pads that didn't have the wear sensors in them. So I hade to jump the wear sensor wires to get the light to turn off. I'm sure the guy was telling the truth, he simply ordered pads without the sensor wires. I just did a break job on my A6 and I could have ordered pads with or without them.

jeff