Q7 rotors and brakes question

Dealer wanted $1,850 + tax to do the brakes and rotors on my wife's 2015 Audi Q7. My brother in law is a mechanic, and did it for us. Total cost on parts was $500 for stuff from IDParts. He said we owe him a dinner at Eddy V's . I have no problems with that as he saved us a ton of money.


How often do we have to change these? We bought it with 42k miles on it, and we are at 56k miles now. I'm just trying to get a feel if these were originals, or if they may have been changed out already.


It didn't seem super hard to change them, with the right tools that is. If they last 55k miles then that's great, but if they last less then I need to start saving for some tools, lol.

The fronts were super easy to change, but the rears gave him some problems. some of the bolts were locked in place and did not want to budge. He actually had to heat some up in order to get them out.

The longevity of your brakes will greatly depend primarily on what kind of driving you do, parts quality, and vehicle mass. There isn't much you can do about the vehicle mass, it simply is what it is. Choose good quality parts instead of some really cheap chinesium, it is a wise investment. Specifically, I would stick with Zimmerman for the rotors, and Akebono ceramic for the pads. Zimmerman is, I believe, the OEM supplier for the VW group, and Akebono is the OEM vendor for Toyota and other Japanese makers. I would stay away from the ultra-high performance rotors, you are not getting any extra benefits for paying 2-3 times what regular rotors will cost you. As for the type of driving you do - if the vehicle is driven primarily on highway, it is not unheard of to get 100k miles out of your brakes. Conversely, if you only drive in a start-stop city traffic, the brakes may be toast long before 20k, so it really is impossible to say whether the old brakes were already replaced or originals. However, if you do about 50/50 mixed driving, 55k miles seems about right for a vehicle that heavy with OEM brakes. You definitely need to make a detailed cost analysis of "tools vs. dinner at Eddy V's every 4 years or so", but my advice is to get some tools and do it yourself. Not only is the job super easy as you have correctly observed, but you will get that warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside, knowing that the job was done correctly. Last piece of advice - those bolts that secure the calipers to the knuckle or axle can really be a female dog to remove, so it is a good idea to apply small amount of anti-seize compound onto the threads when you put them back to make the job even easier the next time. To remove them, I use my trusty 3/4" ratchet. I have never seen a bolt that said NO to this kind of persuasion.

Is there any tricks needed for doing the rear brakes with the electric E-brake? Going to do the front and rear brakes on the Cayenne.

I thought I would read somewhere that since I don’t own a VAGCOM scan today that I could manually adjust the electric E-brake. Thanks

You don’t need vagcom on the rear brakes on a Q7 so I would think you wound not on a Cayenne. Btw, the front and rear pads are made by Pagid for Brembo as resold by Audi. I believe Zimmerman makes some of the rotors as well. The fronts are super easy to do while the rears are a tad bit harder to do if you don’t have a lift due to the caliper mounting bolts being hard to get to and remove. Good luck.

Thanks AJM,I bought OEM rotors and pads and have done the fronts already. I had bought the caliper holding pins for doing the fronts which made the job super easy.
I just haven’t done the rears and had concerns with the electronic E-brake and if I was going to need a VAGCOM as an tool for dealing with the E-brake.

No one knows if a VAGCOM tool is necessary for doing the rear brake that has the Electronic E-brake?

I am pretty sure it is required to unlock the e-brake.

EPB requires a scan tool to put the calipers in service mode, yes.

T'reg/Q7/Cayenne are hard on brakes and tires. This obviously is dependent on type of driving of course, and some tires wear better than others, but I have over the years had many, many owners of these vehicles that like clockwork need a set of brakes AND tires every 20-30k miles. They are not at all like a Golf or Jetta when it comes to brakes. Q7s are worse, because they are bigger and with the exception of some of the higher end V8 versions, use the smaller brakes. Cayennes generally use larger ones, regardless of engine (except the V8 turbo, which use ENORMOUS brakes), but are usually a softer compound from the factory for better performance (but even shorter life). There is no one rule for everyone, though, so just keep an eye on brake life at every service when the tires are rotated. The brake pad sensors obviously will alert you too.

Dang,I was hoping I wasn’t going to need a VAGCOM scan tool to do this job. The fronts are easy. Maybe I’ll do the fronts and have my Audi mechanic do the rears.

VCDS will not work on the Cayenne anyway, you need something different. We have a couple tools that work on those, at least enough for things like EPB service. OTC has a tool that is specifically for that I think. Just google EPB service tool. Autel has one, too. Some of them are pretty inexpensive, less than $100.

Thanks Oilhammer!! I wouldn’t mind spending $100 for a tool that I could use.

Well if you have a Cayenne in the stable, spending money shouldn't be something you should have an aversion to, as there is going to be lots of opportunities to do just that.

Did you know that the Cayenne was sold here (with the gas V[R]6 engine) with a manual transmission? Only a handful made it here, I have had one through our shop. Wondered what it would take to make that work behind one of the TDIs.

Haha...as u and I know everything for the Porsche is up charged $$$. That being said I prefer doing my own maintenance as I know I’m using the correct oil,filters,parts etc. Only real reason I got into this Cayenne diesel is because of the Dieselgate buyback of our Sportwagen and and the money from the Cayenne from VWoA.
I wish they offered the Cayenne diesel with the manual...would have been nice.

Oilhammer I was looking around for the EPB tool but they appears to be a bunch of them:Would u suggest one over the other? Thanks

dunerking, check out the follow post to help you with your brake job

https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-958-2011-2018/622488-brake-pad-procedure-for-2011-cayenne-2.html

Thanks AJM!
I went through that thread but it never clearly stated wether you need a scan tool to put the Electric Parking Brake into “service mode” or if you don’t need to go into service mode. I watched a few different a YouTube videos of doing the rear brakes without a scan tool. Both videos said to leave in Neutral and to leave the Electric Parking Brake disengage.

Just changed out the "original" brakes and rotors on my 2014 Q5 TDI at 73,000-miles. Put Zimmerman rotors on all four corners and Akebono pads on the front, Textar on the rear. Took about 3.5-hours with the help pf my brothers! Used the Carista OBD2/app to place the rear Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) into Service "open" mode. When finished, used Carista to return the EPB to "closed" mode. Surprisingly, no brake fluid was lost. All went well, new brakes work very well. This is definitely A DIY job with the right tools.

As others have said, I also saved a ton of money! At the 75K major service the dealer indicated all rotors/pads had reached their limit and needed to be replaced for $2,000! On examination, only the pads needed to be replaced! Rotors showed very little wear. Was amazed but changed all out, in any case.

I drive moderately and brake gently, that may have contributed to the long-life of OEM brakes.

I love this car! "Fuelly" tells me I'm at $0.09/mile and overall MPG average is 27. I easily brake 33mpg on the interstate with the cruise at 75mph. Stay safe.