A4 to S4 rear brake conversion project , clarification on parts required.

Charlie Farley

Charlie Farley

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As in the title chaps, the time has come to replace my rear discs and pads , I had put doing the S4 conversion on hold and was going to just go with 288x12 mtecs and pads , but it seems a lot of online outlets are doing very good deals on parts this week/weekend and I can get S4 discs for silly cheap money .
So it would seem only logical to do the conversion after all and get the discs now at a reduced price rather than buy new 288's only now and then buy another set of 300 s4's in a few months time.
I know what discs to go with but just want to be 100% on the caliper setup, do I need calipers and carriers or either or.... I have read through some other threads but just seem a bit confused now on the subject of parts needed.
any help would be great.
rob
 
Hey man.
I'm not 100% sure. But I think if you have 288 you only need s4 carriers..
I've tried to verify this information but had no luck.
Could you please post a picture of your rear setup, having special focus in the calipers themselves?

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I did look into it a while back and was sure I had it all worked out with the parts needed and part number, then I saw an article that threw my whole plan out the window so kinda put off until now really as it seems an ideal time to do it rather than by two sets of discs in a few months.
 
I understand.
I done my rears this month. But if I get good deal for a s4 setup I'll sure do them again..

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just been looking at the parts diagram, looks like I do need to replace the carriers and calipers also lines.....now thats a blow so maybe sticking with just getting some better 288x12 discs for now....
 
I'd still think should be worth the extra money..
But just need to find them fairly priced..
I kept standard size but grooved rotors with brembo pads.

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You need the calipers and carriers, the S4 caliper has a bigger piston than the 288 rears. You also need new rear hoses and the handbrake cable needs to be pulled back a bit but there is sufficient slack to allow this. I found I didn't need to change the back plates as there is no interference but some people have mentioned these need changing too.

A word of warning bleeding is a pain. I recently rebuilt mine replaced all seals etc. The handbrake mechanism piston needs some good long thin cranked circlip pliers to disassemble and the boots were fiddly.
I used a pressure bleeder but still didn't have great feel once done so had to do it 3 or 4 times including the abs procedure on vcds.
Some advice I found after I had done it was to bleed the caliper before you fit them so you can tilt the body to allow the air to escape or tap the back with a rubber mallet as you bleed to encourage any air trapped at the back of the caliper body to move.

I went with the mtec drilled and grooved and pads. No real complaints but my fronts are still stock and poor so can't really comment on how well it all works. been waiting to sort my wheels to fit my 18z brembos
 
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As above. You also need new brake shields.
 
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I'm not sure where /why you need the s4 brake shield. This is my standard shield with the S4 discs and there is a good fingertip clearance all the way round.
DSC 0046 1536x864
 
I like that..
Don't know if it would work on mine since I have the poor spec 245mm rear brakes..
But since I will upgrade anyway its something to look at..

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well I have ordered some discs anyway as the price was too go to miss, i'll have to see what comes up on the caliper/carrier front in the next few weeks but worse case I have saved a fair bit on one part of the project..
cheers chaps for the good feedback and info.
 
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well been having a quick look for parts and saw these still on fleabay, I have to say though, what are some guys on .... the kit they are selling is utter rubbish, or they don't know what they are selling...
here you go...
this sellers reckons these are s4 rears, if so what about the handbrake mechanism etc ...

S4reaer


and this seller clearly sell's kit that need more than just a light clean up...., major overhaul would be more appropriate , and what about the prices , they are stupid for that state of kit...I have thrown away better condition calipers than those.....



S4rear2
 
They most likely don't even know what they're selling.
First pic it's from from brake setup. I've seen that too.
And they see others selling by that price and they try to get a lot of money for it..
That would need a moot overhaul like you said..
I wouldn't put my money on those for sure..
Not only they need too much work done they are expensive for the state of them and who know what else need doing..

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found another set a few days back but i'm not driving that far as seller wont post even if I pay for the service......cant understand some sellers..

Ddr4
 
The last seller is a good genuine seller I've brought his air ride kit off him and went on a 7 hour round trip to collect it. He's busy as he manages his dads business for him quite a lot of the time. He had a few nice carbon bits as well custom made.


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well I've been doing some deeper snooping in to the subject and it appears that the same parts ( caliper and carriers ) comes up from a whole raft of other company names and part numbers, and the prices vary widly across the board for the same parts ....so I am going just get new items from the best priced third party company, as they are all the same part I cant really see the point if paying silly money when there is no need.

rob
 
when I've got a full list compiled i'll pm you a copy....
 
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Yes Rob but the best thing was you could see where the Audi rings had been ground off. Just had a look and they are a little dearer now.
 
having had a good old snoop at all the available options thus far carl I have got the price down to £205 for both calipers with carriers and to be honest I don't think I be able to find them any cheaper as new parts, i'm going to have a look at a few other sources just to be sure before I order from them.
 
yep, sounds about right carl, if I add the hoses and new mtech discs the whole job come in around £310.00 , so I may just order them and be done with it, cant really be fuffing around with looking anymore for the sake of a couple of quids...
 
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Eon can you pick at the links up to said parts please. Thanks.
 
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