I drove 170 miles on Friday evening with no problem whatsoever, brakes fine all working perfectly.

I then drove 50 miles yesterday (Sunday) at 70 mph or so, and when I got out to fill up with petrol there was a horrid smell of hot brakes which kind of reminded me of the smell you get after being on track and working the brakes very hard. I felt the temperature of the wheels and they were all even, so put it down to something in the air or another car.

Today I went for a short drive around town at a max of 40mph, and when I got out even after only driving 5 miles there was the same smell. I then used the old nose and tracked the problem to the front drivers side wheel. The brake disk was noticeably hotter than the passenger side.

The brakes still work fine, there is no pull in any direction and when not on throttle the car feels the same as usual, so I am not sure what the issue could be.

I need to get this sorted, I am still more than 140 miles from home and in 5 weeks I am driving the car across Spain from north to south.

Jack up the offside front and see if the wheel rotates freely (compare to the nearside if unsure) Then (carefully beause the car is on the jack) get someone to press and release the brake pedal with the engine running to see if the pads are releasing back from the disc and not dragging.

I would imagine it's just a case of removing the pads and freeing off the calipers.

Sounds like a caliper not releasing fully.

There are various different configurations for the front brakes on the A8. Assuming it's not the HP-2 type, then I would guess that the the guide pins are worn or need greasing up.

I really hope its something simple. I guess that I'll pop into my local friendly garage tomorrow and leave the car with them to take a look between other work. I need the car back by early afternoon so I can drive back to Dorset, hopefully they can sort it before then.

Any idea when the brake fluid was last changed?

It will be a sticking caliper as others have suggested. Easy fix: at worst it's a new caliper, but a strip and clean should sort it.

Dropped the car off at my friendly ex skoda dealer garage, they are going to sort it for me. I am kind of glad it happened here rather than Dorset, knowing the owner of the garage has its advantages. He is going to call me later to let know if he has managed to get the original caliper working or if it needs replacement.

The garage could not find or see anything wrong, so I took it for a long drive and it seems ok would you believe. Why is it when something is up, when you go to a garage there is no problem.

When I get back to Dorset if its smelling, then I'll pop into the place over the road from my house and see if they can take a look whilst its still smelling.

Try and check the temperature of both the inside and outside pad. If it's only one that is cooking, then it's probably a guide pin.

Do you know what brakes you have?

FS, FN, Brembo.

The garage could not find or see anything wrong, so I took it for a long drive and it seems ok would you believe. Why is it when something is up, when you go to a garage there is no problem.

Magic screwdriver. Usually works best on computers.

Machine gets scared and fixes itself.

To update this, the problem has occured a number of times since and today the Audi is in at VASWorks (APD) in Poole where they are going to give the caliper a once over and hopefully resolve the problem.

They have loaned me one of their cars, so today I am driving around in a modified 1991 VW Golf GTI 16V. This car handles really well for 21 years old, well it should as its sitting very low on coilovers and has quiet large orange painted alloys. Mileage is unknown as the speedo does not work, so need to use satnav as speedo.

Side view picture of Golf from their facebook page.

I'll not take anymore, but you get the general idea.

Car is all sorted, drove the Golf back to the garage. The bill was just 1 hours labour, the cause was a almost seized slider. Hopefully now its all been stripped down, cleaned up etc. and put back together its all sorted. They are very confident that its now fixed after an extensive road test, so lets see.

lucky mannyo

that could have been very expensive.hope it stays ok.

bill