The easiest front brake upgrade is to change from 288mm and fit 312mm front discs.
All this requires is 312mm Carriers discs and pads .(splash guards if you want, but they are not essential)
If you have the 1.8T, TDI 130/150, you just need carriers discs and pads.
You do NOT need new brake calipers JUST the carriers!However if you have: 2.0 8v , 1.6, 1.4, TDI 115, TDI 110, TDI 100, TDI 90,
you will need to change the hubs aswell.
You can get the 312mm carriers from TPS or dealers not 100% on price around £115 IIRC
Breakers would be cheapest place for carriers from the following cars:
Audi TT, Golf 4 Anni, Skoda Octavia VRS MK1, Golf 4 V5 170,Golf 4 V6 4 Motion
Any of the above VAG 312mm discs will be fine.
Splash Guards:
Front left 312mm Shield, vw part no: 1J0615312B
Front right 312mm Shield, vw part no: N90305302
The 288mm and 312mm brake pads are both the same Rear brake upgrade:
The standard 232mm Solids can be upgraded for the 256mm Vented setup, the bigger caliper just bolts straight on. If the calipers/carriers have come off a Quattro/4 Motion then you will need some 6mm spacers.
You only need spacers if the 256mm rear brakes came from an Audi TT (225bhp) / 4WD MK4.
Spacers can be bought hereYou will need to fit 256mm splash guards, but to do this hub has to come off and if the bearings are seized it will mean shelling out for new bearings/ fitting.
Upgrading the rear brakes does not do much in terms of braking power, reducing your stopping distance. The rear brakes only account for about 30%. Most people upgrade just for looks.
Heres all the brake sizes on the VAG range, and what they are fitted to as standard.
VW Golf R32 | Audi TT 3.2 Quattro
The Front brakes are 334mm x 32mm Vented 2-piece Discs, Twin piston calipers
The Rear brakes are 256mm x 22mm Vented Discs, 38mm Lucas singles
Seat Leon Cupra R
The Front brakes are 323mm x 28mm Vented (grooved/drilled option) discs with 4 pot Brembo calipers
The rear brakes are 256mm x 22mm Vented , with 38m Lucas single piston calipers
Audi TT-Quattro (225hp) | VW Golf Anni | Skodá Octavia VRS | VW Golf V5 170 | VW Golf V6 4 Motion
The Front brakes are 312mm x 25mm Vented Discs, 54mm ATE single piston calipers
The Rear brakes are 256mm x 22mm Vented Discs, 38mm Lucas single Piston calipers
Audi TT (180hp)
The Front brakes are 312mm x 25mm Vented Discs, 54mm ATE single piston calipers
The Rear brakes are 232mm x 9mm Solid Discs,
Golf 1.8T | Golf 130/150 TDI | Seat Leon 130/150 TDI and 1.8T
The Front brakes are 288mm x 25mm Vented Discs, 54mm ATE single piston calipers
The Rear brakes are 232mm x 9mm Solid Discs
2.0 8v|1.8 20v N/A | TDI 115 | TDI 110 | TDI 100 | TDI 90
The Front brakes are 280mm x 22mm Vented Discs, Single piston calipers, caliper carrier integrated into hub
The Rear brakes are 232mm x 9mm Solid discs
Golf 1.4 16V | Golf 1.6 16v | Golf 1.6 8v | SDI
The Front brakes are 256mm x 22mm Vented Discs
The Rear brakes are 232mm x 9mm Solid Discs
Drilled Discs:
A common misconception is that the purpose of drilled discs is to promote cooling. This couldn't be further from the truth, The real purpose is to reduce weight.
Drilling can allow brake dust and gases to escape, but with modern brake pads, this usually isn't a problem. Choosing a drilled disc for that purpose doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Many high performance cars like Porsche and Mercedes AMG come with drilled discs from the factory. For these cars, the drilling is mainly about the looks, just like bright red calipers. When people do serious high-performance driving on a trackdays, they usually swap to regular plain discs.
Drilled discs generally wear out brake pads faster and produce much more brake dust as a result.
Drilled discs have a shorter service-life than plain discs and tend to develop stress fissures/cracks over their lifetime
Bigger is not always better:
Putting bigger brakes on may not always be a good idea.
For chipped/re-mapped cars the obvious upgrade is 312mm fronts because it's so easy.
But, putting the 312mm conversion on a 1.4 for example, along with bigger wheels than standard and you will be adding alot of weight to your wheels, and the engine will be put under more strain, therefore reducing your accelleration.
And Big brakes, contrary to popular beleif, don't actually do as much as people think in terms of stopping power increase, it's mainly that the disc heats up less, cools faster and therefore can stop the car more effectively, corner after corner without getting brake fade.
The best brake mod for the smaller engined cars would be Performance pads and Performance Brake fluid, I wouldn't bother with drilled and grooved discs.
WHEEL CLEARENCE
NOTE rims are different sizes,different thickness walls, and therefore some may not fit.
these are the minimum wheel sizes, some may be very close, and may need the wheel re-balance with the weights put on the outside(not the rim face, but just not in the way of the caliper)
also some rim designs may require some spacer to fit around the caliper.
334mm R32 brakes require 17"wheels
312mm TT brakes require 16"wheels (Not BBS RX-II's)
288mm Brakes require 15" wheels
280mm Brakes require 15"wheels
256mm Rears need a 16"to clear the caliper(15"spare doesn't fit)
BRAKE FLUID
If you want to improve your braking power on a budget, try using a Performance brand of Brake fluid and bleed your brakes. it makes alot of differance!
Chances are your fluid now is old and has absorbed some water and air and is not as good as it should be so the pedal will feel spongy. Sort this by bleeding your brakes and use a decent brand of fluid.
Heres my 312mm fronts:
And 256mm rears:
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