Brakes on a budget

[GazTheHat]

Hi All,

Just bought a Mk3 8v GTi for the wife, but ATM i seem to driving it more than her? ? ?Got a good price on it, but it needs some TLC. Anyone know of a good servicer/tuner/dealer/breaker, in or around the Glasgow area??

The brakes are one of the negative points on the car. The front brakes are corroded. Just wanted to know if there is a replacement kit that doesn't cost the earth, maybe off another vehicle that would improve the braking and feel??

Should i just replace the pads & discs with standard items, or opt for fast-road items? I've only ever changed to fast-road pads on my other cars, but then they had better brakes anyway. Don't want to spend much, especially if it's not going to improve things much. Also, goodridge braided hoses, would they give much improvement??

Thanks,
GazTheHat
-New the to VolkwagenWorld

[jte]

The standard braking system on a mk3 GTI is fine for normal use.

Just replace the discs and pads with vw items and change the brake fluid.

If you are really desperate to improve the system you could change to the 288mm setup from a post 95 VR6 or late gti 16v.? I think you need new calipers and probably carriers, obviously the correct discs and pads.? Should all bolt straight on and could be sourced from a breaker quite cheaply.

Unless the discs or pads are bad don't bother doing anything to the rears as they don't do an awful lot.

[mrwotto]

I would suggest getting a set of pagid fast road pads for the front, and a set of drilled discs, should not cost you more than ?100 and it will improve your braking considerably

[GazTheHat]

Thanks for the replies. Do you have a URL/site i could get those disc & pads mrwotto? I think i saw some of the pads at AwesomeGTI, but i've not been lOOking for VW bits n' bobs previoulsy.

I think, with the budget i have, i stick standard discs on and those pagid pads and see what improvement i get. Hopefully a lot of the current setup....?

[AudiA8Quattro]

Go for standard kit.
The drilled discs/fast road pads aren't really that great for general road use, in my opinion don't bother unless you want to race your car round a track.

[mrwotto]

I have not got a url link no sorry, I have got pagid fast road pads on the fron of my 16v, with standard discs and fully standard back set up, and the braking is good enough for me

[GazTheHat]

OK, i'm not planning to thrash the car around, (ok not much  and none if the wifey asks  )
so fast-road discs sound like overkill. So i was thinking:

62359F Brembo BRAKE DISC-VENTED X DRILL  G3 GTi 11/91 >5/96  £34.50 each    from GSF
Mk3 GTI 8v/16v Goodridge Braided Hoses 6 Line                             £56                from AwesomeGTi
Pagid Fast Road Pads Mk3 Golf GTI 8v/16v/VR6 FR-5059                  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£45                as above

Plus cleaning it all up and new brake fluid. That should stop the car. Any comments??

[AudiA8Quattro]

Don't bother.
Just use standard kit, its not that expensive, and really is quite good.
Pagid fast road pads last about a year, so go for it if you want to do the job again next year.
Goodridge hoses will give you no noticeable benefit, only really useful for trackdays.

[mrwotto]

My pagids have been on for well over a year, and are ok, will depend on the mileage you do tho, I only do about 6 - 7k a year

[GazTheHat]

OK, seems fare enough, i'll just get the standard kit...which i think incidentally is more expensive. But if there's no noticeble difference on the other kit, i'm not gonna bother. What's the best brake fluid to get or instruct to use??

....Don't tell me, just standard?!