Trying to understand brakes?

[mattGTI20]

Hello guys, right I'm having a right nightmare trying to get my head around what brakes to get as I no nothing about them for the mk5. I want to go for an upgrade but I don't no anything about what I'm looking for I have done some searches which have been very helpful but doesn't answer all my questions.

I have looked at brembo's and at the AP's but I need to have more info as I don't really have a clue what I'm looking at, so this is what I would like to no if anyone could help, what size should I be looking at? (I do want big brakes), what sort of price should I be looking at spending?, where is a good place to buy from?, what other makes are there to go for other then brembo and AP?

Like I said I don't no nothing about them but I am looking at getting some so wanted some knowledge before just going and spending my money, cheers guys :smiley

[Gene Hunt.]

MK5 R32 set up is a popular option.

[mattGTI20]

Yeh I have looked at that setup but I have read that it is very heavy and also I have read that they can't be fitted to the rears but don't no if this true or not

[AlanD]

Id say that the standard MK5 rears will do the job just fine. How much power are you running?

[mattGTI20]

Well I have got a mk5 gti and wanted do a few mods to acheive 300 bhp but then thought it might be easier just to get an edition 30 and map it with a couple of other mods and get that doing it that way so im looking to get an edition 30 at the moment and just thought a 300bhp edition 30 would need an upgrade in brakes. So does anyone no where a good place to get them would be?

[AlanD]

Do you have a budget in mind? Hurdy had a set of Tarox brakes on his ED30 and was very happy with them. Only thing is with 300BHP a set of 10 pot Tarox brakes is going to be total over kill and cost some serious money. (Hurdy had approximately 1,345,657 BHP)

300BHP is easily OK for a set of R32 brakes. The standard brakes arent terrible either, mine is running 240bhp on the standard GTI brakes and have no had any issues with them. If you have the budget then by all means go mad on the brakes but just bare in mind you might be over killing it a little.

In short, Id suggest just getting some R32 brakes.

[mattGTI20]

So do u think get the R32 brakes on the front and leave the rears as they are? I have not got a massive massive budget but have got some money to spend and would like to improve them a little, where is cheapest place to get them? And finally what size are they? Thanks

[Hurdy]

There are a lot of brake options to choose. it knowing the right one for you. Someone who does trackways will need more major work than others, but it isn't just about the stopping power, it is also about the weight of the brakes too. Unsprung mass has a big effect on acceleration, so keeping it down is important. The tarox 10 pots I had on my old ED 30 would have been overkill for most people, but decelerating from over 150mph to 30 mph on the Nurburgring meant that it was what I needed for the job.

If you are looking at 300bhp and fast road use then I'd look at simply upgrading to the R32/Cupra/S3 front brakes and leave the rears stock. The best option if you are buying new would be to look at the Cupra brakes as they are still painted with red calipers as standard.

The S3/R32 rear brakes do fit......I had them on mine.

[AlanD]

So do u think get the R32 brakes on the front and leave the rears as they are?

Yep, that's what I would do, especially if you don't have a big budget. There are numerous places to get them from, have a look on Google, I wouldnt be able to tell you the cheapest place. If your buying new then most places will just get them from the dealer. Where do you get your car serviced? If its not a dealer it might be worth asking them if they can get hold of some.

[mattGTI20]

Yeh I think I'm gonna go for that set up is the cupra set up the one they have on awesome gti cos they seemed pretty fairly priced on there