MK1 Golf Brake Calipers - Help please

[Drysponge]

Hi all

I’m am looking for some advice ref Brake calipers

My MK1 golf has standard rims which I need to keep.

I’ve refurbished the calipers with new seals, all ok but now the brake nipples constantly weep . It’ll never pass a road-worthy. I’ve tried new nipples but I think the mating surface where the nipples mate too must have too much corrosion / pitting to make a good sealed face.

What are my options?

I have 12mm thick disks? The car is a 1.6. Are there any calipers that will fit from a MK2 or 3? Under standard rims?

Thanks

Martin

[sports racer]

Standard MK1 front disks are solid and are absolute crap at slowing the car down. At least fit MK1 GTI disks (vented) which also have bigger calipers with much bigger pads.

World of difference. I'd be scared to drive in traffic with the standard brakes.

[Pilks]

Standard MK1 front disks are solid and are absolute crap at slowing the car down. At least fit MK1 GTI disks (vented) which also have bigger calipers with much bigger pads.

World of difference. I'd be scared to drive in traffic with the standard brakes.

It's called Flint stoning Paul, stomp so hard you go through the firewall. Great fun.

[Campaign]

It's called Flint stoning Paul, stomp so hard you go through the firewall. Great fun.

With due respect, I think you are quite wrong there. With standard spec disc pads or high friction pads the standard Mk1 set up works quite well. Trouble is that often lower quality pads were used which had lower coefficients of friction so you had to push harder on the brake pedal which showed up the limits of the cross-bar and linkages in the right hand drive set-up.

[sports racer]

They may have been adequate back in the 70's but are sub par for modern driving unless you drive slowly and always leave a large distance between you and the car in front. Unfortunately that won't always happen so upgrading to the GTI brakes is highly recommended.

Having said that, I can't remember what friction material I had so you may be right. All I know is there was a noticeable improvement when I upgraded.

Cheers

Paul

[Peter Jones]

Swept area is the same for GTI and solid disks.

Only difference should be in how well they handle repeated braking or slowing from very high speeds.

Generally I find that maintenance is usually the problem.

A really good brake shop would be able to clean up the bleed valve seats.

[brad]

Returning to the OPs problem.

Assuming you are using the correct bleed nipples as there are two types of seal. One is wear the angle of the nipple is the same as the angle of the seat & the other where the nipple is pointier than the seat and relies on point contact to seal.

It's possible that somebody has drilled out a nipple in the past and damaged the seat or oval'd the hole

[Notso Swift]

Swept area is the same for GTI and solid disks.

Only difference should be in how well they handle repeated braking or slowing from very high speeds.

That
Physics doesn't lie with the power being the same, just as it doesn't lie with a smaller heat sink

Modern "track day" pads work from nothing and have an impressively wide operating range from cold. You still don;t have the leverage advantage of a larger disk, but most disks are oversized due to fashion anyway.
To be honest, I would spend $200 on good pads first, not sure if they make Bendix Ultimate (which would be a lot cheaper and are surprisingly good), but Hawk HTC-30 or Black or a PFC or Carbon Lorraine equivalent will blow your mind away

But none of that is the problem you asked about
Are you sure the nipple isn't bottoming out, or maybe the mating surface is not 100% flat, a copper washer may be enough to take up a little undulation in the mounting surface

[Campaign]

They may have been adequate back in the 70's but are sub par for modern driving unless you drive slowly and always leave a large distance between you and the car in front. Unfortunately that won't always happen so upgrading to the GTI brakes is highly recommended.

I wrote out of current day driving experience, not memory of forty years ago.
When my daughter got a Mk1 LS, we replaced the pads with ATE pads said to be OEM equivalent – the thing stopped sharply without effort.
With my Mk1 GTI, I bought some pads from a Brake Shop that handled ordinary set-ups and unfortunately were attending more to low price than quality. Even with the full Gti ventilated discs and callipers, the stopping was weak. From a Performance Centre I got some higher friction, better quality pads (Ferodo DB25 I think) and the stopping was transformed.
(Still have them on the GTI, there is far less disc wear than the cheap pads too)