mk5 brake upgrades

[Blitzen]

Let us know how they are - performance, price, availability &c - love to know.

I put a link to the MK5 DBA brakes on the previous page, ithw part numbers for all. Just take them to any REPCO or Auto Barn, and they will be able to get you a price.

Ryan

[Mischa]

What sort of money are you talking for that upgrade??

preeny you could think about getting gti brakes. someone who has upgraded to R32 brakes would probably flog them off pretty cheap.

[DUB 20V]

mischa just wait abit, there are so many mk5 r32 on the road they will start crashing them soon enough. than grab a set of brakes.

[Treza360]

R32 brakes are the bomb.
When I had to replace my front rotors it turned out to be cheaper (ie. half the price including shipping) to buy the rotors from German Auto Parts in the US than from Volkswagen Australia.
Even with the dollar the way it is at the moment it would probably be cheaper to buy it from the US at the moment still!
Just some food for thought there.
Cheers,
Trent

[golf2nv]

That link is good but I found a guy in castle hill who I get all mine off and the prices are great my last car was a s15 and he supplied vented cross drilled and slotted fronts with solid cross drilled and slotted rears for $400 he will get back to monday with exact price but I'm expecting around $500 and I just gotta get the pads. As for performance like I said my mate got them done 3 weeks ago and wow!!!!! The standard brakes are nothing to laugh at but the dba's stop on a dime and no matter how hard u go no brake fade plus u very rarely get noise as the ultimate pads coupled with the rotors tend not to fill up with dust

[Maverick]

Back to the brakes I'm about to go the dba cross drilled and slotted way. Coupled with the right pads (bendix ultimates) they are a awesome stopping machines I have done that upgrade to all my cars and it's well worth it. Why pay big money for slightly uprated r32 brakes when u can go cross drilled and slotted front and rears. My mate has already gone that way on his gti and the difference is astounding..... Plus they look the part

Why would you go for the drilled and slotted discs? Other then for looks they make no difference over the slotted and you end up with cracking around the holes? Steel is better for absorbing heat from the pads then air as well so having additional holds on top of the slots makes no sense.

Slotted rotors maintain around 96% of the friction surface. Drilled rotors maintain around 85-93% of the friction surface and Slotted and Drilled rotors maintain 80-91% of the friction surface.

[Blitzen]

Why would you go for the drilled and slotted discs? Other then for looks they make no difference over the slotted and you end up with cracking around the holes? Steel is better for absorbing heat from the pads then air as well so having additional holds on top of the slots makes no sense.

Slotted rotors maintain around 96% of the friction surface. Drilled rotors maintain around 85-93% of the friction surface and Slotted and Drilled rotors maintain 80-91% of the friction surface.

I know what you are sying about the cross drilled, and I thought this for a long time, but how often have you seen cracks around the drilled holes on cross drilled rotors? Not very often, in fact, very rarely. The legal cack length for cracks is 6mm, so up to that you are fine anyway. Unless you are are running at Le Mans or Bathurst, you really don't have to worry about your cross drilled rotors cracking, or if you are riding your brakes from Mt Victoria to Penrith in the middle of winter, then throwing ice water on your rotors to cool them down. But at the end of the day, its their money, and they will spend it how they will.

[Maverick]

I know what you are sying about the cross drilled, and I thought this for a long time, but how often have you seen cracks around the drilled holes on cross drilled rotors? Not very often, in fact, very rarely. The legal cack length for cracks is 6mm, so up to that you are fine anyway. Unless you are are running at Le Mans or Bathurst, you really don't have to worry about your cross drilled rotors cracking, or if you are riding your brakes from Mt Victoria to Penrith in the middle of winter, then throwing ice water on your rotors to cool them down. But at the end of the day, its their money, and they will spend it how they will.

If the purpose is to stop faster then slotted rotors are the way to go.

If the purpose is to stop slower then slotted rotors but faster then stock and have the rotors look better then slotted and drilled (or just drilled) rotors are the way to go.

Upgrading the brake lines to a braided line will also help along with a new brake fluid but only if the aim is to improve braking.

[Preen59]

Why would you go for the drilled and slotted discs? Other then for looks they make no difference over the slotted and you end up with cracking around the holes? Steel is better for absorbing heat from the pads then air as well so having additional holds on top of the slots makes no sense.

Slotted rotors maintain around 96% of the friction surface. Drilled rotors maintain around 85-93% of the friction surface and Slotted and Drilled rotors maintain 80-91% of the friction surface.

The holes aren't for dissipating heat.

When you apply the brakes hard, the pads 'burn' and release gasses. The gasses get caught under the pad and pneumatically force the pad off the rotor, causing fade. The cross drilled holes allow the gasses to escape from under the pad to which helps the pad keep full contact with the rotor.

Slots are mainly for cutting the pad surface and keeping in clean. They help slightly with gas dispersion, but their main job is to keep the pad surface flat and clean. You mainly need slotted rotors for harder pads.

A good disc manufacturer will have developed the discs with the right amount of cross drilled holes and slots to keep brake performance at a maximum by using the optimum number of holes with the right slots to stop brake fade at the minimum sacrifice of swept area.

Hope that helps.

[Treza360]

Been through all this when we discussed my brake upgrade.

As Preen said, the main reason for slotting the rotors is to clean the face of the pad and help prevent glazing. The slotting will also help to disperse gases between the pad and the rotor surface.

However I disagree with the main purpose of the cross drilling being for gas dispersion. Originally back in the olden days this was the case however most pads today don't have that much of a problem with gases except in extreme circumstances. From what I read the main purpose behind cross drilling is to reduce the weight of the rotor and therefore unsprung weight in the vehicle.

In regards to dissipating heat, air is one of the poorest mediums of removing heat, the different rotor materials which are available are the best, most cost effective and practicable forms of removing heat. Therefore the greater surface area you can have with your pad on the rotor the better the heat dissipation there will be. Slotting and/or cross drilling will reduce this surface area and therefore your heat dissipation but as above these have there benefits.

I'd just go with slotted rotors and leave it at that.

Cheers,
Trent

[golf2nv]

In the 8 years of me running cross drilled and slotted dba rotors on my cars I have never had cracking around the cross drilled holes although I have heard about that being a worry to people old wives tale I think. mischa asked for some options so I gave him one in the end it's the individuals choice but performance wise u cannot beat cross drill slotted rotors I have tried many variations and found these the best in my opinion but that's my opinion u can talk to the guys at rda brakes which are the second biggest supplier in australia behind and they say cross drill and dimpled are the way they chose dimpled to retain strength. Either way u go u can't go wrong slotted, cross drilled or both

[dangerous_daveo]

Well from my skyline days what my research has told me...

The DBA kangaroo paw design does get rid of heat more effectively, but for the cost, and on a street car, its just not worth it. Drilled, well, I know of a number of cases of them cracking, and a number where they are fine. You're call, either way, its a street car, its not worth the extra cost. I'd just get the standard slotted.

Braided lines are good in terms of feel, but not a real lot else (trust me, I LOVE my braided lines on the cef, but its a bit of money which you might not need to spend)

Pads, well thats an open discussion as to whats best, I personnally really like EBC Red Stuff, not sure if they are made for the dubs tho. Ultimates are still good, can be dusty and screachy if you don't bed them in well.

Then brake fluid, because end of the day, this is where a lot of the fade comes from. Fluid boils, and becomes useless. I mean its got a lot to do with pad choice as well, if you go the wrong pads for the application, it won't matter what fluid is in there.

So for my money (which it isn't) I'd go good pads, slotted disks, and good suited brake fuild. (the motul rbf600 I think it is, is one that comes to mind). I'd leave it at that, and see how you go. You really have to think about it, its a street car, it might need to do an emergency stop from cold, and if you are 0.1sec a lap slower or quicker, no one cares. You don't have a sponsour pouring in money. You're better off spending more money on fuel, or on track days to learn about the car better.

[Jmac]

I worked for Porsche for a while and lots of them have original Slotted discs. Cracking was common on the turbos but there was a measurement for the cracks. Ive seen big cracks and measured up ok. Same goes for Ceramic applications, They get chipped to buggery but also have to be measured to confirm if replacement req as they are a mortgage to replace. Slightly off topic i know but thought i would throw it in anyway.
Cheers
Jmac

[Transporter]

You can improve your stopping times with the right brake fluid like this one it is available in Australia and it is really good around $16.00 per L.
ATE SL6

and link to some info:

http://www.ate-na.com/generator/www/us/en/ate/ate/themes/20_ate_brake_products/50_brake_fluid/bf_sl6_us.html

[Maverick]

The holes aren't for dissipating heat.

I'm well aware of that, my comment is about the fact that drilling reduces the surface area substantially and as such will make the performance worse then the same pad on a slotted rotor.

When you apply the brakes hard, the pads 'burn' and release gasses. The gasses get caught under the pad and pneumatically force the pad off the rotor, causing fade. The cross drilled holes allow the gasses to escape from under the pad to which helps the pad keep full contact with the rotor.

Slots are mainly for cutting the pad surface and keeping in clean. They help slightly with gas dispersion, but their main job is to keep the pad surface flat and clean. You mainly need slotted rotors for harder pads.

Slots are PARTIALLY for keeping the pad flat and also PARTIALLY for dispersing gases. They can move more gas then drilled holes can and don't weaken the rotor to any great extent whereas drilling does.

A good disc manufacturer will have developed the discs with the right amount of cross drilled holes and slots to keep brake performance at a maximum by using the optimum number of holes with the right slots to stop brake fade at the minimum sacrifice of swept area.

I disagree, with drilled rotors you lessen the surface area available to the pad, this creates other problems and you take longer to stop.

You lose a small amount of surface area with slotted rotors but the benefit of having a pad that always has 100% surface area on the rotor and being able to get rid of gases more then outweighs the ~4% loss.

Out gassing is also far less of a problem then it used to be, the newer pad materials use different bonding agents and do not suffer the problems from years ago that asbestos pads suffered.

If drilling really gave any benefit wouldn't F1 and Nascar use brakes that are drilled? Instead they use just slotted to give even pad wear and stop glazing.

Drilling also causes your pads to wear faster along with temperatures to rise as opposed to that of a slotted or plain rotor as you have removed mass from the rotor and the same amount of heat is being dissipated.

The only reason why drilled rotors are available is because people want them for looks.