Let's Talk Brake Pads

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Since I kind of de-railed the tuning thread, I thought it would be better to have a dedicated thread on brake pads.

Post 1: Mk2 Tiguan Tuning
Post 2: Mk2 Tiguan Tuning

This is the first car I've never owned where I don't know much about it (coming from a background of modding, building, tuning racing cars & also be an importer and distributor for Intima brake pads) is a bit ironic - but being ignorant to stuff has it's merits

Anyhow, Tigger73 was complaining the brake pads suck on his Tiguan and he wanted to change his pads and rotors - that kind of triggered me because we all know OEM rotors vs. non race rotors with slots/dimples/x-drills do SFA. Slots and cross drilling actually doesn't improve braking capacity, however owners often get the feeling they do. This is because they often replace rotors and upgrade the friction material at the same time. I've been doing heaps of grassroots motorsports for several years and can tell you slots vs non-slots there are no differences, the only difference I noticed were facing wearing pads! (semi rant over).

So anyone reading, don't throw out your OEM rotors - if you're so adament you want some wanky cross drilled, slotted crap, give them to me. I'll take your super low km rotors. The only rotors you should be upgrading to are DBA4000 T3 or DBA5000. As the cooling channels are actually improved over stock. Don't confuse cooling channels with slots/dimples on the rotors. If you didn't know, DBA buys their rotors and then slots them in house at Silverwater, NSW. They're not cast slots or holes.


So back on topic, I did some quick digging around and was able to find out that the 162TSI MK2 Tiguan shares the same brake pads as the MK7 Golf GTI. The pad is as follows:

FMSI	D1760
Width	160 mm
Height	64.8 mm
Thickness	20.3 mm

Brand	Code	Comments
Remsa	1515.01	decent pads, 0-600C
Elig	benshiet code, DB2383	Standard: 0-400C and Sports: 0-600C
Benshiet	DB2383	avoid, terrible friction material

[Lucas_R]

I had Remsa pads in my MK6 Golf R and also my Mk6 Golf GTI mated to the stock disks. Definitely much lower brake dust than the stock TRW pads but still somewhat dusty. They were just like OEM in every other way (had shims, wear indicator, no noises, and worked well from the first application in the morning).

Another popular pad for a low dust replacement are the ATE Ceramic pads, although these are at least twice the price of the Remsas.

Im now using Bremtec Euroline pads on my Audi SQ5 and Lexus ISF, they are lower dust than OEM pads but still pretty dusty.

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

Any reviews of Red stuff pads for the Tiguan?

Also just for giggles, are you able to post disk rotor dimensions for front and rear?

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Sure can, let me measure up this weekend and find out. There seems to be 2x different rotors sizes

[tigger73]

Rotor sizes are as follows:

Model	Front Diam (mm)	Front Width (mm)	Rear Diam (mm)	Rear Width (mm)
110TSI	312	25	300	12
110TDI	312	25	300	12
132TSI	340	30	300	12
140TDI	340	30	300	12
162TSI	340	30	300	12

There's some good reference material/specs here for TSI models: Road Vehicle Descriptor (RVD1)

and here for TDI models: Road Vehicle Descriptor (RVD1)

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Tigger73 always delivers! Unlike my useless colleagues lol..

Random fact, got made redundant at work however need to work till March. Lost Defence Force Recruiting as a client.

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

Tigger73 always delivers! Unlike my useless colleagues lol..

Random fact, got made redundant at work however need to work till March. Lost Defence Force Recruiting as a client.

Mate, sorry to hear that. Hope you can find something else soon. Have you thought about making the move to full time tuning ?

[Tob35]

Lost Defence Force Recruiting as a client.

Would be no great loss surely... They are the most useless bunch of pricks!

[tigger73]

Tigger73 always delivers! Unlike my useless colleagues lol..

Random fact, got made redundant at work however need to work till March. Lost Defence Force Recruiting as a client.

Sorry to hear. Make sure you do a good job of recruiting yourself into your next position!

Been in that game before and it's a fickle business.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Weird, went to edit and it deleted my reply instead lol.

Mate, sorry to hear that. Hope you can find something else soon. Have you thought about making the move to full time tuning ?

Not really, I do it for fun don't see myself tuning full time. I'll start to hate it, unless I'm tuning like rally cars or F1 cars (won't happen) but that would be fun.

Would be no great loss surely... They are the most useless bunch of pricks!

I can't bad mouth them, but it refuting your statement either 😊

Sorry to hear. Make sure you do a good job of recruiting yourself into your next position!

Been in that game before and it's a fickle business.

That's how it is man, employees are just a bottom line figure.

Not the 1st time for me either, been made redundant before. Just how life in the IT/Digital space is like and especially BAs. But planning to take off a few months relax, reno the house and pick up a bit of studying in the data analytics space and teach myself R.

[INASNT]

Have used Remsa pads in my merc recently, bit less dust than OEM, DBA400's on my MK6 R.

Have used DBA5000 and pads from 'Racebrakes' on my Skyline, brakes did not work when cold though..

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Problem with really good race pads are generally they need some form of "warming up" before they are effective.

Unfortunately there isn't a full all rounder pad that's great on the street and also on the circuit, but the closest I've come to that are Project MU HC+ (not HC800, these are made in Thailand NOT Japan). Which are a 0-700 degree pad, there's the Project Mu Club Racer which is a bit higher up on the heat range, however they chew rotors, squeal, and also chew rotors.

Would be keen to use Elig pads on the Tiguan most likely next year. I've semi-destroyed the stock pads already lol

[INASNT]

Problem with really good race pads are generally they need some form of "warming up" before they are effective.

Unfortunately there isn't a full all rounder pad that's great on the street and also on the circuit, but the closest I've come to that are Project MU HC+ (not HC800, these are made in Thailand NOT Japan). Which are a 0-700 degree pad, there's the Project Mu Club Racer which is a bit higher up on the heat range, however they chew rotors, squeal, and also chew rotors.

Would be keen to use Elig pads on the Tiguan most likely next year. I've semi-destroyed the stock pads already lol

Your stock pads wont last another 12 months, change them now and provide a review of the Elig pads so I can use them if any good in the next 6-12 months.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Your stock pads wont last another 12 months, change them now and provide a review of the Elig pads so I can use them if any good in the next 6-12 months.

Might have too soon, the pads are a bit **** after I did Old Pac Highway (all 3x stages) and back too. Kept up to 2x motor bikes and a built S13 (that I tuned that makes 270kW at the rears).

[brad]

Im now using Bremtec Euroline pads on my Audi SQ5 and Lexus ISF, they are lower dust than OEM pads but still pretty dusty.

Do you like? I put Bremtek Tradeline (something like that) on the Accord and I'm not a fan. The just don't seem to grab well or have feel.