Best value brake upgrade

[sambb]

My rotors have a decent lip on them and will probably need replacing when I do the pads next. I'm happy to stay with stock 288mm rotors and I'm glad that comments from a few of the guys on here back them up.

Eddy when you say that the standard setup works really well , by that do you mean the factory VW rotors in particular, or that its the stock 288mm diameter that is fine?

One of the things that was suggested to me by a local VAG specialist shop was that the metallurgy of the VAG product is superior to a lot of aftermarket stuff and that a good way to improve stock rotors is to machine slots into them. Anyone opinions on that?

I always thought that the VW rotors were designed to wear with the pads compared to say Japanese OEM setups. Is it Ok to use aftermarket pads on stock rotors and not introduce really bad rotor wear rates?

[brad]

I think VAG rotors are prettycrap and lip too quickly.

Get something like DBA T2 slotted rotors ($165 ea), some decent brake fluid like ATE SL6 ($13) or Pentosin Dot4 LV ($26/L) or even the OEM B000750 class 6 fluid and QFM A1RM ($120) or Remsas ($105). If you don't want to restrict yourself to a class 6 brake fluid then DOT5.1 is the closest you'll get to the viscosity requirements.

Or go all ATE with SL6 Fluid, ATE Ceramic pads & ATE rotors.

There's a heap of choices out there that are better than OEM VW.

[seangti]

My rotors have a decent lip on them and will probably need replacing when I do the pads next. I'm happy to stay with stock 288mm rotors and I'm glad that comments from a few of the guys on here back them up.

Eddy when you say that the standard setup works really well , by that do you mean the factory VW rotors in particular, or that its the stock 288mm diameter that is fine?

One of the things that was suggested to me by a local VAG specialist shop was that the metallurgy of the VAG product is superior to a lot of aftermarket stuff and that a good way to improve stock rotors is to machine slots into them. Anyone opinions on that?

I always thought that the VW rotors were designed to wear with the pads compared to say Japanese OEM setups. Is it Ok to use aftermarket pads on stock rotors and not introduce really bad rotor wear rates?

I had a set of rear standard RDA rotors slotted, hard to say if it made any difference. I'd steer clear of running RDA rotors on front or rear, I started getting vibrations after 15-20,000 km. Had them machined and shortly after the vibration came back. I now run DBA T2 all round on the silver car. I had tracked the car a lot with the factory pads, rotors and fluid as the car was near new, and was fine. As the car got quicker with suspension and tune, the temps required better pads and fluid. Re running different pads on the standard rotors, its ok. How many kms are on the rotors? They may need a machine, but a more aggressive/aftermarket pad will clean the rotor anyway. If the rotor is in good condition, I'd do the pads and learn of bedding them in.

I've ran a few sets of Remsa pads and am one of only a few to have cooked them on the track. For hard street or considerate track work they are fine, but run semi slicks, no ducting and drive em hard you will find their limit. Last I spoke with GSL, the A1RM's are a special order and require your brake backing plates and they don't recommend them for street. Im now running a bendix pad on the daily car and that performed marginally better than the remsa did at a timeattack event.

I've also only ever ran a dot 4 fluid. I'm running a dot 4, penrite racing or something. By all accounts, that should be more than adequate.

[brad]

The trouble with machining a rotor is that they are basically heat sinks & maching reduces the mass, which reduces the ability of the rotor to shed heat.

VW specs since 2006 call for a low viscosity fluid. Dot 4 is about double the viscosity. Dot5.1 comes close but us still about 10-20% thicker than class 6 fluid.

[Eddy]

Eddy when you say that the standard setup works really well , by that do you mean the factory VW rotors in particular, or that its the stock 288mm diameter that is fine?

Hoyhoy.

I was happy with the factory rotors & the 288mm diameter is fine, even for very spirited driving.
Though I say I was happy, it was not till after tuning up a few things.
If ya going to replace rotors, look into curved cooling vanes instead of the standard straight vanes, but only if ya want more cooling. I don't know what's available @ present in 288mm.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/f127/project-polo-1min10-around-wakefield-46835-post674078.html#post674078

[Redliner]

Front Brembo MAX Brake Discs VW Polo 1 8 GTI 01 10 | eBay

[kaanage]

Last I spoke with GSL, the A1RM's are a special order and require your brake backing plates and they don't recommend them for street.

I use QFM A1RM's and they bite fine for street use but if you don't use them hard, they will get noisy and wear your rotors - they need decent heat to make the pad material transfer properly to the rotors to prevent this. But they work very well if you do track your car.

[sambb]

Thanks for all the advice. Seems that for my needs the stock front rotors will be fine and i'll look into the different street pads. Anyone know what minimum thickness is?

[G60ING]

Hello, so is there an alternative to using a 9N GTI spindle on the non-GTI cars? I have a 16V and it looks like I'm stuck with tiny brake rotors which aren't easily found in the USA. Has anybody tried comparing jetta/golf spindles? I think the ball joints are the same.

[seangti]

Hello, so is there an alternative to using a 9N GTI spindle on the non-GTI cars? I have a 16V and it looks like I'm stuck with tiny brake rotors which aren't easily found in the USA. Has anybody tried comparing jetta/golf spindles? I think the ball joints are the same.

I'm surprised to see you have a polo in the USA, didn't realise you received them over there. Would have put money on it. Sorry can't really help with your question. I don't believe the golf spindles fit, though others are more mechanically astute than myself.

[G60ING]

Best value brake upgrade

They weren't officially imported, as far as I know only one or two are here. Maybe I should put together my own build/intro thread in the polo forum.

[TDIfan]

I've seen somewhere people using Bora spindles for their barke upgrade
So basically a mk4 one should probably fit
Try partsbase.org for part numbers

[kaanage]

I think the reason people here find the Golf/Bora spindles don't work is that they try to use them with the Polo GTi calipers - you need to use the calipers that match the spindles, so a MkIV Golf GTi brake conversion should work.

That said, I'm tracking with the little 256mm (10") front rotors and can get the ABS operating with semi-slicks on so I don't find the small brakes lacking in power (they do get super hot and will fade the fluid if going 100% but I ran for over an hour at 95% without probs).

[G60ING]

Ok, this is the type of info I needed. I took a quick look online and the 256mm rotors were going to cost me $200 before I even get into the cost of the pads. 288mm Golf and Bora/Jetta spindles are very easy to find here. Plus the replacement rotors are about $30 each.

The downside is that I would need to install larger wheels and tires, but the tire size is the same that I would run on the Corrado so I can just use my spare 16" wheels.

The only other option that I'm not a big fan of is drilling the 256mm 4x100 rotors to 5x100.

Thanks for the input

[brad]

Rather than buy your parts locally, just do what many of us Aussies do & buy them from an overseas supplier - maybe the UK or even Brakes Direct in Australia.

There must be plenty of ebay suppliers in the UK

Quality pads, aftermarket rotors & decent brake fluid & your done without having to mod the daylights out of things.