What is the big deal on gettin bigger brakes??

A lot of people on the forums are gabbering on about how it is near essential to get it with a remap as there is a lot more power and speed.

i have had my remap now for nearly a year. i hae no problem with the standard brakes and pads. They stop me fine and well when i want. I even tried (in the wet) to beat the national stopping distances (for dry).

I destroyed them. Dry stopping at 60mph is 240 ft, in the wet i managed 223 ft.

Now tell me, bigger brakes mean lesser stopping distance, but is in not directly proportional to the grip you can get from your tyres and how good your abs is?

so why spend all this money on "bigger, better brakes" when the standard ones (for me anyway) are more than capable??

challenge me people!!!

nathan

Try strapping on a stage 2 turbo and stopping that with the standard ones. Thats why I have mine. No fade, just smells of fish when I get out

You will feel the difference.

After i changed mine and blead them up properly they were, still are immence.

I got my set up for £150 then spent £90 on new discs.

Isnt really that much money.

Even just slightly pressing the brakes gives you good stopping power.

With regards to ABS kicking in, if you press your pedal hard, it will kick in.

Just as any brake set up will do.

If you find your brakes are good enough just now, well, there's no point spending on upgrading.

But they are much more efficiant.(sp?)

Plus they look better. Filling the gap in the wheel.

Nathian,

Bigger discs and pads will stop the car faster than the standard set up and that helps at 30mph and at 70mph obviously.

For a cost of £300 you can fit the Audi TT brakes which are a great improvement.

If you find the standard one OK, don't bother changing them.

Personally, I found the standard ones 'average' to 'poor' at best. I had little confidence in them at 30mph.

I've never yet driven a fabia with standard brakes, so i cant compare.

But those who have driven mine, with the 312's on, have commented how good they are, over standard items.

Nathan, i notice you're in Edinburgh, feel free to try mine out.

240ft (73m) at 60mph is the overall stopping distance for the average driver with an average car on an average day from the moment the hazard appears to the moment the car stops.

The car could travel 18m or more before you even touch the brake pedal.

If you carry out a controlled stop by braking when you pass a fixed point then you are only testing your braking distance not your overall stopping distance. The problem with an emergency stop is you don't know when it will be required so you may not be as alert as you hope hence 18+m thinking distance.

One of the major factors affecting stopping distance is the tyres, doesnt matter how good your brakes are if your tyres are not gripping the road. I replace my tyres at 3mm as they are worse than useless in the wet with less than that.

According to the highway code it takes 6 car lengths to stop at 30mph, if you carry out a controlled stop it actually takes less than 1 car length even in the wet. But in real life 6 car lengths is more realistic as you need time to respond to the hazard.

Reason for me changing to 312mm was brake pedal feel and better choice of aftermarket pads. Thats all. Was more than happy with the 288mm stopping power.

did you standard car not destroy the NSL? why bother with the remap?

The standard brakes are adequate I agree. They just don't feel adequate, and when you are ripping round a track or whatever, it's nice to have the confidence in your brakes - the 312 setup not only stop better but give that important feel through the pedal. Also stops the abs kicking in prematurely.

did you standard car not destroy the NSL? why bother with the remap?

My SDI could destroy the NSL too

The standard brakes are adequate I agree. They just don't feel adequate, and when you are ripping round a track or whatever, it's nice to have the confidence in your brakes - the 312 setup not only stop better but give that important feel through the pedal. Also stops the abs kicking in prematurely.

:iagree: Also if you are going to give them some pasty then bigger brakes = less heat build up and less fade, I wouldn't have wanted to do the euro trip on a std set up.

The feel of the 312's is amazing - needing only a little foot pressure to rapidly bleed away speed.

Practically the OEM brakes are fine, but if you increase the engine power over OEM, makes some sense to get some additional stopping power as well.

Of course you could argue that upgrading brakes worsens the chances of getting rear-ended, but I love my 312's....

In the end it's all down to driver skill I guess....

My 2p worth

Bas

By the way it's probably worth pointing out that upgrading to 312s is probably pointless if you've got budget tyres on. I noticed after having fitted Eagle F1s instead of £30 budget tyres that my stopping distances decreased drastically (especially in the wet!) with standard 288mm brakes - if your tyres haven't got enough grip for the 288s then surely the extra stopping power offered by the 312s is just wasted

Nathan - why do you think your wet stopping distance is shorter than your dry stopping distance?

Doesn't make sense to me?????

Clearly have not experienced a fabia with the 312mm setup.

The 312 mm brakes are the best thing i have done to my fabia the oem brakes were ok but when i warped them around the ring i thought why not upgrade surely better brakes are better however you drive.

i have the 312's on mine and still dont think theyre all that great.... my friend has the 323 brembo gt kit - now thats more like it

i have the 312's on mine and still dont think theyre all that great.... my friend has the 323 brembo gt kit - now thats more like it

There are 312 brakes, and there are 312 brakes though. Which have you got?

I didn't get brembos for their stopping power. Feel for braking is top notch, and when you do need to stop you DO.... quickly!

There are 312 brakes, and there are 312 brakes though. Which have you got?

erm im going to put my head on the line here... erm

312's?? :confused:

from a TT with TT hoses..

Pads are OEM and discs are grooved

and fluid is 2 months old DOT4

et voila

Ok, well when they wear out, pop on some tarox G88 discs, combined with Tarox Strada pads, with some Halfords 5.1 fluid - then tell me you don't think they are any good

For me it was a combination of improved feel and confidence in the breaks. Also using OEM+ parts is a nice thing.

Brembos are probably better still, but IMHO unless you have a ton of cash or do a lot of track days, are probably not worth it unless you get a good deal on them.

The improved feel&confidence was the reason to get them for myself though

...in the wet i managed 223 ft.

How did you measure that?

I think I'll be upgrading mine next year. Since I first got the car (almost a year ago) I haven't been happy with them. I've driven a Fabia with the 312s and the difference is very noticeable.

SWMBO has still got her 288mm on her Fabia vRS and they are more than adequate for her driving style and dare I say it would also be perfectly fine should I be driving it everyday. I think if we were looking at track days then the upgrade to 312mm would be essential,

I have upgraded from 288mm on my Octi to 312mm as I needed new disc's & pads and could get hold of a set of carriers quite cheaply so it made sense, My car was fine with 288mm brakes however it did suffer if spirited driving was tried. The 312mm made a huge difference and should we still have SWMBO's car when her disc's & pads needs changing we will upgrade to 312mm but we wont do it just for the sake of replacing brakes with plenty of life left in them.

Ok, well when they wear out, pop on some tarox G88 discs, combined with Tarox Strada pads, with some Halfords 5.1 fluid - then tell me you don't think they are any good

I'm on the Strada pads, 5.1 fluid, but oem discs and they're great.

Next step is G88's.