At the end of the day

1) Better feel - even mild pressure on brake peddle scrubs off speed.

2) They fill rims better (esp. on 17" spiders) so aesthetically better.

3) They wont stop you any quick from NSL as fade is unlikey to occur at those speeds unless its repetative (which is where 312's are much better than 288's. The ABS will only work as well as grip between tyre and road surface- if this doesnt change the braing distance wont change either. 99% of suden braking will require ABS as cadence braking will only be for the more experienced (!) So bigger breaks basically wont stop you any quicker in emergencies. Better tyres/road sense will.

Ive had standard & now on 312s & wouldnt go back. At speed they are so much better and because of the greater surface area in theory the pads & discs should last longer because they dont have to work as hard as the 288s.

So in general. Bigger is always better;)

So my wife tells me.

She referring to your stomach?

My take on it is this:

The standard brakes are up to the job of a Fabia on a standard map for occasional "fast road" use. Whilst they did stop me when needed on numerous occasions, they never FELT like they were going to stop in time and resulted in a new pair of underpants.

The 312 on the other hand inspire a lot more confidence, especially on my remapped car.

I'm probably in a minority in that I have uprated 288mm discs and pads, which stood me in perfectly good stead the day I went down to Brunters. I got them after suffering terminal brake fade on a well-known singletrack pass in the Lakes ( ) while I still had standard discs and pads. I can activate the ABS from virtually the moment I step on the pedal at NSL (which is something I have to do repeatedly every six months or so since I don't often do the kind of driving that stops 'fast road' pads getting squeaky - linky), and this is with decent tyres BTW.

I have in fact boiled the fluid once on the uprated brakes doing this, and this is probably where bigger discs and pads would be an advantage, since whilst a given amount of braking force will produce a particular amount of heat, the greater heat capacity of the bigger discs and pads will mean the rise in temperature won't be as fast. Then again, I did this whilst braking to deliberately cook the brakes - as I say, they were fine when I had a day on the track with them!

Oh, and before we all get too carried away with warping discs, can I please direct everyone in this direction:

StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades

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!

I can vouch for that, Jason took me out in his beast and almost broke my neck braking & accelerating!!

brembos would be better a bigger discs again and 3 extra pots in the caliper providing greater breaking force

i could get the standard 288mm brakes on ym 4x4 fading very very easily but i've never got fade from my brembo's

also just because you can lock a wheel doesn't mean you have the most braking power/efficiency your car/tyres can take as control is far more important than power and that goes for power just as much as braking.

on my mountain bike i went from 165mm single piston hydraulic discs that i could lock up(front and back) to 205mm 6 pot front and 185 4 pot rear and i can stop far far better and quicker as the control and modulation is massively better with the newer brakes.

I can quite happily say that the brakes on my vRS are ****. Bog standard, but the disks are now 21k miles old, and I need to get the fluid changed as its overdue, hopefully that will help, as I'm too skint to get 312's.

^ by the time you get new 288mm discs and pads, as well as a brake fluid change might as well just get the 312mm calipers too.

I can vouch for that, Jason took me out in his beast and almost broke my neck braking & accelerating!!

don't tell me hes finally learned to drive the beast:P

I presume your insurance company is more than interested to know that you've been monkeying around with the cars brakes then? How much does the premium increase by for non-standard brakes?

I have to say that I have never experienced brake fade in any vehicle I have ever driven, I've taken buses over mountains.

I have standard brakes on my vRS and I have to do some last minute emergency braking at all sorts of speeds with learner drivers and I have never felt the standard brakes were in any way inadequate. I have to give the pupil the opportunity to take action before I start playing with the dual brake pedal. I've never experienced any brake fade with the standard brakes.

I can't imagine how much braking you must be doing to cause brake fade in a fabia.

My brakes lasted over 50K miles with learner drivers.

must admit i never had brake fade on the road,but after 2-3 laps on track the standardbrakes were toast,312's on and the first thing i noticed was the much better feel,not to mention at least 50% better stopping power,from my stup now i have never had them fade,even doing 4 straight laps of the ring,as good the last time as they were the first

Just out of interest where does everyone get their TT brakes from? Did a quick search but couldn't find anything. Probably going to be replacing discs and pads next year so it might be worth me spending the extra money and swapping to 312's...

keep looking on ebay i found a set this morning,but can't seem to find them now

they don't have to be TT brakes btw any 312's from a golf platform will fit.

312mm Brake Set Up MK4 GTI TDI VW Golf Seat Fabia vRS on eBay, also Brake Components, Performance Tuning Parts, Car Tuning Styling, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 26-Dec-08 07:08:06 GMT)

MK4 GOLF BORA 312MM BRAKE SET UP MK4 GTI TDI on eBay, also, Volkswagen, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 19-Jan-09 19:35:30 GMT)

2002 VW GOLF ANNIVERSARY BRAKE SETUP AUDI S3 TT 312MM on eBay, also, Volkswagen, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 15-Jan-09 14:00:40 GMT)

I can't imagine how much braking you must be doing to cause brake fade in a fabia.

My brakes lasted over 50K miles with learner drivers.

It is repeated full use of the brakes from high non road speeds. Hopefully your pupils won't be doing that

I never had fade in the Fabia ever. The Octy 2 was a whole different story. My Old 306 estate (allard tuned) used to have no brakes after 3 good presses

Hi,

What additional kit if anything is required to fit 312's to a non VRS Fabia?

Ta

Looking at Fabia-vrs.com - 312mm Brake Upgrade Kits

It is also possible to fit 312mm Brakes to a Fabia that doesn't have the 288mm brakes as standard but you would require new hubs -

Wheel bearing housing left 6Q0 407 255 S - £109.28

Wheel bearing housing right 6Q0 407 256 S - £109.28

Wheel hub with bearing 72mm 6Q0 407 621 AJ - £80.53 Each

These prices are probably out of date now.

No-one's mention the other benefit of uprated brakes - literally scaring the Sh** out of the front passenger - first you accelerate hard then brake hard. :eek:

Cures constipation a treat...

I wasnt all fussed by big brakes until i drove one with 312`s, jesus, there amazing. For the small extra over replacing std discs id say its well worth it.