im trying my best not to buy a 312mm setup, but all of these aftermarket pads seem really pricey, TarOx are ~£80, Ferodo ~£90

what are OE pads like ?

Hi

I must admit , I have OEM dics and pads on my little Fabia

It is the 100PD and been mapped to 141

To be fair my brakes are great

Sarah

Depends what you're driving like.

If you're going on track days a lot then I doubt OEM pads will be sufficient. On the other hand if you drive normally most of the time and only have a good fast drive every now and again, you could argue that the OEM pads were selected for the car and deemed by the manufacturer to be perfectly adequate.

I'd say:

Bite the bullet and go for the 312mm set up with OEM pads, or

Just replace your existing brake pads with OEM replacements as they're normally perfectly adequate for every day use.

I've only ever had a problem with my brakes when I've been driving on roads where I've repeatedly needed to drop speed from ~60mph to ~30mph several corners in a row. They then start to fade quite a lot

well i dont thrash the car much at all really, maybe once a month lol, i like good mpg ! :-)

but, ive had a few scary moments coming off the motorway where the pads have faded coming off slip roads to the lights/junction so i was thinking of upgrading the pads, but for the price of them i dont know whether its worth it, but can you put a price on brakes !?

OEM should be fine, but condition and thickness of the disc rotors is just as important. Brake fade usually indicates rotors need replaced or at least cleaned up (Glaze busted)

Even with pretty bad brake fade I've found mine still work I just have to push that much harder. I still don't tend to have a problem locking the wheels up if I try (or rather engaging ABS)

I say push the boat out for the 312s however before I got mine the OEM setup did me really proud and even a couple track days which is why I ended up plumbing for the 312 setup... If you could drive a vRS with 312s I think you would definately decide on them - they really do give you so much more confidence over the OEM ones and the stopping power is solid, they also look the nuts.

Sarah - I must get some pics up of the Zero60 discs I bought from you a couple month ago, they look tasty with me red calipers:D

Sarah - I must get some pics up of the Zero60 discs I bought from you a couple month ago, they look tasty with me red calipers:D

Oooh yes please they look really good dont they

Sarah

Oooh yes please they look really good dont they

Sarah

I'll get the megs wheel brightener out at the weekend and get some photos up - they do look great behind the standard wheels.

well i wont ever be going on track, and i rarely push it

Go standard then all the way with the OEM pads, honestly I couldnt fault them before my 312s and always thought they were more than adequate for everyday driving

I always though the OEM brakes were fine.

I like to get a move on when I'm driving, and the original brakes are fine for me.

It makes me chuckle when people say "my standard brakes are great, and I dont need 312's" , because untill youve had 312's, how would you know.

I thought the standard brakes where ok (coming from a Mini with 4pot brakes), but when I put the 312's on... What a difference.

People cant judge brakes they havent got IMO.

So, the result of my little early morning rant is, get OEM 312's at the least. Brakes save lives. End of !!

true, but they are ~£400 which i really dont think i can stretch to, or im at least trying my best not to, trying to be good with my finances from now on lol

Lofty - you're kind of making the assumption that people who think their VRS brakes are fine have no experience of better setups or faster vehicles. I've driven and owned various vehicles, some a lot quicker than my little VRS, and I still say the brakes are fine for a VRS on a public highway, unless you drive it like a complete loony, in which case it won't matter what brakes you've got. And I have experience of driving at high speed, legally, on public roads, so I think I've at least some idea what I'm on about.

It makes me chuckle when people say "my standard brakes are great, and I dont need 312's" , because untill youve had 312's, how would you know.!

We're not saying that the 312s are not much better - I'm almost certain that they are a big improvement over the 288mm items. However, do you not agree that the brakes are perfectly adequate if you're driving safely, anticipating when you will need to brake and not hooning it around a track or a really nice road?

I think the biggest benefit of the 312mm brakes comes if you have tyres capable of dealing with the extra stopping power. If you've got cheap, hard tyres then I'm pretty sure you can make the ABS work overtime even with standard brakes. Does having 312mm brakes actually give you any extra stopping power in that circumstance, other than if you're normally suffering from brake fade? I don't think so.

I'd say that generally normal car users go for mid-budget to cheap tyres, don't drive fast enough to ever even begin to think about brake fade issues, and for that reason unless you are planning track days or do drive in a more spirited fashion - both of which I think the OP has said he's not going to do, then the extra money invested isn't worth it in my opinion.

Always buy the best brakes you can. Better to be safe than sorry.

Oooooooh ladies. Buy what you can afford... I wish I had a Lambo, alot better than the vRS but hey I aint a millionaire

I agree.

I can technically afford a multi-hundred pound brake set up. It's not needed though.

The manufacturer built the car with 288mm brakes. It stops well within - really well within - the highway code specified stopping distances.

You could argue that having too powerful brakes will make the weight transfer to the front wheels even more and make the car unstable when weight lifts off the back wheels.

I still refuse to believe that this obsession with 'upgrade your brakes, upgrade your brakes' is warranted.

If I ever have spare cash I will upgrade to 312mm brakes (if I'm covered on the insurance with them) but only because I like to tinker with my car a little bit - and upgrading the brakes when the pads and discs need replacing anyway won't hit the wallet quite as hard. Considering the OP doesn't want to spend a large amount of money I don't see why it's being deemed 'unsafe' to stick with OEM brake equipment. It's not.

Someone help me!

What pad are available now for the Fabia 288mm setup? Only ask as one of the reasons for me going to 312mm years ago was due to the lack of pads available. That and the fact I wanted a better pedal feel as well.

what are OE pads like for dust ?

Well my O.E. pads seem to give off alot of dust, drives me mad! Even with wheel sealant on it still gathers alot on the wheel arrggh!

I'm really please with my 312mm set-up. OEM Spec Brembo discs and OEM Spec Padgid pads came in at just inside £100 from GSF and calipers also cost me £100 from a local breakers. For £200 I don't think you'll get a similar improvement by uprating the discs/pads on the stock 288mm caliper.

well with the price of 'upgrade' pads that im seeing, its not worth buying those for the OE size

i think ill have to just decide whether to go for 312's or stick with the OE size