right, i have a 1.8t octy with 288mm front discs, am i right in thinking that to upgrade to 312mm vrs brakes all i need are the calliper carriers, and some 312mm discs? i take it my callipers are the same as the vrs ones, allbeit not as green!? does anyone know how much the carriers are, or better still have any lying around? also, doing a search on uprated discs and pads,the general consensus is pads such as ferodo ds2500, tarox strada or pagid are the way to go and stay away from any ebc pad, but what about ebc discs, are they as crap as the pads? i quite like the look of their ultimax and turbo groove discs or are drilled /grooved discs a waste of time for general fast day to day driving? i suppose the increase in diameter from 288 to 312 will provide me with a decent improvement in braking just with oem discs and pads, but if i'm gonna change the discs and pads i'd rather uprate them to something better than standard so your recommendations would be greatly appreciated:thumbup:

EBC discs are great; it's just their pad compounds that are rubbish.

And you're on the right lines for how to do the size upgrade.

Grooves / holes / dimples on the discs will only assist in mitigating fade and/or pad glazing, rather than increasing actual stopping power, so you won't be able to stop any harder initially than you would with any given set of pads, but you will be able to stop as hard for longer.

That said, I've been unable to cook the OEM 312mm brakes on my Fabia anyway, even when trying to do so to bed them in properly (which considering my size, and the paranoia that drives me to carry a fair-sized toolkit at all times, probably weighs just as much as your Octavia...)

I've seen suggestions that grooves and/or holes (no data on dimples) also have an effect in reducing water build-up on the discs.

That said, holes (normally referred to as cross-drilling) have been implicated in causing disc cracking.

all holes really do is reduce a bit of weight and give "a look" to the disk. if the disks are bigger they are going to have a longer rotational distance so more friction vs each turn of the wheel. that is where one increase in stopping power comes from. Obviously pad choice will have a big effect due to different compounds etc, but you also need to make sure your system is bled properly. Mine still ain't right and I have done the ABS bleed thing as well (just not sure if I did it right :confused:)

I've seen suggestions that grooves and/or holes (no data on dimples) also have an effect in reducing water build-up on the discs.

That said, holes (normally referred to as cross-drilling) have been implicated in causing disc cracking.

I've heard both of them too - in the first instance, I don't see significant quantities of water adhering to a disc spinning at several hundred rpm myself, anyway. And as for the cracking, I gather this is only a problem for discs that are drilled AFTER being stress-relieved (i.e. tat from the 'bay...)

I had oem drilled disks on my Boxster and they cracked quiet nicely.

Best avoided full-stop, then!

cheers for all the info. my options at the minute are standard 288mm ebc ultimax discs and a decent pad like ferodo ds2500 or tarox strada, or oem 312mm discs (mintex/brembo) and oem pad such as pagid. just wondered what the best option would be? i'm on a pretty limited budget unfortunately (baby due in 2 weeks, and i'm pretty sure the wife would prefer me spending the hard earned on nappies etc!)so no more than £200! tbh the standard discs and pads have been ok, even after my re-map, but just wanted to improve things further! is the extra cost of upgrading to 312mm worth it? i'd like feedback from anyone who has carried out the conversion. once again, thanks for all the help/info guys!!

if your on a budget the 312 carriers will be around £100 (if you can find some on ebay) not sure of the price new? better to stick with the 288's and the best pads you can afford (ds2500's) and some fresh fluid