Hi guys n gals, needing some advice.

The time has come to change my brakes on my Octavia vRS TDI and my mechanic mate has talked me into getting an ECU remap at the same time, nothing too much just another 30 bhp or so. Ive had the car over 2 years now and so reckon a bit of extra pep will add a little more fun to my journeys. Ive also read some threads on this great site about re mapping and they have helped me make my mind up.

So I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions about the best brakes to buy to enable the car to handle the extra power? When it comes to brakes n stuff Im a total novice so any advice would be more than welcome.

Thanks

Blair

I'm no expert, but the brakes can easily handle the extra power I believe.

Dont waste your money IMHO

at that power unless you are tracking the car i wouldnt look into uprating the disc size or even replacing the discs. A simple pad upgrade, and swap to braided lines will make a vast difference on the stopping distance and resistance to fade.

I'm no expert, but the brakes can easily handle the extra power I believe.

Dont waste your money IMHO

I'd say get 312mm carriers and discs and keep your existing callipers along with new OEM pads.

I have a TDI and it is standard, with the exception of a 312mm brake upgrade. It's very worth while.

I'd also be asking who does the remap as quality varies wildly and shark on here have got a good reputation for a good map at a good price.

I have to say with the weight of the TDI, I found the 288mm a very scarey set up without a remap, never mind with it.

Edited 7 April, 201016 yr by cheezemonkhai

vRS already has 312mm

As already mentioned. pad upgrade. should be more than adequate

I'm no expert, but the brakes can easily handle the extra power I believe.

Dont waste your money IMHO

I would agree 100%. As long as you arent looking to track the car, or race through twistie roads they will be fine.

Ive heavily modded a lot of cars but our Octy Diesel which is only mapped still runs std brakes & I cant fault them for day to day driving

Once its mapped if you need reasurance find an empty straight road with no side turnings ahead & once you are sure their is nobody behind do an emergency stop, if the ABS kicks in or the tyres are loosing adhesion then better brakes wont help.

If you are still at all unhappy then upgrade the fluid to dot 5.1 which has a higher boiling point & fit better pads but be warned high performance pads often need a bit of heat so maybe lacklustre when applied from cold. Braided hoses are probably not neccesary as Im fairly certain the octy brake pipes are lined, they certainly were on the Mk 1 Octys.

The weakest link in braking is often the tyres, to stop better fit better tyres as you will have more grip making the ABS cut in later

I think I'm going to just put some EBC Red Stuff pads on mine, for a very slight improvement to braking and reduced brake dust on my wheels. Or, if I get a job, I might just go nuts and get the R8 kit from Ben.

Soon as i had my vRS mapped i went for a pad upgrade, found i was coming across pad fade far too often when i wasnt pushing the car particularly hard

Edited 7 April, 201016 yr by dan_the_v8man

vRS already has 312mm

As already mentioned. pad upgrade. should be more than adequate

I didn't see that is was a VRS so my mistake.

With the VRS I agree Pads only.

My only complaint on the 288mm variant was that it tended to suffer quite bad fade when you were really hard on it and after some working out, it was a combination of pad fade and the fluid basically cooking due to heat.

After a couple of fluid changes I put on the bigger discs and it's all cooler and happier and no stopping problems.

I think the TDI is just a very heavy car up front and so a bit much for the 288mm set up if you want to stop in a hurry.

Edited 7 April, 201016 yr by cheezemonkhai

Cheers for the advice folks, very much appreciated.

My brake pad wear indicator warning light has came on in the car in the last couple of days so reckon I'd be as well to spend the extra and uprate my pads rather than risk buying standard vRS ones and finding them not fully up to the job.

Blair

i have made my brakes fade on numerous occasions. AI would 100% reccomend a pad upgrade as an upgrade on any car that is mapped. dont let the initail strong bite of the std pads disillusion you. they will fade with during a spirited drive if you are pushing it. and will definately fade on track.

This is what i would say to get. this will sustain a decent track day and everyday driving.

This fluid:

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-894-motul-rbf-600-factory-line-racing-brake-fluid.aspx

And some good fast road pads such as ferrodo DS2500, or Hawk HP+. ive not personnaly experience EBC but over the years of using forums, i have seen on end of guys saying that they're ebc pads have disintegrated. I say go with the proven pads such as ferrodo. never skimp on braking

I am currently running EBC Red Stuff and they're gash. DS2500 and Motul RBF600 are your friends.

As we saw on another thread DS2500 are not R90 approved which is required on cars on cars from some date.

If that applies to your car then obviously that restricts your options for road legal pads. What call you make is up to you.

As for the EBC red being gash, sorry, but I've put 50k on them on OEM discs and they are still working just fine and well.

As we saw on another thread DS2500 are not R90 approved which is required on cars on cars from some date.

If that applies to your car then obviously that restricts your options for road legal pads. What call you make is up to you.

As for the EBC red being gash, sorry, but I've put 50k on them on OEM discs and they are still working just fine and well.

I fitted Redstuff front and rear last weekend. I can't say how they compare with other performance pds as I haven't compared head to head and may still be breaking in the Redstuff. What I can say is that they are a big improvement over the OEM pads, particularly when braking at higher speeds. OEM were OK at lower speeds but caused me to nigh on cack myself after several experiences of slamming on the anchors at speed.

The only downside so far is that the Redstuff are squealing a lot despite a lot of copper grease and careful fitting. I may have over heated them with the Stoptech method for bedding them in :S

It's mainly the reduced dust I'm fancying about the Red Stuffs. Do they live up to the claims in that regard Ben?

I fitted Redstuff front and rear last weekend. I can't say how they compare with other performance pds as I haven't compared head to head and may still be breaking in the Redstuff. What I can say is that they are a big improvement over the OEM pads, particularly when braking at higher speeds. OEM were OK at lower speeds but caused me to nigh on cack myself after several experiences of slamming on the anchors at speed.

The only downside so far is that the Redstuff are squealing a lot despite a lot of copper grease and careful fitting. I may have over heated them with the Stoptech method for bedding them in :S

A lot of squealing isn't right, how many miles have you done on them?

If you've given them a few miles of careful driving, and the squealing isn't only at very low speeds, then I'd give it a few more 70 to 10 mph stops with a small amount of time in between after 5 or so stops.

I had a tiny bit of noise below about 5mph for a week or so after fitting, but that then went and has not come back.

FWIW I only fitted them to the front, so I wonder if the noise is coming from the rears which only have light usage.

It's mainly the reduced dust I'm fancying about the Red Stuffs. Do they live up to the claims in that regard Ben?

Obviously I'm not Ben, but for me it's a yes and a no.

Is there less dust yes, but make sure you do wash it off every few weeks, either with a pressure washer or with a bit of APC and a wheel brush / toothbrush.

I say this because I ended up leaving mine dirty while I was away on work for a couple of months, and it was a bit of a task to get it off.

I guess same could be said of normal brake dust, but I never left it that long.

To be fair I am still having the EBC Yellow vs DS2500 discussion in my head and that's basically waiting on an answer from an insurance company.

Edited 7 April, 201016 yr by cheezemonkhai

Anyone had any problems with the first few time you try to stop there being nothing? i had red stuff pads a few years ago and I would have to drive up the road giving the brakes a few goes before I came to the junction otherwise I would almost pull my steering wheel off trying to stop. After that they were fine, sometimes on a long run on the motorway without braking it would take a second to for the brakes to really respond.

This was red stuff front and rear and black diamond drilled and grooved discs, can't say I was overly impressed for the cost of it. I sold the fronts on after a few months and got some brembo 4 pots i think the discs were 315 so not massive but was a massive improvement and didn't suffer from lack of heat either.

Anyone had any problems with the first few time you try to stop there being nothing? i had red stuff pads a few years ago and I would have to drive up the road giving the brakes a few goes before I came to the junction otherwise I would almost pull my steering wheel off trying to stop. After that they were fine, sometimes on a long run on the motorway without braking it would take a second to for the brakes to really respond.

This was red stuff front and rear and black diamond drilled and grooved discs, can't say I was overly impressed for the cost of it. I sold the fronts on after a few months and got some brembo 4 pots i think the discs were 315 so not massive but was a massive improvement and didn't suffer from lack of heat either.

Mine were purchased in 2008 and were red stuff ceramic V3 and no, no such problems. Bite from cold is excellent.

The older red stuff non `ceramic` compounds were reported to have this issue though, so it could have been those that you were running?

Cheers for the advice folks, very much appreciated.

My brake pad wear indicator warning light has came on in the car in the last couple of days so reckon I'd be as well to spend the extra and uprate my pads rather than risk buying standard vRS ones and finding them not fully up to the job.

Blair

For my 5 bobs worth DS2500 every time, also get some anti squeal pads to go on the back, cost pennies & easy to fit when the pads are new, you may or may not get squeel but why not eliminate the risk when fitting the pads, they are self adhesive & you just stick them on the pad before fitting, some suppliers will throw them in so ask when you order the pads

A lot of squealing isn't right, how many miles have you done on them?

If you've given them a few miles of careful driving, and the squealing isn't only at very low speeds, then I'd give it a few more 70 to 10 mph stops with a small amount of time in between after 5 or so stops.

I had a tiny bit of noise below about 5mph for a week or so after fitting, but that then went and has not come back.

FWIW I only fitted them to the front, so I wonder if the noise is coming from the rears which only have light usage.

I've done about 100 miles and have had another few shots at going through the bedding in procedure. The noise seems to be mainly front o/s with a little coming from rear o/s as best as I can tell. I have noticed no noise when stone cold but the squealing comes in when they warm up even just a bit. My fear is that I somehow fried off the copper grease with the initial break in as they were as hot as hell. On the plus, I think it is getting better but I may popped them off at the weekend and apply more grease and check that I haven't done something stupid like miss the grease off the cylinder-side pad.

For my 5 bobs worth DS2500 every time, also get some anti squeal pads to go on the back, cost pennies & easy to fit when the pads are new, you may or may not get squeel but why not eliminate the risk when fitting the pads, they are self adhesive & you just stick them on the pad before fitting, some suppliers will throw them in so ask when you order the pads

There is no doubt that they are great pads and I am in no way a 'Redstuff fanboy' but two small issues put me off the DS2500s - they were £100 more expensive for the 4 than Redstuff and not road legal. The Redstuff appear to have a backing pad already attached but I may give this a go at the weekend.

no ever seems to mention the tarox strada pads that awesome gti sell , they are a respected name and a good price, has anyone used these pads as i was thinking about trying them.

no ever seems to mention the tarox strada pads that awesome gti sell , they are a respected name and a good price, has anyone used these pads as i was thinking about trying them.

yes i have them and they are better than stock ever so slightly on their bite, but subject to fade just as much as stock. they were pants around the nurburgring

thats them struck off the list then! cheers for that

To be fair I am still having the EBC Yellow vs DS2500 discussion in my head and that's basically waiting on an answer from an insurance company.

The Yellowstuff pads are DEFINTELY gash, 100%. No bite from cold (actually scary), obviously better when hot but overheat when used as they are meant to be. Mine actually melted.

DS2500s were so much better on the same car and setup, and same kind of abuse.

The DS2500s are not road legal due to their higher than required efficiency IIRC?

The DS2500s are not road legal due to their higher than required efficiency IIRC?

Yeah, if I understand ECE R90 correctly, the pads would need to be +/-15% of the OEM spec for friction and disc wear or something like that i.e. if they are 20% better then they are not R90 compliant. Sounds daft to me but there you go.

I have a bit of a EBC Redstuff update and early review:

I felt the pads to be getting less grippy than when they were first installed despite expecting the opposite. Now, I am not saying that they are bad as the fade that I was getting when braking at speed with the OEM pads is definitely better but they seemed only slightly better than OEM in general after a few hundred miles. After the initial bedding in, I felt that they had more bite.

Then there was the brake squeal that caused me to remove the pads this weekend and inspect them. The answer was clear - the Stoptech way of bedding them in was too aggressive and instead of the healthy amount of copper grease that I applied at the back of each pad, I had nothing but carbon . These things had been fried! I mentioned in an earlier post how much heat had built up but I have never heard of decent quality high-temp copper grease turning to carbon! I am wondering if there is something about the ceramic in these pads that causes more heat or poorer heat dissipation. I cleaned up with brake cleaner, regreased and had a more gentle run as a result, the grease remains and the squeal has gone.

In conclusion, I would say if using the Stoptech method of 10 reasonably heavy applications of the brake from 60mph in quick succession, allow a bit more time for some cooling with these pads or, better still, stick with EBC's recommended method. Overall, these pads are OK but not great so far for me; I'll give it a few hundred miles to see if some of the bite comes back but otherwise they are comparable to OEM with the bonus that the fade may not be so bad. I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise if they are ECE R90 rated pads making them similar to OEM and at just above similar prices.

I was really hoping for a bit more of a jump up in general performance so, unless things improve, I may consider the part-worn front Hawk HP Plus in my garage or bite the bullet go DS2500 despite neither of them being R90; being able to demonstrate road-leagal R90-compliant pads on a car parked up a tree probably isn't much consolation