I'd like to do a simple pad & fluid change as a first upgrade to my vRS's brakes.

What pads have you used or do you recommend?

Should I do all four? (The car has 21k on it)

How easy is it to change the fluid?

I won't be doing much track driving-more (ahem) 'fast road', and I don't want to change the discs for now, not least because my winter wheels are 16's & bigger discs won't fit behind them :no:

TIA

Anyone? :S

Anyone? :S

For normal road pads, those made by subsidiaries of the TMD friction group (texstar, Pagid and Mintex if you get reasonable ones) seem to get quite a good name. However, I don't think they will be much of an 'upgrade' over whatever OEM you have at the moment. I tried EBC Redstuff and, although a tad better than OEM, was not the improvement that I needed.

The most common recommendation for 'fast road' pads is the Ferodo DS2500 pad for which there is a lot of comments about these even on standard calipers and discs.

I put DS2500s on my car a few months ago and have to agree that they are a good choice for normal/fast road driving. However, I am running Porsche Brembo 4-pot calipers and have not used the pads on OEM calipers. I appreciate that the winter wheels limit you but if you really want to have a notable increase in breaking performance then it has to be non-standard calipers (R32 or the NQS BBK - search for my review) otherwise the DS2500s are probably the best bet. I have to say that the standard set-up on the VRS was my only criticism of the car and the uprated calipers was one of the best decisions I made.

The fluid change is easy to do if you have a pressure bleeder (eg Gunsons) and the patience to get the wheels off. Just good DOT4 or DOT 5.1 fluid is good enough for road use. I have never heard of problems with the thicker viscosity fluids although there is an argument for using lower viscosity fluids in cars with ABS systems - in this respect, I can recommend ATE SL.6. You will need 2l to be on the safe side and probably want to bleed the clutch nipple while you are at it.

Edited 26 January, 201115 yr by muckipup

Dave,

Thats about the best response i have ever seen regarding brakes :yes:

At the OP, I can only agree with what Dave has said. I run an R32 kit on my vRS and it is a vast improvement over OEM. I had DS2500's and i found them to be ok but can become squealy at low speeds a couple of days after spirited driving. A good blast for a few miles always eradicated this though.

DS2500s or a fast road Pagid. I agree with the possibility of low-speed squeal though. Just the nature of using a tougher pad.

Fluid - I like Motul RBF-600, available from Opie amongst others. But a decent spec DOT4 or DOT 5.1 will do the trick

you definetely need to bleed the clutch as well if you use new fluid as they share the same resovoir.

Nothing else to add that hasn't been said already