I am thinking of buying a new Fabia vRS but have read a lot about the brakes not being very good. Is this the case and if so what do you suggest?

I have heard that Black Diamond discs and pads are meant to be really good. Is this true and if so which ones are the best?

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The brakes are good enough for the vehicle, and by no means are they dangerous.

Its just if you intend going a little further than the factory outputs they can tend to suffer from fade so a 312mm upgrade is a good idea.

Or you could do what I intend to do shortly and that is upgrade to Ferrodo brake pads and better brake fluid on the standard discs & calipers. I drive hard, and have never felt the brakes to be that bad... main problem is they are lacking in feel and fade a bit under the most aggressive driving imaginable in a standard car... not sure how they'd stand up to a remapped one though.

Brake fade aint that difficult to get in Milton Keynes, naffin roundabouts..lol.

Thanks, they don't sound as bad as people have made out.

Yeah they arent that bad, IMHO. They could be better yes I agree...

@ Ross, not surprised mate. I've had the most trouble on roads that are very twisty... i.e. short straights followed by very tight bends, they fade a bit then. For most driving though, I find them adequate.

Day to day driving their fine, put your foot down their not fine.

But their by no means dangerous

Still better to have a set of these under the rims

And if you're really into braking, you can always get some brembo gt 4 pot calipers. They'll need large-clearance 17" rims though and are a bit pricey.

Ross had them on his old car and I can vouch no brake fade during a little demonstration around Milton Keyne's finest roundabouts

put your foot down their not fine.

See thats relative IMO. I put my foot down most of the time, and most of the time they are fine. One thing I've noticed is that the standard brakes were quite poor at first, but they do seem to have become better with age. Dunno why...

Brake fade aint that difficult to get in Milton Keynes, naffin roundabouts..lol.

Try being a stranger there. Everywhere looks the same Got a nice park/lake to walk round and have a bite to eat

The standard brake are far from dangerous. Its just when you really push on down some country lanes do you find they overheat in which case you may feel an upgrade is needed.

See thats relative IMO. I put my foot down most of the time, and most of the time they are fine. One thing I've noticed is that the standard brakes were quite poor at first, but they do seem to have become better with age. Dunno why...

Thats true with me, I tend to be a bit heavy footed which is why I upgraded.

But for some drivers they will be fine for day to day driving, I was just trying to get across that they arnt hairy scary every time you go to brake (unless of course your driving in a brisk manner)

My standard brakes definently got a lot better after about 3000miles, think the pads/disks bedded in a bit

On a standard fabia, unless pushing really hard then they are fine. I'm running a re-mapped furbie, and I have to say so far they have been fine, though after chatting to walkie I'm going to go for the same sort of setup in the near future.

So to sum up the fabia brakes. They are very good but they do fade if pushed too hard, with a firm foot they will slow you from high speeds very quickly and very stable.

I'm hoping that a simple change of pads and fluid will pretty much solve all problems without the expense of a full big brake conversion.... watch this space!