noticed on the brochure for the green line model that the hatch has rear disc brakes but the estate has drum brakes, even though they're the same engine

Yes, but different weights and weight distribution

yes i would imagine the estate has move weight at the back!!! so if anything it should have discs more than the Hatch anyway.

I think it's simply done as a cost saving, i think Skoda get away with it on the assumption that the estates aren't likely to be driven hard.

Drums are perfectly fine on the back of a 75bhp car IMO.

Maybe the hatch works better with discs because it has less weight and so is more likely to display interesing handling charcteristics under heavy braking/cornering.

After all, the VRS hatch needs ballast in the back to sort out the handling while the estate doesn't as it's better balanced.

Rear drums are fine.

yes rear drums are fine. but disc brakes are more effective, and if i was paying extra for an Estate i would want them on the back if the hatch gets them

Infact when i was contemplating ordering a GReenline i was inclined towards the hatch because it had rear disc brakes. otherwise i would have had the estate any day of the week

yes rear drums are fine. but disc brakes are more effective, and if i was paying extra for an Estate i would want them on the back if the hatch gets them

Infact when i was contemplating ordering a Greenline i was inclined towards the hatch because it had rear disc brakes. otherwise i would have had the estate any day of the week

The hatch gets a daft great big spoiler. As the Estate is more expensive did you want that as well?

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

The GL2 comes with ESP so has a more effective safety system than a standard Fabia anyway.

How it decides to deploy that braking force to the rear wheels makes no difference in my opinion. Like I said, the hatch is more twitchy due to worse weight distribution, so maybe that is why.

All I know is the drums work fine and in an emergency the car stops very well.

I must say although my brakes / drums at the back seem to work well, I was disappointed about the lack of discs at the back ad I've got the elegance spec with ESP + , is there any real difference in the stopping power ? Any info ?

noticed on the brochure for the green line model that the hatch has rear disc brakes but the estate has drum brakes, even though they're the same engine

picked up my GL2 estate two weeks ago, and i am glad to say it has been supplied with disks on the rear.

this was a suprise as i thought it would come with rear disks.

I prefer discs as you can see them to notice any fault with the pads/discs.....plus they are a lot easier to strip down and service than drums........no stupid wedges, springs, cup washers etc etc!!!

Formula 1 cars have drums as do articulated lorries etc. How do discs have better performance????

Formula 1 cars have drums as do articulated lorries etc. How do discs have better performance????

Sorry but F1 cars do not have drums. They have carbon fibre discs but have a cylindrical drum around them to improve airflow so they may look like drums but are in fact discs. The calipers can be from different manufacturers though on the two cars within the same team depending on driver preference as they can make a difference to the feel of the brakes.

Edited 22 October, 201114 yr by Pete in Notts

i will pretend Paulplom didn't say anything.

but a F1 drum brake is very different to a road drum brake.

Formula 1 cars have drums as do articulated lorries etc. How do discs have better performance????

The F1 question was answered above.....as for lorries......Have you seen the size of the drums and the hydraulic and air systems that they have to operate the brakes???...try fitting that behind the average car wheel!

Also from a mechanical first principal stage.....it is easier to clamp a disc (the further away the caliper is from the centre of rotation the better due to leverage, which is why big brake discs are more efficiant)...than it is to force (expand)outwards the pads from the inside of the drum to try to stop it rotating!

On most modern small cars it won't make a huge difference to safety.....but I would prefer discs as for the reasons stated in my previous post!

Many advantages to having drums on a road car at the rear. Drums if maintained correctly are not much different in efficiency than discs in terms of stopping power, but do fade more quickly under very heavy continuous use due to the inability to cool the shoes quickly. Thankfully, due to modern materials, this 'fade; threshold is now very high and not a problem for ordinary road cars even when driven hard. However, the big bonus with drums is they last a lot longer and are very very cheap to maintain compared to discs. Have you seen the cost of replacement calipers and discs? My friends Honda Jazz 1.4 petrol went in for service (1st service) at 17,000 miles and just over a year old and was presented with a bill for £700!! And actually that was quite cheap, I know because I worked for a Honda dealership amongst others. Nearly all of this £700 was the cost of new discs and pads with oil and filter costing next to nothing. One of the calipers needed replacing under warranty, which would have cost over £300! Drums just don't cost that sort of money, neither does the hydraulics or shoes. Needless to say my mate had quite a row with the dealership about the fast wearing out of the brakes but got no where. As I expected as brakes are a wear and tear item.

I agree with estate man. I can't ever remember suffering from a warped drum, or metal to metal grinding come to think of it. Rear discs sometimes have shoes in them also for the hand brake. double trouble.

Edited 22 October, 201114 yr by paulplom

Every 24000 miles ish my Citroen Belingo had to have new pads and discs somewhere on the front or back due to the pads wearing out and taking the disk with them.

I miss the good old brake pad sensor.

I agree with estate man. I can't ever remember suffering from a warped drum, or metal to metal grinding come to think of it. Rear discs sometimes have shoes in them also for the hand brake. double trouble.

A twin caliper set up is only found on big supercars these days which have huge multi piston calipers, but even that is getting rarer as more rear calipers have handbrake mechs built in!

And as for a caliper being replaced........the main reason that they need it is the seals go hard with age and heat and to strip the caliper down and replace the seals (seals & skirts cost £15/axle on my car) takes about 2hrs max...but to swap the caliper for a new one only takes about 15mins! So it is cheaper for the garage to buy an expensive caliper and only charge a small labour fee, than it is to buy a cheap seal and charge a big labour fee! This is why I did all my calipers myself earlier this year after speaking to the mech at my local garage!

In the future tho I can see all cars will have what the expensive VAG cars have.....EPB...Electronic parking brakes....electic motors and gerabox built into the caliper........hit the button whilst moving and it stops the car so ####ing fast it's not true!!!

Edited 22 October, 201114 yr by fabdavrav

When moving above 5mph pressing the electronic parking brake button will not do anything.

You can press and hold the button to apply the parking brake in situations like brake failure.

If you are just crawling and press the epb button the rear wheels lock almost instantly, it is quite fierce.

One big advantage with VAG epb is it allows the car to be fitted with auto hold which is one of the best systems fitted to anycar and makes the dsg a joy to use.

Our htp has small ventillated front discs and rear drums, the tsi has bigger ventillated front discs and rear solid discs, my Passat has ventillated discs front and rear with epb on the rear discs.

They all stop the cars perfectly well and outside of doing a track day I wouldnt expect any fade. They would all be able to engage abs in the dry in a panic situation.

The brake pedal feel is a little more positive in the htp but I suspect this may be down to a different servo. The handbrake is certainly stronger on the htp than on the tsi.

The tsi looks to have very similar brakes to the vRS. I know the 14" winters I have for the htp will not fit over the calipers of the tsi.

The only downside of the drums for me is the looks, the drums get hot and bubbles the paint so they start to look rusty behind the wheels.

Cheers

Lee

Edited 23 October, 201114 yr by logiclee

The car configurator says the estate has rear discs now.

The only downside of the drums for me is the looks, the drums get hot and bubbles the paint so they start to look rusty behind the wheels.

Cheers

Lee

Hi Lee, I wonder if your paint is bubbling due to something other than heat. Most drums don't get that hot in normal driving. Maybe the drums were not quite fully decontaminated before painting. I used Silver Smoothrite on my drums but wire wooled them and then decontaminated with Finnigans thinners, not cellulous thinners which has a habit of setting up longer term problems causing rusting. That was three years ago and they are absolutely fine. No pitting, discolouring or rusting at all. They look like new. :yes:

The car configurator says the estate has rear discs now.

The Skoda site is still showing the Greenline Estate with drums as standard. Click here to see: Greenline Estate Spec scroll down to chassis specification near the bottom to check it out.

Maybe you can order it with discs as an option on the configurator.

The Skoda site is still showing the Greenline Estate with drums as standard. Click here to see: Greenline Estate Spec scroll down to chassis specification near the bottom to check it out.

Maybe you can order it with discs as an option on the configurator.

FYI

Picked my Greenline Estate today - it came with discs on the rear - as standard ( October build)

Well done 2tite, excellent choice. You won't be sorry. Looks like they have bumped up the spec on the Greenline. No doubt the site will update soon. Let us all know how you get on with it once it arrives.

Hi EstateMan

ordered the Greenline Estate at the end of March & picked it UP yesterday

(looks like I missed the UP from my previous message)

must say that I am impressed with it - its only to get me back and forth to work on the motorways & supermarket shopping runs but it was an excellent drive on the motorway

drove home on the motorway varying the speed between 55 & 70 & trip - comp suggested average of 62mpg ( will be disappointed if this doesn't rise towards 70'ish as it loosens up)

feels just like my VW Passat estate that I had two cars ago

Its got a big car feel - its definitely a little big car