Hi All,

 

Fairly new to this forum and only previous experience has been with owning a Scooby (3 of them) for the last 17yrs and getting all info from Scoobynet.  

I take delivery of  Vrs at the end of this month (built wk 36) and thinking to do some subtle mods. Mine though would be based on performance and not interested in lowering or spacers etc as I would see that as a performance negative if dampers weren't changed as well. What i have noticed is these cars are fitted with single piston calipers ? is that a negative ? I've still got my old MY00 scoob and even that has 4 pots front brakes.

Does anyone ever fit better pads ?  i'm just thinking in case of power upgrades and i've always done - brakes before power. not too worried as it won't be doing track stuff so no prolonged heavy braking but wanted to make sure this was covered. 

 

Be good to get some views

 

Steve

The car has the same front brakes as the performance pack Golf GTi (345mm if I'm not mistaken); just has the regular 272ish mm solid rears as most other octavias.

Perhaps they are single piston (not sure myself) but they are very good I am sure, way strong enough for road use and am sure they'd deal with more power without much complaint. Pads might suffer with a lot more power so perhaps they'd be worth considering but the hardware is pretty sound.

Edited 2 September, 201411 yr by pipsyp

I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with the brakes "out of the box".  I've never had a problem with them.

The brakes on the mk3 are better, firstly they are bigger than on the mk2FL and secondly the car is lighter.

 

They work very well from a high speed!!

 

But if you want to upgrade (and why not). Then I'd look at the golf forums as you'll more likely to find a few upgrades (as the owners have more money than sense :p ). I would guess that it would not be to far from what's available for the mk2.

 

As for the other bits there are post on here already with some options, spend a few mins going through the posts.

The brakes are the best i've had on any car.

Yes I definitely concur regarding brakes being very very good....I'm still trying to find my heart and a few other internal organs which left via my mouth when braking from 60mph to 0mph in what felt like a second.

On my previous O2 I had The Phirm (http://www.thephirm.co.uk/) do a mild & reasonably priced brake upgrade which they said increased by about 40% the braking capacity and that was as simple as Redstuff pads and drilled discs, very low dust too.  If you consider the stage 1 remaps currently available take the vRS TSI from 220 to 300bhp or the TDI from 184 to 235bhp I shouldn't think more than 40% extra braking capacity is really needed unless you're gonna spend a lot of time on-track in which case the Yellowstuff are the Mutts-Nutts.

Thanks for the replies.

 

I did once own a P1 impreza for 4yrs and upgraded to Alcon calipers( aluminium) and 320mm discs and DS3000 pads for the track and would easily get the ABS tripping from 140mph without too much effort (on track) and would last all day with a hard pedal. Obviously the Skoda will have a different use but i would rather have too much brakes capacity than borderline. As you say, looking at the pads once worn down maybe the way to go and i suspect similar price to main dealer prices to replace...

 

Looking forward to getting the car now

It's probably fair to say the vRS has more braking capability than it really needs stock. I'd expect both cars would have been OK running 312mm fronts like the GTI/GTD, the PP front brakes can handle considerably more than 220ps.

In fact I gather these brakes are better than what are fitted to a Leon Cupra 280, slightly bigger discs with better caliper/piston arrangement.

My wife doesn't drive the car very often. However, when she does, for the first 10 mins I really know when she applies the brakes!

 

Everytime she says 'oops, forgot about these !'

 

Best brakes I have had on a car.

I have also owned a few Scoobs, and the VRS brakes beat anything fitted as stock on those. In terms of VRS braking, engine and handling capabilities, the brakes far exceed the other two areas.

The Octy TSI engine is lovely, but sounds mediocre compared to a lovely boxer. The sound generator tries to improve the acoustics but without much success. You'll also miss 4wd, but the quality feel and practicality of the Skoda is far ahead of any Impreza.

My STI IV is still the best car I have owned, but the VRS beats it for everything apart from sound and performance. It almost feels like a sensible grown-up Impreza.

Edited 2 September, 201411 yr by Orville

Always had to improve the braking on previous cars ranging from full brembo set ups to only lines, pads and fluid. Haven't felt a need to touch anything on the vrs, very competent and capable standard braking system..

Thanks for the comments.

 

Going to keep the Scoob as it's not worth much (My00 and 85k ). Not bothered about low rent interior and hardly ever turn the radio on as what comes from the exhaust is music in itself. If the Skoda is as reliable then i'll be happy as one alternator pulley replaced in 9 yrs of ownership.

 

Hopefully the Vrs (tdi) will fill the gaps in between as i'm doing about 20k a year plodding up and down the motorways. 

I agree, in normal road use the brakes are outstanding. I still have to concentrate to brake softly, 2k on from collection.  Although this is the first 'performance' car I've owned.

 

Track use may be different, but I don't think you'll see a lack of power

, endurance or modulation on the road, even if being very naughty.

My experince with VAG products is they over servo the brakes which obviously gives an impressions of amazing brakes but the reality is 90% of the stopping power is done with 10% of pedal effort. I pesonally don't like that and prefer a more linear feel....everyone to their own.

Most brakes will keep going for a couple of big stops but it's the prolonged hard stoppoing that causes problems...bit like a sprited B road blast.

I remember going to the M3 CSL launch at Rockingham and they could only do 3 laps before the trainers had to take the cars on a gentle drive around the perimeter to get the brakes back....shocking for such a car.

I'll give feedback to thoughts when I get the car...was told build week 35..

 

Steve.

I've experienced a full on bum twitching full on emergency stop while toodling along at 135mph on the autobahn and can swear these brakes are the ******!

The driver of a VW T5 on the inside lane musta dosed off as he drifted all the way across two of the 3 lanes and gently kissed the barrier before swerving back across to the hard shoulder. I was watching him for movement as I approached him (you watch everything at 135mph) & clocked him starting to drift just in time. The road surface was a little broken and bumpy but the VRS never made me **** myself! She stood on her nose and chirped away all the way down to 30mph as I had no idea where that guy was gonna go next.

There was zero other traffic bar him and I cruised along at a stead 60 mph for a good 20mins to bring my Heart rate down again. That also gave me time to reflect on how epic the brakes had been and how confidence inspiring they are.

Trust me when I say, the standard brakes are most excellent and in no need of improvement. Take one for a test drive and find a quiet road then ask the salesman if you can do some hard stops when it's safe to do so and experience it for yourself.

You won't be left wanting