Hi

The way I see it is thus. If you can get the ABS working at any speed, the brakes are OK for general road use from a stopping point ov view. My vRS can do this, so therefore the brakes are OK. I would suggest that for those that cannot do this, there may be aproblem with pads or somewhere else in the system.

Chris

Bigger brakes are just the start, read this I wrote a bit back after doing a bit of digging

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/fabia/43563-crap-brakes-vrs.html

Did just the same back in my Golf GTI days, big brakes need the rest of the system behind them !

My standard set up still feels crap after 3000 miles.

I drove a Golf R reg TDI 1.9 deisel GL model before my little furby vrs and I have found the brakes on the furby to be absolutely fantastic compared to those of the golf. Guess it must just be what your used to driving.

Quite possibly Katie - welcome BTW :wave:

That could account for the fairly wide-ranging views on this thread - what you've driven before, coupled with your expectations in context with the rest of the car, and not forgetting how much of a hard time you give the middle pedal

For anyone interested, on Sat I'll be able to give a fairly objective assessment of the change Eibachs make to the setup, with regard less nose dive. I'll have a drive upto JBS in Chesterfield, 'over the top' from Manchester with std brakes and ride height. And I'll go down to Leek to join the meet with Eibachs fitted My wheels size will have magically increased by 1" too, so not as objective as it could have been, but I'll still post my thoughts up...

Probably not the most brake-friendly roads you'll ever see, so should be a decent test :eek:

Steve

For anyone interested' date=' on Sat I'll be able to give a fairly objective assessment of the change [b']Eibachs [/b]make to the setup, with regard less nose dive.

Are you going for springs or full set-up? This will be the 1st change to the car that I make, and I'm interested in your comments :thumbup:

I still think the core problems are the badly adjusted power assisted braking point, where it gets rid of the amount of range between relatively gentle slow down and hard braking. Combined with little feedback it really doesn't help.

The other reason is the weight over the front wheels 'dropping forward'. Unlike on a van, an estate version of the Fabia, or the Octy with same engine, there is insufficient weight to prevent a massive tilting going on on the standard suspension. It just gives an unstable feeling, relatively speaking.

Plenty of actual braking performance available though as I bet you could get the ABS to kick in from very illegal speeds...

Are you going for springs or full set-up? This will be the 1st change to the car that I make, and I'm interested in your comments :thumbup:

Just springs - would have liked to move to the full setup with uprated dampers, but couldn't quite stretch to it.

Will still post about it though

Steve

Cool! Brakes and suspension are inseperable in that they both work with each other, so it'll be good to hear what the Eibach springs do for stock breaking.

Indeed, then wait for phase two, as the 312mm kit goes on, hopefully sometime later this month when I get the time

Will also report back what it does to the ride and damping, 'cos I'm quite a fussy bugg€r when it comes to ride quality :P

Steve

As mentioned before, the eibach springs adds stability to the braking. There is very little pitching during heavy braking.

Not sure if it stops any quicker though but subjectively, I feel much more confident during heavy braking.

Anyone know if there is a general 'dealership stance' on upgrading brakes and suspension - i know it'll void the brakes and suspension, but what about the rest of the car? In theory it shouldn't. I've been refused 'permission' to fit my FMIC as it will 'stress the engine' (actual quote). Just thinking of ways around the brakes issue, and would like to to try the suspension upgrade before the brakes. IMO the Favia rides quite high anyway, and would certainly look better dropped a bit.

There's no general dealership stance and I know of a couple of members who have fallen foul of a dealership changing its stance as a result of a new service manager joining. Best to talk to your dealer about it and then move to another one if they change their policy

I would expect them not to notice (unless you get the bright silver Eibach dampers!) as the springs are the same colour and the brakes are just a bit bigger...

Chris

I've found you have to be very heavy footed to get a decent reaction (don't be frightend of getting brake dust on your wheels as i was)

But i do agree there is no 'feel' on the pedal and it does feel that they need to be a little more beefier. My old yaris 1.3 felt to have better brakes (disc front drum rear). I think that it needs the same caliper setup as a golf/leon and perhaps skoda have used the polo setup. I wonder what reviews there are on the polo gt brakes?

Brakes... Aaah that old chestnut :P

I can see where you're coming from Mr Hedgehog. My fabia has 323mm brembo 4 pot brakes with ferodo ds2500 pads. It stops well (Chris, care to comment since last night?)

But I often think it doesn't stop that well. But I hear on French TV, they say at 120km/h, you need 120 m to stop. Now going with Colin's analogy, I sometimes hit them doing just under 3 figure speeds (in mph of course) at the 100 yard marker (which is less than 100m) before a roundabout and they stop me... ...just.

Coming from a leon cupra which by the sounds of it, you have upgraded the brakes, I would feel quite a difference from that to a standard brake setup in any car other than a supercar.

When I drive swmbo's Ford Ka, I get the scare of my life when I brake. It brakes fine, but my foot's half way through the bulkhead by the time you get any real braking power.

IMHO, it's all down to what you're used to and you get used to performance far too quickly

I think there is definitely an element of 'wot ure used to', but i have to say i'm still well disappoined with the VRS brakes - especially as they are being compared against a PD 100 and a Megane 1.6! They will get changed, its just a metter of when. The Brakes on the Leon were upgraded with the wheels - but only to the current FR setup. The pads and disks are ferodo - and they did make a difference.

I think that overall the car is superb, but needs more stopping power; perhaps this is why Greenlight won't insure Fabs any more!?

I have the exact same issue. The brakes are just crap, there's no real feel and you have to really push hard to get it to stop (sometimes), other times they are fine. I've just picked mine up from the dealers and they had a look at the brakes but could find no fault, so i assume they are just like that.

I will be changing the pads first to see what that does, then the fluid (switching to 5.1 made a big difference to my last car).

Does anyone know what other fabia shares the same size pads/discs as the vRS cos I can never find the vRS listed on any websites (motorsportworld, and need for speed).

I have the exact same issue. The brakes are just crap' date=' there's no real feel and you have to really push hard to get it to stop (sometimes), other times they are fine. I've just picked mine up from the dealers and they had a look at the brakes but could find no fault, so i assume they are just like that.

I will be changing the pads first to see what that does, then the fluid (switching to 5.1 made a big difference to my last car).

Does anyone know what other fabia shares the same size pads/discs as the vRS cos I can never find the vRS listed on any websites (motorsportworld, and need for speed).[/quote']

No other Fabs, I think, have the same disks as vRS unless the 2.0l does, but you can get the disks / pads from other VAG cars that use the same size disk, ie Octy I 1.8T 20v, some Golf TDis, Bora 2.3 V5, etc.

The Spec is 288mm x 25mm.

If you're after better disks, ie grooved, etc then EBC, Blackdiamond and 3G make replacment ones, and Pagid, EBC and Ferodo make good pads to suit - this is the route I'm going down in the near future!

I'm gonna get some pads, probably order them this week just not sure which ones to go for. The problem is neither of the websites i know about list the vRS.

Anyone care to recomend some pads and a place to get them?

It stops well (Chris, care to comment since last night?)

My head still hurts

Chris

Let us know how the pad and disk change works out, and the brake fluid. I think some of the problem lies with the rest of the setup too - like mentioned above, the whole system is a bit 'average', including the servo assist. I'm at Stealth for a RR on sunday with the 20VT, and at JBS in March for CC on the VRS - i'll do a bit of digging on the topic, and some possibilities for alternative setups and post here.

Well, I just called my insurer to ask how much extra it will be if I change to grooved disks and better pads.... £0.00 increase!!

So, I asked about 312mm brakes from an Octavia or TT, and the response was £0.00 increase.

They just need to know what I've done but it won't cost any more, so now I'm going to reconsider my options

The problem with the 312mm conversion for me is, 1: I don't think i could do it myself, and 2: it would invalidate my warranty.

I'm starting small, just ordered some pads, if they improve it i will get rear pads as well (I am assuming the main bias is the front still so not doing the rears shouldn't be that much of a problem)

Then i'll do the fluid.

Does anyone happen to know of anywhere you can get the 312mm conversion done? or even where to get the callipers/carriers other than a scrap yard.

I'm starting small, just ordered some pads, if they improve it i will get rear pads as well (I am assuming the main bias is the front still so not doing the rears shouldn't be that much of a problem)

I believe the bias is adjustable using VAG-COM, but I'm not sure I'd like to monkey around with something that important!

Chris

Here's an interesting experiment for someone to try.

Get some big heavy things (bags of cement, lots or bricks, brim full bottles of water) and put them in the boot. This will alter the brake bias valve accordingly.

Go and do a brake test and see how it feels.

Now move the heavy stuff to the front footwell/passenger seat and see how it feels.

May not prove anything but could be itneresting.

Here's an interesting experiment for someone to try.

Get some big heavy things (bags of cement' date=' lots or bricks, brim full bottles of water) and put them in the boot. This will alter the brake bias valve accordingly.

Go and do a brake test and see how it feels.

Now move the heavy stuff to the front footwell/passenger seat and see how it feels.

May not prove anything but could be itneresting.[/quote']

I effectively tried the first of these suggestions in my old lancia thema turbo, went and picked up a spare engine, and had it in the boot for a week! really didn't like it, the front was too light, and would try to lock up under braking all the time, (the car had abs brakes [not bad for 1986!] but, was still unstable under braking...)