HI All,

 

First off this isn't going to be the best written piece but I wanted to share my experience having upgraded my brakes all-round recently. I started with the front brakes and 1500 miles later did the rear brakes so I could assess the impact of each upgrade and I have to say both made massive improvements 

 

A quick google gad told me I was unlucky enough to have the 312mm front disc setup as opposed to the 340mm on the slightly earlier VRS's (Mine is Jan 2016, around about when the change was mid flow)

 

So I upped to the 340mm setup and all I needed was the bigger callipers and callipers carriers along with proper Discs and Pads (EBC Redstuff pads and EBC Ultimax Grooved discs) and after bleeding the brakes and then letting them bed in the improvement was phenomenal in every regard.

 

The rear 272mm Solid disc setup looked abysmal and I still wanted to get what I could out of the system so I decided to fit the 310mm Vented disc setup off the mk6 Golf R32.

 

This end of the car was a little more annoying as Golf callipers are blue but VRS ones are red, so I currently had red front brakes and blue rear brakes, so I spent a couple of afternoons painting my new callipers and carriers red. In terms of what was required mechanically for the change you need: R32 Callipers and Carriers, R32 Rear brake Hoses, Pipes and 4 clips (2 clips for each side)

 

Again I used EBC red stuff pads and EBC Ultimax Grooved discs and after bleeding the brakes and letting the new pads bed in, again what an improvement.

 

Now time to talk money. My discs and pads were in need of changing all round so the money I paid for these I won't count (best time to change brakes is when they're worn out  ) but they came to £539. The callipers & carriers came to £425 off Ebay and I got the rear brake hose, pipes & clips from a store in Maidstone for £35

 

So basically cost me £1000 but I have 4 callipers and carriers to go onto bay to get some of that money back and I can honestly say it was worth every penny.

 

I'll put a couple of pics up for you to enjoy.

 

And Pics of the Rears

What did you do with the dust shields? Did you cut them down or leave them off? I can’t see from the photographs. Not a good idea to leave them off.

 

The correct parts are easily available new for either 2wd and 4x4 and are not expensive at all.

ive been looking at the rears thinking the same thing, did you require anything other than the caliper and disc hub carrier? have you got part numbers for the carrier etc?

I'd assume you meant the rear calipers are from a mk5 r32.

 

The Mk6 onwards is the Golf R.

 

Certainly the rear is an option I'm considering at a later date. What was your reasoning for upgrading in the first place?

14 hours ago, tunedude said:

I'd assume you meant the rear calipers are from a mk5 r32.

 

As far as I can see the mk6 Golf R had mech handbrake too. It was not electric until the MQB cars so should fit. Mk5 R32 certainly does, although remember the Golf R was 4x4 there will be differences if your Octy is not.

 

15 hours ago, JohnnyType2 said:

did you require anything other than the caliper and disc hub carrier

 

You need calipers, carriers, disks and pads. Some calipers can re-use original brake pipes but a lot will depend on what has been done with the suspension.

 

You will also need to replace all the single-use bolts, tighten them correctly (RTFM) If you don't want your brakes and hub full of road crap and your suspension full of brake dust, fit new dust shields. Many dust shields also help direct air for cooling leaving them off often makes cooling worse . Bleed the brakes properly using the pressures listed (again RTFM)

 

If you are going to do it, FFS do it properly using the manual and the correct parts. Too many people 'improve' their brakes but make such a half-baked job of it that they would have been better leaving well alone.

 

sounds like too much hassle and would be purely for aesthetics as the only donuts i'm doing these days are getting shoved into my mouth.

On 03/02/2019 at 08:52, flybynite said:

What did you do with the dust shields? Did you cut them down or leave them off? I can’t see from the photographs. Not a good idea to leave them off.

 

The correct parts are easily available new for either 2wd and 4x4 and are not expensive at all.

 

I left them off couldn't be bothered with the expenditure 

On 03/02/2019 at 22:20, tunedude said:

I'd assume you meant the rear calipers are from a mk5 r32.

 

The Mk6 onwards is the Golf R.

 

Certainly the rear is an option I'm considering at a later date. What was your reasoning for upgrading in the first place?

 

 

Yep well spotted, typo or brain fart not sure but the ones I bought were off a 2008 mk5 

On 03/02/2019 at 21:46, JohnnyType2 said:

ive been looking at the rears thinking the same thing, did you require anything other than the caliper and disc hub carrier? have you got part numbers for the carrier etc?

 

Yes you need to change the brakes hoses as well as they have a different fitting on the end and are a different length.

 

Below are the Numbers I used and had no trouble with (ie everything has bolted on and the car stops)

 

I found a Kit supplied by B and B components in Maidstone via their eBay page for all of the rear hoses, pipes and clips for £36 I went and collected of them because I was in a hurry and didn't want to wait for postage and they're nice and friendly group of guys there, and worth me recommending IMHO.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-GOLF-MK5-MK6-AUDI-A3-TT-TOURAN-REAR-BRAKE-HOSES-PIPES-CLIPS-A1291/202170262960?hash=item2f124965b0:g:8MYAAOSwTO9aS2k2:rk:1:pf:0

You have the same set up as my 2017 Vrs245 which is very impressive I am sure you will agree. Front 340mm vented and rear 310mm vented, best production brake set up on a car I have owned plus now HEL stainless brakelines with DOT 5.1 Motorsport brake fluid no fade whatsoever. Unbelieveable even from very high speed.

Edited 5 February, 20197 yr by shyVRS245
spelling mistake

7 hours ago, dophp said:

(ie everything has bolted on and the car stops)

 

But for how long?

 

7 hours ago, dophp said:

I left them off couldn't be bothered with the expenditure 

 

Have a look at where grit can get without them, it is not just in your brakes.

 

Was it the same with the single-use TTY (Torque To Yield) 'stretch' bolts that the manual says "replace after each removal"?

 

Did you get the others torqued to 200nm? That is difficult on axle stands

 

What pressure did you set to bleed the brakes?

 

You might have a bit of expenditure coming sooner than you think

 

On 02/02/2019 at 21:37, dophp said:

I have to say both made massive improvements 

 

Much of that improvement would have come from new brakes in the old size.

 

I will weigh in with a different opinion. I have both and I drive the 340/310 setup back to back with the 312/272 and for road use it is not night and day.

 

The 340/310 setup is good but it is an old design at the edge of what works for single-pot and very, very heavy. The weight of them has a big impact on the suspension of a light car like the Octy. They are obviously able to take more heat than smaller disks but I have not yet overheated the 312 disks even with (good) road pads. The 312/272mm brake is far less 'grabby' and more progressive, especially when cold. The suspension is noticeably less 'crashy'.

 

If you are doing it for looks, fine, but don't make your brakes worse in the process by doing a bad job.

 

 

On 04/02/2019 at 13:48, flybynite said:

Mk5 R32 certainly does, although remember the Golf R was 4x4 there will be differences if your Octy is not.

Forgive me, but isn’t the R32 also all wheel drive? I was under the impression that most VAG cars that use the 310mm rear setup apart from the vRS 245 are 4x4 models. I have a pair of rear 310mm callipers from an S3 8P on my watch list ready. I was hoping that, with otherwise new hardware (brake hoses, clips etc) that they would fit. Is this not the case? The plan for my next mod is as follows, I already have the 340mm front brakes so I want to go for 310mm rear with HEL hoses all round and then new discs and pads for the front. I’ve done 37k miles in my car now and the brakes weren’t new when I got it so it’s high time I looked for something new for it.

2 minutes ago, SashaGrace said:

Forgive me, but isn’t the R32 also all wheel drive

 

I was talking about all the Golf 'R' models, yes, the R32 is AWD the same as the other Golf 'R' models (7R, 6R), same goes for Audi S3.

 

The problem is you need a caliper (and carrier) with manual handbrake, (some labelled as 8P have e-handbrake) but dust shields etc from a MQB car with the same rear drive you have. Any caliper with manual handbrake should fit.

 

Up until the vRS245 correct dust shields were only available for AWD cars now all the correct parts can be had to do this conversion properly for 2wd as well.

 

You have to ask yourself why you are doing it? are you overheating the rear brakes or do you not like the brake bias? If you start off with smaller 312mm front brakes then to go to 340/310 it keeps a similar bias. If you have larger front brakes already you will shift the bias rearward.

 

If you are doing it to fill the wheels, then the last thing you want to do is leave off the dust shields which make them look even bigger.

 

 

I won't be doing it without the dust shields for sure. That's good to know, they are from a 2008 S3 8P but I'm on the fence unless they go cheap because they don't have the carriers, so I'd need to source those. When throwing the anchor out the car really nose dives with the massive front brakes so shifting the bass rearward is the main goal as well as filling the wheels as I have the 19's on. The rear brakes are not in the best nick any more so it's high time I sorted them and if I can upgrade to the 310 setup while I'm here it makes sense  It's a shame in a way that I have the 340/272 setup as the front brakes are so damn heavy but a BBK with lighter brakes isn't worth it for what I want to do, just make the setup more neutral, so 340/310 is my ideal place to be.

@dophp did you have any issues with the rears? I am doing mine now and my calliper carrier is touching the disc with the bolts nowhere near done up!! Just wondering if you came across this issue. Also my 245 backplates don’t fit so there is something clearly amiss here!

 

 

2 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

I am doing mine now and my calliper carrier is touching the disc with the bolts nowhere near done up!! Just wondering if you came across this issue. Also my 245 backplates don’t fit so there is something clearly amiss here!

 

OK lets try to get to the bottom of this

Calipers - what are they off?

Disks - what part number are they?

What way does the dust shield not fit? Is it the mounting bolt holes? or does it foul on something?

Callipers are from a 2008 S3 8P and fit perfectly in every other way. The part numbers match the above part numbers on this thread perfectly.

 

Discs are brembos and I am struggling to find the part number. It’s been so long since I ordered these I can’t remember if I ordered them for an S3 or for a 245, either way the box says Leon 5F which is really unhelpful! I have determined that the disc is the correct thickness, but the offset isn’t correct, the back of the old and new discs line up but it should be the front of the disc faces that line up so the calliper can screw in all the way.

 

Dust shields are from a 245 and they foul, ABS sensor is in the wrong place and the mounting holes don’t line up. 

 

I think I may need to get a different set of discs to make it all work. I have left it for today and will get hold of some different discs to check things again tomorrow.

OK what is springing to mind is the fact that the change in rear track width may mean the 245 is different from everything else.

 

It may be you have 245 disks and what you need are ones for a MK7 R The ones I have here measure (as best I can through the wheel) 30mm from outer disk face to the wheel mounting face. That is a standard ATE disk for a 7R

 

The other 2wd that had those brakes is the MK7 GTi performance pack, the dust shields from that should work. Be useful to compare them to the ones you have. The shields from the earlier MK 6 had this problem, fouled and bolt holes wrong (slightly smaller PCD) 

 

Are you sure the shields were for the 245 and not the 8P?

That’s what I’m thinking, 245 discs are not compatible due to the FL wider rear track. Disc shields were ordered for an MY18 245 from a reg number, I deffo remember that. I can’t for the life of me remember which car I ordered the discs for but I am 99% I ordered 245 discs which could be the issue. I hope to find out tomorrow. Thanks for the measurements, they will be helpful

https://www.vagbremtechnic.com/skoda/octavia-5e-2013-onwards/

 

Ive found thisd website has alot of the necessary parts if your fancying the TTRS calipers.

It was the discs, correct S3 8P discs collected and they are spot on. Anyone with a 245 who wants a pair of new brembo discs pm me  

 

2 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

It was the discs, correct S3 8P discs collected and they are spot on. Anyone with a 245 who wants a pair of new brembo discs pm me  

 

Where did you get them from? Can't you send them back?

 

Glad the problem is sorted. Seems like they altered quite a lot to widen the track on the FL VRS. Sounds like it may have been bolt on parts from a Seat.

 

It will also explain why the 245 dust shields do not fit, the MK7 GTi PP ones from around 2015 should fit.

2 hours ago, flybynite said:

 

Glad the problem is sorted. Seems like they altered quite a lot to widen the track on the FL VRS. Sounds like it may have been bolt on parts from a Seat.

 

It's a total bloody VAG parts bin mess the whole rear brake setup on the 245. 

 

TRW calipers, expanded hubs, different offset discs, if you wanna go NON-OEM its a sodding lotterty, Mk7 GTI PP discs & Mk6 R cabriolet pads whatta Fn ballache

3 hours ago, flybynite said:

Where did you get them from? Can't you send them back?

 

Glad the problem is sorted. Seems like they altered quite a lot to widen the track on the FL VRS. Sounds like it may have been bolt on parts from a Seat.

 

It will also explain why the 245 dust shields do not fit, the MK7 GTi PP ones from around 2015 should fit.

I bought them before Christmas. I’ve had all these parts for ages but never had the time to fit them. The rear of the 245 is very different to my car it seems! I wanted to check the rear discs were the culprit and they are so now I know this I will order GTI CS backplates which according to the parts diagram look the most similar to the rear of my vRS to match them. They are on back order though so god knows when they will arrive!