Hi guys, I am brand new to this forum & have just inherited a 2007 Skoda Fabia Comfort estate, its a 1.4 TDi model with 80bhp.

I love the car but have noticed its got drum brakes on the rear.....is it possible to do a rear 'drum to disc' conversion on this car?

I was hoping someone might have a ready-made kit that I could simply buy off the shelf? Any help and/or advice would be much appreciated...Thank you

I really wouldn't bother, it's a lot of aggro for no reason, you'll end up with a worse handbrake and the discs will rot out through lack of use.

SEP- something I've oftEen wondered is - upgrading the front discs to something more in keeping with the power (little as it is ) and a tendancy to fade if  this model is driven Brisky . for a period over a length of roads with a lot of roundabout, might be more appropriate. The only complaint I have with mine over a love period of  13 years is brake fade. Hit them in town, when cool and it's instant stop- on a DC over a period of Brisk driving and it's back off a bit and let them cool.

Fitting harder pad material will mitigate fade and changing your brake fluid also helps, pretty discs are basically RICE mods.

Yeah there is no need to upgrade. Drums have a good handbrake 😉

 

bring out the child in yourself

On 18/06/2020 at 06:28, sepulchrave said:

Fitting harder pad material will mitigate fade and changing your brake fluid also helps, pretty discs are basically RICE mods.

Sep- any advice on upgrade pads ? Point I was making about discs was fitting something like that on Vrs. (with callipers to suite ).

32 minutes ago, VWD said:

Sep- any advice on upgrade pads ? Point I was making about discs was fitting something like that on Vrs. (with callipers to suite ).

 

I always swore by Mintex M1144 pads, they're expensive but they don't fade under hard use, discs should be nodular cast iron, Brembo are my favourites.

Don't bother with fancy pants brake fluids, fresh DOT4 is just dandy and cheap enough to change every year, always buy a new sealed bottle and throw away the old one from last year that you were keeping for topping up.

Another vote for Mintex 1144 pads. Awesome pads

Edited 25 June, 20205 yr by BigJase88

20 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

 

I always swore by Mintex M1144 pads, they're expensive but they don't fade under hard use, discs should be nodular cast iron, Brembo are my favourites.

Don't bother with fancy pants brake fluids, fresh DOT4 is just dandy and cheap enough to change every year, always buy a new sealed bottle and throw away the old one from last year that you were keeping for topping up.

What has happened to brake fluid? 50 years ago we only changed fluid  to bleed. These days it seems that fluid needs to be changed every other week. Personally I never buy as bottle to top up with. IMHO ,from over 50 years, if brakes need topping up, it's either new pads/shoes needed or a leak.

18 minutes ago, VWD said:

What has happened to brake fluid? 50 years ago we only changed fluid  to bleed. These days it seems that fluid needs to be changed every other week. Personally I never buy as bottle to top up with. IMHO ,from over 50 years, if brakes need topping up, it's either new pads/shoes needed or a leak.

 

Nothing has happened to brake fluid, if you want absolute top performance from your brakes because you're an enthusiastic driver then I recommend changing your brake fluid every spring, that way all the moisture naturally absorbed by the fluid during the winter is removed. If you have an Eezibleed and half a litre of brand new fluid it takes no more than half an hour to change the lot.

Sep- sadly I have memories of Minis( first to sport the MINI badge)/ Old Vauxhalls(last of the bedford 4 cyl 2litre /FD range)  and Maxis(1750 model) where no fluid change was needed . Apart from the Minis the rest were discs up front and rear drums. My driving style has not changed. But I've noticed a degradation in fluid and a lot of brake fade ,despite various makes of pads. This thing about fluid changes seems to have come up a a money earner for either garages or fluid makers in the past few years. Even going back 20 years ago to my company Sierra or more recent to my old 2L GL cavalier, we never had this need to change fluid. Brakes just worked and kept on working. Spring/summer/Autumn/Winter - they just worked without lack of performance or change of fluid.

5 minutes ago, VWD said:

Sep- sadly I have memories of Minis( first to sport the MINI badge)/ Old Vauxhalls(last of the bedford 4 cyl 2litre /FD range)  and Maxis(1750 model) where no fluid change was needed . Apart from the Minis the rest were discs up front and rear drums. My driving style has not changed. But I've noticed a degradation in fluid and a lot of brake fade ,despite various makes of pads. This thing about fluid changes seems to have come up a a money earner for either garages or fluid makers in the past few years. Even going back 20 years ago to my company Sierra or more recent to my old 2L GL cavalier, we never had this need to change fluid. Brakes just worked and kept on working. Spring/summer/Autumn/Winter - they just worked without lack of performance or change of fluid.

 

They just didn't work very well, every car you've mentioned had terrible brakes as standard!

You would have loved my Victor FD. A previous owner had changed the servo and master cylinder to that of a Ventura (3.3 L). When the master cyl  failed I changed it and played with the servo pin. I also changed the tyres to larger and wider. Result - it stopped on a sixpence. Maxi1750- tyre change got me that safety factor. Sierra benefited from a change of tyres. Replace ( as Ford had done) the narrow rear tyres with decent tyres and brakes were fine. Same with Cav- add in  decent tyres and things got better. Makers just sell cars with no safety built in. Just cost of new cars. Skoda are no better. My 1.4 TDI  came complete with 70 MPH certified tyres, for a car  capable of a lot more. Bloke at the local tyre place gasped at tyre specs on mine. He could not believe that a maker could send out a car with 70 spec tyres on a model that could well exceed that speed.

Edited 29 June, 20205 yr by VWD

70mph spec tyres, are you dreaming?

 

I dont think that I have seen a vehicle produced in the last 20 years that has had tyres homologated at less than 130 mph speed rating (H) are you really saying that your vehicle was homologated for and fitted with K rated tyres?

It may be a simple matter of incorrect interpretation of the load/speed index which is embossed separately on modern tyres, all this talk of vintage cars may have caused a mis-remembering of that information, most tyre fitters have extremely limited understanding of tyre markings, they just fit them.