I will feature my big brake conversion on my MK1 Fabia 1.9. 

 

Step by Step with all parts needed and Help in anyway if you want to do the same.  

 

The conversion includes a full 4 pot Brembo caliper front and rear with Audi S3 handbrake. 

 

312 mm front Brembo rotors

280 mm rear Brembo rotors

 

16" Wheels 

 

The cheapest way to make your fabia brake better on a budget 

 

 

Looks to be a lot of unswept disc area on those front rotors. What are the calipers from?

 

Be interested to see the rear set ups you mentioned.

The brake pad's are fully touching the radius of the rotors.  A bigger caliper means bigger wheels. 

More costs on wheels tire combo and in my opinion not a big difference in performance overall.  

Less unsprung weight and better handling on a budget that will not hurt your wallet to bad. 

 

The brake calipers are genuine Brembo's repainted in black and Logo covered to keep up the sleeper look.  I will be posting a complete List of part's and I can get the for anyone who is interested. 

 

Check out the pic from the Top of the caliper.  Fits perfectly... 

 

I made the braket's myself. 

7 minutes ago, AlexGTFabia said:

The brake pads are fully touching the outer radius of the rotors.

Edit inline, emphasised; makes quite a difference to the sentence IMO.

So again what are the calipers from? And what are the piston sizes within the calipers?

 

I suspect they are a rear caliper from a Boxter etc??

 

The pad contact patch with the face of the disc would concern me tbh, leaving a sizable area untouched by the pads seems a tad counter productive when you're offering supposed increased braking performance.

 

The 323mm disc and 4 pot Brembo caliper from a Leon Cupra R has much better disc coverage

986 Front Caliper's. Not rears

 

Front for Front, Rear for rear's. 

 

Different size pistons.

 

I wanted to keep the 16 inch Monte Carlo Rims. No way you can fit the 323 on these wheels. 

 

Payed 25 for wheels with tires... New! (unbelivable). 

 

 

A good functional solution that will undoubtedly be much more powerful, the only downside I can see is that the unswept area of the disc will rust badly with no way to keep it clean and the MOT tester will probably fail it.

With front brakes like that you won't even NEED back brakes and the ABS will be working overtime to stop them locking every time you touch the pedal.

I think they are coated. 

I was looking for a Set of 2 Piece Rotor's but nothing for an afordable price. 

 

I think i just make my own 2 piece Rotor. 

Front and back... Maybe... 

 

 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

I like plain black but I don't think you need worry about a sleeper appearance as I know nothing about fashion or Porkers but even I thought they looked a bit like those on the Poorchas.  Why hide your work it's obvious they're not standard.  And you've hit on one of the reasons, apart from fashion, why wheels got bigger to fit bigger brakes as cars got bigger, fatter, heavier, quicker, faster, sophist iced braking and driver aids. 

 

I might have misunderstood, I very often do, I think Lofty meant something like the callipers are a bit like budgie-smugglers instead of the comfort fit covering more.

 

The pads and the tyres are more important than the disc groove and it's pattern but you'll certainly have plenty of cooling area depending on how much heat or cooling the pads like best.

 

What wheels and tyres did you get for £25 new, very interesting?

 

ETA: Are the discs coated and Alex are you Canadian or American at all?   

 

Edited 29 September, 20223 yr by nta16
ETA:

Yes these are Brembo's from the 986 platform.  I didn't want to keep the porsche stickers on the caliper's just to look it a little bit more "stock" than modified.  

I found the caliper's for real cheap and the rear set's even cheaper. 

 

The goal is to keep the costs as low as possible and to invest the savings into performance upgrades on the motor and transmission.  

 

Water meth injection,  Intercooler co2 sprayer etc... 

 

Still got lot's of parts from back then. when I was working on race cars.

 

The wheels are from a Monte Carlo Skoda. ( 16" on 195 tires)  Brand new with dealer take of tires.  Cheapest set I have ever bought.  

 

Rotor's are coated for sure. 

Born and raised in the Bay Area

 

This car is the most reliable car I have ever owned.  That's why I will give it a second chance.  

 

People told me to junk it and get rid of it.  I tell them kick rock's. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water methanol injection is a detonation reduction strategy used on turbocharged PETROL engines.

 

You should probably stick to stuff that works on diesels dude, so a remap is all you need.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything

 

No you don't want any Porsche stickers as you'd then have to wear sunglasses (shades / bans?) all the time even when it's dark and grey.

 

Nothing wrong with buying low priced but you want good quality brakes and tyres on a road car as traffic is two-ways on public roads and interesting British roads are quite narrow where the steering wheel, brakes and gears are used.  Track stuff is a different matter.

 

Keeping the principle of getting the the braking and handling sorted before engine is good, so standard tyres won't best suit the car if it's being taken too much above standard not much fun on the road and they'll soon disappear on a track, Dealers are not known for fitting the most appropriate tyres but usually what they about or can get cheap, might still be a good tyre but not necessarily appropriate for what you intend but I'd guess you've still got a bargain for the wheels alone.

 

Love the photo of the Brembo, appropriate for the more humble product perhaps, I remember years ago being told the (lesser) Brembo discs (rotors) were of unreliable quality at that time, never buy on a brand name only.

 

I saw you put up a photo of a grey estate (barely a, station wagon) rather than a saloon (sedan) is this another car?

 

I didn't know what "kick rocks" was but could guess and looking it up it's more polite than the usual British version. 😄

 

Edited 5 October, 20223 yr by nta16
ETA: Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

Love that brembo lump of wood brake 😁

16 hours ago, AlexGTFabia said:

I found the caliper's for real cheap and the rear set's even cheaper.

 

 

Rear brake upgrade is RICE, it's totally unnecessary and will ruin the handbrake.

 

I like the cheapskate ethos but don't fix what ain't broke!

 

The suspension needs sorting front to back first.

 

Somewhere in Kent there's a Monte Carlo sitting on bricks!

Edited 1 October, 20223 yr by sepulchrave

Can't quite see why you're not just using Mk1 Octavia VRS fronts that would grab the disc properly and make use of the extra size? Id be concerned about warping the disc by getting the edge hot but not closer to the hub. 

Here is a photo of the Set up inside of the 16" Monte Carlo Rims. 

 

Had several poeple telling me it will not fit on 16's. But it does! I will use 16mm wheel spacers and this will clear the caliper even better. Absolutly on the limit of fitment but exactly how i want it. 

 

Hater's gone hate. 

More pic's

Those brackets dont look home made, how did you make them?

If the EcoContact 6 is the new tyres they may not remain with you too long.

 

I had a different size of EcoContact 6 tyres and there were nice and comfortable feeling with smooth dry braking but certainly not a sporty type of tyre.  I saw lots of moans as many bought them not realising they start at 6.5mm.  I didn't do enough miles on them to say what the wear rate might be but I think it would be high for the type of tyre - but then it depends on what you're used to and how you drive, I was quite easy on them and still had more used than I expected.

 

6 hours ago, J.R. said:

Those brackets dont look home made, how did you make them?

 

I'm going to guess he got them off eBay or similar. I had a look around when this topic first came up. A number of people selling adapters.

On 29/09/2022 at 16:31, AlexGTFabia said:

I made the braket's myself. 

 

I have access to CNC mill.  I make most parts by myself.  These are drawn on Solid works and I machined them on our CNC.  

 

I can make part's and develop them or redesign them.  

 

I worked with exotic materials like titanium also.  

 

These brakets work with 16" rims and 312mm Rotors. Not so easy to fit. 

 

 

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

If the EcoContact 6 is the new tyres they may not remain with you too long.

 

I had a different size of EcoContact 6 tyres and there were nice and comfortable feeling with smooth dry braking but certainly not a sporty type of tyre.  I saw lots of moans as many bought them not realising they start at 6.5mm.  I didn't do enough miles on them to say what the wear rate might be but I think it would be high for the type of tyre - but then it depends on what you're used to and how you drive, I was quite easy on them and still had more used than I expected.

 

 

I payed 40 to 45 on the tire set up with the rim's. New!   Try to beat that.  Tires are great and I can only say they last very long.  Last set of conti's lasted 5 years. Never took them off even in the winter season.  I only run 195. 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything

 

Can't moan at £25 for new wheels and £45 for tyre, I previously read your post as £25 for new wheel and tyre.

 

Different vehicles, uses and expectations, I had the EcoContact 6 on a very old and much lighter car than the more modern heavy (or over heavy German) cars and gave them quite light use.  I think you might find you find you're down to the rain marks before you expect but different sized tyre on a different vehicle in different circumstances might be different.

 

Do bear in mind tyres have changed in the last 10 years or so and particularly the last few years even if you buy the same make and model of tyre it can be different, as many have found.  In my use the Eco 6 weren't a bad tyre but not particularly sporty and more wear than I expected and I'm not one to expect 30, 40 or 50,000 miles out of tyres, previously I'd give a set of (four) tyres up to a 1,000 miles use to see if they suited and if not change them, sadly those days are long gone.

 

Just noticed XL marking, no idea if that had any influence on price or why they were available.

 

Interesting thread, be interesting to see how it develops.

 

Edited 5 October, 20223 yr by nta16
spelling