Hello All,

I got my first car (Fabia Monte Carlo 1.6 TDI 75) last year and have been tinkering with it ever since (black badges, sharkfin antenna, custom exhaust, k&n air filter, mudflaps and remap so far). Since having it remapped I've noticed the brakes have became a limiting factor towards the performance of the car (as you can probably tell with it being my first car it isn't driven too lightly).

I know the 105 variant came with 288's on the front so I am looking to change my front 256's to be 288's or even 310's off an audi s1.

Has anyone ever done this before? Is it just new knuckles and caliper carriers?

Calipers, carriers, shields, discs and pads, AFAIK. That's the list from 288 to 312mm, anyway. You also need to tell the ABS you've upgraded the brake size.

How are the brakes a limiting factor? The only thing larger brakes will do is give you more heat resistance which, tbh, you shouldn't really need in a car with 120bhp or so. With the best wil in the world, if you're driving a 1.6 little Fabia that hard, you're going to end up in a bush. That aside, have you looked at the insurance for modified brakes? There's a reason my 350bhp vRS is now back to the standard 245!

Certainly, 288mm aren't going to do anything some nice pads won't. Are your rears drums?

@OccyVRS Thanks for the info/insight, I’ll try throwing some fancy pads in, which would you recommend as I was recommended trying some yellowstuff pads by my garage but I’ve seen mixed reviews online?

Haven’t even bothered to run a quote through my insurance for modified brakes but I doubt it’d be a sizeable percentage increase on what I’m paying now…(bank account cries in pain).

Yep still on the ugly rear drums.

2 minutes ago, tdimonte said:

@OccyVRS Thanks for the info/insight, I’ll try throwing some fancy pads in, which would you recommend as I was recommended trying some yellowstuff pads by my garage but I’ve seen mixed reviews online?

Haven’t even bothered to run a quote through my insurance for modified brakes but I doubt it’d be a sizeable percentage increase on what I’m paying now…(bank account cries in pain).

Yep still on the ugly rear drums.

Ehhhh... I personally haven't had any experience with EBC, as I decided to go for Ferodo. Anything from Pagid/Mintex/Ferodo is worth a punt IMO. Lots of people love EBC too, mind. Be careful with Brembo stuff - you want OEM Brembo, not the ECP chinese licensed versions. Speaking from experience, they suck.

Also bear in mind that, with anything, you have to give to get. The OE pads might not be the best for stopping performance, but they will produce low dust, low noise and will work from cold. many fast road pads need some heat in them, can be noisy and can produce lots of dust.

I would run the quote. I don't imagine I'm far off your age, and the renewal price for the 350bhp was a 270% increase over stock power. if you're young, many insurance companies will wash their hands of you if you try doing anything beyond a sunstrip or exhaust tip.

The rear drums aren't a problem in themselves, but bear in mind the braking system is designed to be balanced. Drum brakes are excellent, however they are not as powerful as discs. This will have been taken into consideration, so by puttting on some 312mm discs at the front, this may cause problems. I'm not sure about your specific braking system, but from memory the 256mm calipers are pretty tiny. If your master cylinder is optimised to run these (and the tiny amount needed to actuate the drums), you might run into issues with the cylinder.

For example, the master cylinder on my vRS is designed to push out X amount of brake fluid to fill the single piston caliper. If I were to whack on a 6 piston monoblock job, as good as it would look, this would need twice the fluid (or more) than the stock caliper, meaning my master cylinder likely wouldn't cope.

Yes, knuckles would need to be changed. On the 256mm set-up the carriers are part of the casting.

Standard / Factory / OEM Fabia Mk2 vRS Front discs and rears were not good if taking to the track.

Would overheat and disable the XDS.

But then standard or remapped on the road and driving quicker did not necessary mean that you had to use your brakes lots on 60 mph NSL roads.

Or that the brakes were inadequate to proceed quickly and safely 'officer'.

(Spirited driving and not always on the brakes.)

.....................

SEAT Ibiza Cupra 2013 when they got the CTHE Engine had a Front Brake upgrade option.

The Fabia, Polo & A1 Twinchargers never got this.

Edited 30 June, 202530 Jun by Ootohere

Hi.

If you have any issues with insurance at all for modifications then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.