Ever since I bought this car a year ago, I've been unimpressed with the braking. I find myself pressing the pedal far more than I'd expect - it doesn't give me a ton of confidence.

The seller said they'd recently replaced the front discs - so I guess it was some really cheap stuff that went on due him knowing he was shortly selling the car?

Not sure what sizes I'd need, but its the iV 1.4 petrol hybrid model, with 18" wheels. I guess these all have the same brake sizes.

Can anyone recommend a good combination of discs and pads to swap in?

FWIW, I don't do loads of miles, just a 10mile commute back and forth 3x per week - so performance is more important than durability for me.

Thanks!

Should be 312mm vented front discs, 300mm solid (non-vented) rear discs.

Plenty of places claim to provide the right options while offering all different options so check that.

Have you checked the quick checks? Feel the wheels after a drive (carefully) - extra hot (hence the care) or cold will be a sticking caliper (stuck on or stuck off respectively). Stuck on means it’s on a bit but won’t move more to brake.

Check brake fluid level. Perhaps have them bled too to make sure there’s no air in the system.

Sounds like they might need a bleed. Braking performance on a commute won't be down to pads or discs, unless you're running metal on metal!

Never used this myself but worth a shot as it’s free?

https://www.halfords.com/car-repairs/car-checks/free-brake-check-PRODUCTBRAKECHECK.html

15 hours ago, travs said:

Should be 312mm vented front discs, 300mm solid (non-vented) rear discs.

That should work well for stopping ... something ain't right.

Assuming everything in the system is in order - this means all mentioned above, fluid, bleed, non-sticking calipers, etc ... there is another option you could consider, but you need to make some garage work to check: on my commute-mobile - a modest K12 Micra auto - I also had a feeling of underperforming braking. Mind you, I made over urban 35k km in 5 yrs, so I am familiar with the thing and its behavior, and the pads are little over 25k km, so I thought "maybe I've used them up" ....

Well no, they came out like 40/50% worn, but surface was glazed, crystallized.

I do go with 'proper braking' once in a while, but is little effect in the everyday driving ...

Have a go at check your pads. If they are "shiny", they ain't working effectively ...

BTW, I posted the same question on the facebook owners page, and got a dozen replies from people saying "Yeah, that' just how the iV is". Seems its not my car after all.

So I have an iV as well and the brakes took some getting used to. Because of the battery the car does a lot of regenerative braking, so any soft braking is generally regenerative, it can feel really odd however when it switched to actual braking, it can be a bit jerky or take you by surprise. I've gotten used to it now, soft braking for slow stops, but if I know i need to stop quick firmer breaking and it works as expected.