Looked at my brakes today, front and rear discs are worn about 1.5mm deep and quite corroded around the vents. Front pads have about 10mm left, rear about 5mm.

Thinking of renewing the pads and discs. OEM only though, havent got the big bucks for the aftermarket type and the girlfriend would kill me.

Always wanted to do the brakes myself on previous cars, but ended up paying the garage to do the jobbie.

Im going to have a go myself this time round, Can get the front and rear pads, front and rear discs

Make sure you have the break winder, a heat gun and a decent club hammer.

Also I heard bad things about the EBC pads.

Personally I would use genuine parts myself or at least brembo/pagids 'OE quality' (not the same part honest guv) versions.

Make sure you have the break winder, a heat gun and a decent club hammer.

Also I heard bad things about the EBC pads.

Personally I would use genuine parts myself or at least brembo/pagids 'OE quality' (not the same part honest guv) versions.

You might be right about EBC pads looking at threads, got a quote from skoda on the parts needed aswell, a bit more expensive but the safer option , me thinks now.

What do i need a HEAT GUN for ????????????????????

Big G clamp to gently wind back the front piston. Piston wind back tool to wind back the rears.

If you buy a haynes manual ignore the "haynes handy hint" about the rear pistons being wound back with circlip pliers - you cant do it that way - use a propper tool (£18 ish)

Haynes manual also says you have to remove interior trim to slacken the handbrake for doing the rears. You dont have to do this as the cables can be released from the rear with the help of a screwdriver as a lever.

When doing the fronts, stick the car on axle stands and take both wheels off at once. Do one side at a time, looking back at the un-touched side for reference when refitting. The spring that goes on the outside for the front caliper fits more easily the wrong way round than it does the correct way round.

EDIT: There was a thread here recently about changing the rears

Heat gun, for when the feckers have rusted on and won't budge not matter what you do. It will make the disk expand and so hopefully start to crack the rust so that you can get them off.

If you don't have one another source of heat would probably do.

Try GSF and get their brembo disks and the pagid/texar pads.

IIRC the VW discs and pads are made by, oh what a coincidence, brembo and pagid

EDIT: Oh and get a syringe to remove a little bit of brake fluid as you wind the caliper pistons back.

EDIT: Oh and get a syringe to remove a little bit of brake fluid as you wind the caliper pistons back.

Only required if the fluid has been topped up since the pads were last replaced

Only required if the fluid has been topped up since the pads were last replaced

Had a brake fluid change at last service, so best to be safe.

Oh and get some latex glovesd or you will never get the dust out from under your nails

Oh and get some latex glovesd or you will never get the dust out from under your nails

Got 50 pairs from poundland a while back. Would have forgot if you hadn't mention that though.

Oh and get some latex glovesd or you will never get the dust out from under your nails

Big girls' blouse!

GSF will be the best bet for discs and pads IMO, good value for decent parts - from experience I'd stay well away from EBC pads.

loosen the resevior cap when winding back the caliper,this makes it a whole lot easier.be prepared for the locating screw to need to be drilled out unless you have an impact driver(another 20 quid).get some copper grease on the backl of the disc so its not so hard to get them off next time.a bit on the back of the pad helps stop squealing,and if you replace the locating screw,a bit in the thread will help next time.

GSF will be the best bet for discs and pads IMO, good value for decent parts - from experience I'd stay well away from EBC pads.

being GSF Car Parts, cheap car parts direct to you ???????

being GSF Car Parts, cheap car parts direct to you ???????

yep

Big girls' blouse!

Yep, after it took me three weeks to get the stuff out after doing it all on my old citroen, your damn right i am.

I bite my nails and brake dust etc doesn't taste too nice :(

Hmm now there is a plan, might stop me biting them, whihc wuold be nice

EDIT: - The screws came out ok for me, however if you get the correct brembo discs from GSF they come with new screws in so you can use new screws when putting it all in.

Other thing would be some anti-squal or other suitable grease or some of the cera-tec etc lube made by mintex/pagid/taxar (all owned by TMD Friction)

Check -- the part no verification post --as i put part no for Lucas trw pads which are vw factory pads for Vrs (there also now Kevlar compound so less dust).

Ebc Are good pads for theyre latest Spec in RED ceramic, theyre older stuff was green and wasn't that great but the new red work from cold all the way up

yes, "redstuff" EBC pads are a lot better - the "greenstuff" are horrid, and unless you drive like Miss Daisy they will sooner or later cause you problems from overheating the material and damaging the discs.

Only if the discs are ebc as i have sold many that have warped for some reason so changed to National discs or black diamond for track cars with no problems ever, so for road use there should'nt be a problem

although the generic term "warped disc" is often used, the mechanism that causes the juddering is more often than not, material transfer from the pad to the disc surface due to local overheating. This creates high spots on the disc of very hard material, making the effective disc thickness vary as it rotates, hence causing the juddering when the brakes are applied. From the experience I've had with various discs and vehicle applications (mainly Ford), the greenstuff pads were more prone than most to this across a variety of conditions. Redstuff though are much better , mainly due to their higher operating temperature range tolerance I suspect.

although the generic term "warped disc" is often used, the mechanism that causes the juddering is more often than not, material transfer from the pad to the disc surface due to local overheating. This creates high spots on the disc of very hard material, making the effective disc thickness vary as it rotates, hence causing the juddering when the brakes are applied. From the experience I've had with various discs and vehicle applications (mainly Ford), the greenstuff pads were more prone than most to this across a variety of conditions. Redstuff though are much better , mainly due to their higher operating temperature range tolerance I suspect.

Used the get this often on the Octavia when I worked on an airfield - the frequent hard stops from 140mph were the most likely cause A quick wire-brush on the pads seemed to reduce it when it got really bad

Nearly got all of the bits together for my brake change.

WINDING PISTON TOOL

FRONT PADS WITH SENSOR

REAR PADS

FRONT DISCS

REAR DISKS

NEW REAR GUIDE PIN BOLTS ?

NEW DISC LOCATING SCREWS ?

BRAKE CLEANER

COPPER GREASE

TORQUE WRENCH

15mm WRENCH

HAYNES MANUAL

13mm WRENCH

7mm ALLEN KEY

17mm RACHET

G-CLAMP

SYRINGE

SOFT MALLET

TROLLEY JACK AND SUPPORTS

BLUE ROLL

STRING

DISPOSABLE MASK

LATEX GLOVES

Can anyone think of anything else im going to need or not need?

Oh! and is it best to open the bleed screws when winding back the piston or can you get away without doing this ?

Matt.