I've not been impressed with the brakes on my Furby since I picked it up a month or two ago. I assumed with discs all round (and bigger discs) it would stop dead.

My Clio 1.5dCi had incredible brakes. They stopped like no other car I had owned before. With the Furby, you seem to literally have to stamp hard on them to get any decent braking force which has sometimes been a bit scarey :eek:

Had the dealer check them over at the last service and they cleaned them, but they told me they could find nothing wrong, but if I was still concerned, book it in for a whole morning and they will give them a thorough checking.

Are Furby brakes always this soft, or is there possibly something wrong?

Try a search, in particular the 312mm brake upgrade and the 'how to' on it.

cant go wrong with 312's!

:iagree:

The how to guide is spot on and the 312's feel much better

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's a bit disappointing when you have to consider uprating the standard brakes when the car is still in it's warranty period.

For the speed of the stock car, I would have assumed (hoped?) that Skoda would have fitted standard brakes that were up to a certain, generally accepted stopping quality.

(A mangled sentence but hopefully you get my drift!)

Indeed we agree, but they stuck the 2.0 8V brakes on it and thats your lot. same as the Polo GT and the Ibiza 130 Sport/FR.

To be fair, your Clio would have weighed nearly 350 kg less than your Fabia (980kg vs. 1315kg), so its braking performance will have been better purely on those grounds - I don't know if you ever drove your Clio 5-up, but if you did you'll have an idea of the difference! Yes, there is a lot of talk on here about the vRS's braking performance, but the stock brakes aren't that bad. They may not feel terribly powerful, but they'll happily stop you when you need them to. Yes, you might have to push harder, but that's not the same as poor brakes...

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's a bit disappointing when you have to consider uprating the standard brakes when the car is still in it's warranty period.

For the speed of the stock car, I would have assumed (hoped?) that Skoda would have fitted standard brakes that were up to a certain, generally accepted stopping quality.

(A mangled sentence but hopefully you get my drift!)

To be honest, the quality of the brakes changes from car to car.... my wife also has a VRS and the brakes on her car are far better than the brakes were on mine before changing to the 312's. Ferodo DS2500 Pads would make a big difference to the standard disc's/calipers!!

S'pose I ought to point out, I've upgraded my brakes recently, but that was as much down to the fact that they needed doing, and a well-known VAG specialist fitted uprated brakes for only a little less than the Skoda garage quoted me for OEM...

To be fair, your Clio would have weighed nearly 350 kg less than your Fabia (980kg vs. 1315kg), so its braking performance will have been better purely on those grounds .......

The Clio had very coarse pads and used to wear the discs at a fair rate so that probably had an impact as well and yes, it was the lightest diesel on the market when I bought it.

You could well be right in that I'm used to not having to push very hard for the same braking result. I used to drive a Ford Granada for a little while some time back and it was difficult not to hurtle towards the windscreen just by dabbing on the brakes!

I don't know if you ever drove your Clio 5-up, but if you did you'll have an idea of the difference!

They were still surprisingly good.

As a newby to the Fabia thing, I've read that the 312mm upgrade is worth doing but would upgrading the standard size brakes with Hi-Spec 4 pot callipers be better or worse do you think? I know it's more money but would it be a better set up?

As a newby to the Fabia thing, I've read that the 312mm upgrade is worth doing but would upgrading the standard size brakes with Hi-Spec 4 pot callipers be better or worse do you think? I know it's more money but would it be a better set up?

Probably but you will also need to change the wheels to fit it in.

For

Some Fabia vRSes do have relatively poor brakes. Mine did, and not even changing the master cylinder & servo under warranty fixed it. The 312 upgrade transformed the braking - more than enough for the car (don't need 4-pots).

I, too, was a bit miffed at the brakes. I didn't really want to have to replace perfectly good brakes, so I've waited 'till the 30k service, and swapped the front with Mintex pads and discs. Certainly feels firmer, with a more positive braking action.

312mm would have been nice, but I'm crap and getting my hands dirty.

20+ laps around Oulton Park for my birthday (with no brake fade!) says the standard brakes are just fine

I find it usually depends on the amount of brake servo assistance i.e. Japanese cars tend to be over assisted - which usually wakes you up when you jump in a Honda, after driving a Skoda, when you come to the first junction!

I find it usually depends on the amount of brake servo assistance i.e. Japanese cars tend to be over assisted

I'd prefer over assisted to under-assisted - I just want to know I can stop !

I find it usually depends on the amount of brake servo assistance i.e. Japanese cars tend to be over assisted - which usually wakes you up when you jump in a Honda, after driving a Skoda, when you come to the first junction!

Try jumping into an old vauxhall after driving a vRS then. Drove my dads N reg cav the other day and felt like i needed a concrete clog to help the thing anchor up!!!! However, it still stopped in good time, you just need to push the pedal a bit harder and slightly further.

Thinking about it though, I'm not sure i like the fact that newer cars seem to be servo'd up to the max so people will think their brakes are better just cos they bite harder to start with.

The large majority of Race and Rally cars don't run servos at all!!! So why do road cars have to rely more and more on power assitance??? All it would take is one small air leak and you've got very weak/non-existant brakes!!! :eek:

If you have never driven a pre 12" wheel Mini with drums all round you have no idea what bad brakes are...

You kids today, your spolit with ya servos, brake assist and ABS! My first car needed it's front drums adjusted every 2 weeks to stop it pulling under braking and almost every time I used them I needed the gears to suppliment the deacceleration.

Doesn't half teach you a thing or two about respecting speed and road conditions though as well as a lot about the more complicted end of car maintainance:thumbup:

If you have never driven a pre 12" wheel Mini with drums all round you have no idea what bad brakes are...

Agreed...My brother must have fitted 3 master cylinders before we got my Mini Club brakes working Ok (Well better than nothing!) Just remember to pump the brakes before you actually want to brake

If you can lock the wheels at speed then the brakes are up to the job. The rest is just personal preference & feel.

If you have never driven a pre 12" wheel Mini with drums all round you have no idea what bad brakes are...

Can't resist telling the tale about SWMBO's Mini (25 years ago) - we were dropping off a mate and he said "you've gone past my house". She replied "I've got no brakes" - fortunately it was a long straight road and we reversed 50 yards to drop him off. Still carried on home .... :eek:

Agreed...My brother must have fitted 3 master cylinders before we got my Mini Club brakes working Ok (Well better than nothing!) Just remember to pump the brakes before you actually want to brake

Ahhh, that will be because there were a few different piston and seal sets and it was pot luck if you got he right one from the motorfactors!

Good times!

If you have never driven a pre 12" wheel Mini with drums all round you have no idea what bad brakes are...

You kids today, your spolit with ya servos, brake assist and ABS! My first car needed it's front drums adjusted every 2 weeks to stop it pulling under braking and almost every time I used them I needed the gears to suppliment the deacceleration.

Doesn't half teach you a thing or two about respecting speed and road conditions though as well as a lot about the more complicted end of car maintainance:thumbup:

My 850cc Deluxe had single circuit single leading drums all around and a dubious master cylinder. Certainly taught me a thing or two.