Brake and Pad upgrades - a little help please

[rodney 17]

I wonder if I could ask for a little help please.

I admit before I start I am new and may have missed something. I am going to have to do some work on the discs and pads. Just so you guys know. The rear pads are low and discs needs doing. I have good pads on the front but as i get to the almost stop speeds I am starting to notice a faint warp starting. So lets be done and relace 'em all in one weekend (li) Now heres where the questions start.

I have read the other threads and various disc and pad combos have basically made my head hurt. :^) I would like to improve the breaking ability of the car to bring it more in line with todays standards and as is the way.... who's got the extra money around to put full race spec on the car..???? (especially as I have some other bits too add in the near future)

So my question is two fold. What is the best/cost effective solution to improve that all important stopping action? and secondly. Where can I get it all for a fiver??? :-p

Thanks

Rod

[Earwig 89]

About the best I have used are EBC.

I have Drilled-Grooved discs. And I have Green Stuff Pads (Also EBC)

This is a very good combo and I get no fade atall and braking efficiency is very good.

Also I get very little brake dust from them which helps :-)

You can also buy Red Stuff pads which were recommended to me as the VR is heavy at the front. I turned them down as they need alot of heat in them to work well and for road use I thought that not wise.

Pads are about £35 and discs about £140 per pair.

Not cheap but very good. You can get cheap discs and pads from GSF but you will not get the stopping power....

[mk3anni 0]

Or, you could go for a 312mm upgrade.

Assuming you have the 288mm setup at the moment, you just need bigger disks, bigger caliper carriers and a 5mm spacer for each side.

Well worth it.

Pads wise I've had EBC, but I now run Pagid all round and not had a problem with fade at all, and i'm VERY hard on my brakes.

[rodney 17]

I like the sound of these EBC ones. Can you suggest a good purchase point for them? Also Is a straight swap for fitting or do I have to modify???

[ingham 5]

"I am starting to notice a faint warp starting."

be sure that your hubs are not warped before you fit new disks.

[Slim 0]

Brake pads are like tyres, everyone has their own brand they swear by. Personally, I'd rather have brake pads made out of mouldy cheese than put EBC Greenstuff pads anywhere near my car, I don't fancy being killed when they decide to disintegrate again.

[ihpj 0]

To be fair, I ran EBC GreenStuff pads and EBC TurboGroove discs on my PUG 205 GTi - great stopping power. I wouldn't however put that setup on my BMW 330i - for which I think they're not best suited. Maybe OE discs with RedStuff pads, but I guess the moral of the story is it depends on your driving style and brake use.

[rodney 17]

OK so hadn't checked on for a while, and Pads failing caught my eye! :S

So Slim Is that 'cos u had a bad set or use 'em a lot. I've had pads pop out b4 but not fail?????

IHPJ why are they not suitable for certain cars?

I have never been a big user of brakes other than when I really have too! so I mainly looking to improve efficiency of stopping when I do - If ya see what I mean. :-p Also don't do big miles daily as car is a weekend thing to help with the tax man and the company car set up (also good excuse to own one :-d )so want it to work when She and Mini me are in it.

So now we get back to why my head hurt at the beginning 8-| I am looking to bring up to modern standards so why not fit improved discs and OEM pads --- for example *-) and if that's plain dumb then what is a safe bet and will give improvements.

Even with the comments you guys have raised the EBC still sound an OK option

Thanks Ingham for the heads up on the hubs. I'll do a quick search on that later.

Look forwarsd to your comments

[Slim 0]

I had Green Stuff on my Mk2 Valver, one day the front braking felt a bit off, so I whipped off the front wheels to investigate, pulled back the passenger side caliper and the pads fell out in pieces, and the other side wasn't much better.

I'd stick to something tried and tested like Mintex or Pagid. I've got Black Diamonds at the moment, they're ok, but nothing spectacular.

[J5KE F 0]

I had ebc grooved and drilled on my Calibra, with no probs I may add @ 150bhp, however since upgrading my Vr to the same setup, they seemed to act completely differently and not offer anywhere near the stopping capabilities of before and certainally not after a lap or two around the Nurburg Ring (where they died a horrible death and under any braking cause major juddering throughout the whole car), personally i feel the disks would be ok for near standard vr, but anthing over that would cause probs. I have since ordered GSF standard 288 disks at front and standard rears, with new greenstuff pads and am hoping this will be fine.

Concluding that the pads in my opinion are great for over 300bhp but the disks can, and have turned to jelly

[rodney 17]

OK so EBC sounding a quite a bit more shaky here now. 2 failures not good and especially as Mrs & the mini me will be in the car. kinda defeats the object of wanting to stop faster when i need to really :S

Slim, you mentioned mintex etc. R u talkin pads or discs or both ?? Not come across black diamond personally who /what they???

Also not come across GSF (unless u mean - German Swedish French?)

Ok so I'm gonna stay with standard 288mm and calipers as I wont have time for a complete rework spacers etc. and not ebc!

So what do we think for xdrilled optiond then?

pads I will go with a brand I know and trust (Mintex for example and that way should be asy to fit also)

Comments please gents/ladies which discs????