brake advice please?

  1. L-plater Joined: Jul 2007 Scottish borders Posts: 80 Dubster polo
    #1
    its come to the time to replace my brakes, got standard ones just now, what should i change to? have 16's on my car and 30mm spacers if that makes any difference. all advice welcomed. cheers
  2. Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Aug 2007 Wickford, ESSEX Posts: 3094 citroen saxo 1.1 VW polo 1.4 16v Fiesta 1.25
    #2
    You could get green pads, i can't remember who makes them, but ithink green ones are meant for powerful cars, if not green, use red or yellow pads
  3. Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Nov 2005 Coventry Posts: 17782 Fiesta ST150
    #3
    some 206 GTi 180BHP calipers and disc's with mintex pads
  4. Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Mar 2005 Pompey/Darlo Posts: 31546 MK1 - 1.1 Animal
    #4
    green pads suck

    do what baz says
  5. Saxperience Post Whore Joined: Dec 2005 MaDchester Posts: 8432 Vts
    #5
    depends on budget, get the 206 180 brakes with pads but itll be over £200 or the green stuff pads for under £100
  6. Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Mar 2005 Pompey/Darlo Posts: 31546 MK1 - 1.1 Animal
    #6
    having a laugh arent you?! 200

    calipers and carriers - 80

    pads - 15

    discs - 30

    job done

    green stuff pads are shit for saxos i dont know anyone that reccommends them
  7. Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Dec 2005 e-hollywood Posts: 17160 toyata hilux
    #7
    great advice from matt
  8. East Midlands Joined: Jun 2006 Derby Posts: 8305 Skoda Fabia VRS
    #8
    i've just bought myself a GTi-6 brake conversion cost me £115 all together for Calipers, Discs and OEM pads whichi though was a good price tbh!
  9. Saxperience Addict Joined: Nov 2006 A farm shed in Aylesbury Posts: 14916 Corolla AE86 Peugeot 205 B18C (in bits)
    #9
    For the best braking you can get ultimately its down to the tyres that grip the road. If you have decent sticky rubber then (on a car with a decent standard setup like the saxo) the next problem a braking system must overcome is heat dissipation.

    Changing the calipers allows for bigger disks to be used. These have a higher surface area which gets rid of heat better. But at the expense of adding additional unsprung mass that affects your handling.

    Personally I'd uprate the pads and brake fluid to ones that will cope with higher temperatures.. maybe add air ducts to cool them and keep the disks the standard size. See how that all copes

    There are many that don't agree with this and there certainly are other advantages of 4 pots and above over floating calipers, but out on track i've never been let down by my brakes.

    For example: My first track car was a 205 rallye that when I bought it was fitted with 205 Gti disks. I suffered from awful brake fade. So against common advice I fitted the smallest disks I could (Off the Citroen AX) Ferodo Race pads and Castrol Super Dot 4 fluid and Yoko Medium compound 048R tyres. Out on track once the tyres had warmed up I was braking quicker than similar cars with Brembo 4 pots.
  10. East Midlands Joined: Jun 2006 Derby Posts: 8305 Skoda Fabia VRS
    #10
    I've upgraded my brake fluid to dot 5.1 is this more suitable Gra?
  11. Saxperience Addict Joined: Nov 2006 A farm shed in Aylesbury Posts: 14916 Corolla AE86 Peugeot 205 B18C (in bits)
    #11
    Same stuff really. Dot 5.1 and Dot 4 are both poly glycol esther based fluids..
    Dot 3, 4 and 5.1 are industry standards so you can compare different fluids. Castrol Super dot 4 is made to 5.1 spec just to confuse things I guess lol
  12. East Midlands Joined: Jun 2006 Derby Posts: 8305 Skoda Fabia VRS
    #12
    yeah minimum boiling point is 260C on the Dot 5.1
  13. Saxperience Addict Joined: Nov 2006 A farm shed in Aylesbury Posts: 14916 Corolla AE86 Peugeot 205 B18C (in bits)
    #13
    From memory the Castrols boiling point is about 280.. Someone may have the full spec somewhere.
  14. Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Dec 2005 e-hollywood Posts: 17160 toyata hilux
    #14
    the standard brakes are that shite though
  15. Established Member Joined: Apr 2006 Bridgend, S. Wales Posts: 1092 MkII White VTS
    #15
    i just got berlingo van 266mm calipers and discs, enough for what power i have anyway.
  16. Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: May 2007 Posts: 4857
    #16
    Be a little careful with race brake fluids and pads.

    A lot of race fluids especially the good ones may have very high dry and wet boiling points but they do tend to have a very short shelf life and start to decay very quickly in to a very corrosive sludge. People such as Castrol and many others do long life perforce fluids as well as there full race fluids. The long life fluids may have lower boiling points but are a lot more practical for a fast road/track day car as they can stay in your car for a lot longer and still give very good performance. Also they tend to cost less than full race fluids so you can afford to change it often. Your far better with fresh average fluid than well past it expensive fluid.

    A lot of pads are not actually intended for road cars. So just be aware that if you were to have a accident there is a slight possibility that your insurance would not cover you if you use them. Also some pads do not work very well from cold. So if you only going for the mad short blast or are planning on doing a lot of steady motorway miles these pads will be next to useless for you anyway. Also be aware that some so called perforce pads are actually very poor. So stick with trusted brands that supply big car manufactures. I would recommend Ferodo but also Pagid and Hawk are not bad. I would avoid EBC and at even more so black diamond.

    Also something to note is the smaller the diameter of your tyre the better your brakes will effectively get. So if you start putting big diameter wheels on you will exponentially reducing your brake power.