Discs and pads.

[Hinesy]

Afternoon all.

I've been pushing discs and pads back on my list of things to do up until now.

There not worn to the point of needing immediate attention as i only do about 20 miles a week in the car and would have lasted another year at least doing that mileage.

However my circumstances have changed slightly and I'm shortly going to be starting a daily 70mile commute to work which is mostly B roads with the odd bit of A.

I was going to just order standard size pagid discs and pads for the front and rear and replace like for like and swap the fluid at the same time.

My current fronts are 288mm as I only have the 115bhp engine so I thought while I was at it I'd look into upgrading them as I find them very lacking.

Does anyone have any experience of upgrades they've done? I'm not so good with brakes.

I'm not wanting to go mad and put massive porsche 6 pot brembo's on or anything, just a nice simple effective upgrade.

Ideally I'd like to keep the whole job within £4-500 including swapping the rear discs and pads for standard items.

Thanks in advance. Any advice is massively appreciated.

 

[Charlie Farley]

If your disc's are in good condition, maybe just changing to better pads allround would be a good compramise, a heck of a lot cheaper and unless you really want to go the big brake caliper route, maybe try the pads only option.
If you want to start changing calipers and discs & pads etc allround you'll need more than £500 chap.

 

[Hinesy]

My current discs are well on there way as are the pads. Especially the rears.

With the research I've been doing this afternoon I would have thought £500 would be a reasonable amount for a simple upgrade. I believe the 3.0tdi came with 320mm discs upfront. A quick search on euro car parts shows you can get 2 new 3.0tdi calipers, discs and pads plus my standard rear discs and pads for just under £400. I'm pretty sure I could find the correct carriers for less than £100. Not sure if I'd need any other parts such as hoses, clips etc as well though.

I may just fit a uprated alternative to what I already have. Just weighing up the options.

 

[Charlie Farley]

ah yes probably doable then, i was thinking you wanted to uprate to something brembo or similar, you could allway get a set of spec eds front disc's and better pads etc, they work very well .

 

[Hinesy]

No nothing like that. I don't want to go to mad. It's only 115bhp after all. It is a heavy car though so any increase in disc size is going to be beneficial. Plus they will look better behind the wheels.

After a bit more looking on euro, the part number for the 3.0tdi caliper seems to be the same as the one listed for my 1.9tdi.

I'm hoping they all utilise the same caliper and use a specific carrier to compensate for the increase in disc diameter.

Will make for a nice simple upgrade if this is the case.

 

[dodsie75]

312mm upgrade would be even cheaper. As you use the calipers you have and only need carriers. You could speed more on better discs and pads then, plus the job is a lot easier as you don't need to bleed the system etc.
It's just another option...

 

[Hinesy]

Thanks for the input.

Thats exactly what I'm after, just a simple upgrade.

 

[Gazwould]

312 mm discs and 312 mm carriers and EBC Redstuffings pads .

 

[dodsie75]

I used to own A6 2.8 many moons ago and believe it or not that only had 288mm front discs! So I did the 312mm upgrade and I could definitely tell the difference and that was a big heavy car.
You should pick some carriers up quite easy I would of thought.

 

[dodsie75]

Just realised I said speed instead of spend earlier!

 

[Hinesy]

Thanks guys.

This is exactly the info I wanted. Looks like I'll be going 312mm.

Seen some carriers on eBay. Been refurbished, bit steep at £100 though. I think breakers will be my best bet.

Then some new discs and uprated pads.

 

[Hinesy]

Just realised I said speed instead of spend earlier!

Quick edit, no one will notice.

 

[desertstorm]

If you have the ATE 288mm system I would upgrade to 312mm discs. You keep the existing caliper and change the caliper carrier to space the caliper further out and just fit a new 312mm disc with pads.
I used to have a 1.9 PD130 Passat estate with the 288m brakes that I upgraded to 312mm and it was a good improvement. That used to run over 210 bhp.
You can get the carriers from a breaker or various seller on Flea bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A4-B...347775?hash=item1e955448ff:g:7MUAAOSwPe1T81~z

Mintex discs are pretty good, I used them on my Passat with no issues.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-MINTE...195404?hash=item487c11ef0c:g:1SMAAOSwstxVBuA-

Mintex pads go well with the discs as well
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MDB1826-M...990074?hash=item43da1aacba:g:e7YAAOSwNSxVHH22

Pads and discs together
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mintex-Fr...188563?hash=item565d38c353:g:iA8AAOSw9mFWLyH~

You could goto 320mm brakes off the 3.0 TDI, bit of overkill probably, I am not 100% sure but I think you can get 16 inch wheels over the 320mm brakes, you definitely can on the B8 A4.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A4-B...047756?hash=item58d06eda0c:g:zfwAAOSwp5JWUwcd

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A4-B...513163?hash=item2ee7ec374b:g:kwYAAOSw7FRWUwWk

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-A4-F...786132?hash=item5400ce8054:g:cnYAAOxydB1Sg52C

Karl.

 

[dodsie75]

Yeh scrap yard is the way forward. Quick clean and a spray of bbq stove paint they will look like new. I always spray my new discs too, especially down the vented part. Stops them going rusty where the pads don't touch them.

 

[Hinesy]

If you have the ATE 288mm system I would upgrade to 312mm discs. You keep the existing caliper and change the caliper carrier to space the caliper further out and just fit a new 312mm disc with pads.


Karl.

That's for that Karl, very helpful.

I know my discs are 288mm as a measured them today but how would I identify them as ATE?

My car is a B7 1.9tdi (2007) if that helps.

The carriers in your link are the ones I'd seen. I thought £100 was a bit steep. Is this considered a good price?

Sorry for a all the questions. I'm a complete novice in the brake area upgrade wise.

 

[carlcall]

IIRC £100 for the 312mm carriers is around the norm as I was looking into them when I first got the Avant....only to find out I already had 312mm discs on it.

 

[triggerboo]

I'll be selling mine in the new year once I've got my finger out and fitted the brembos

 

[Hinesy]

I'll be selling mine in the new year once I've got my finger out and fitted the brembos

Give me a shout if you want to sell just the carriers. I'll doubt I'll have got round to sorting some this side of xmas.

Cheers

 

[triggerboo]

will do pal just getting all the stuff together and give the calipers a lick of paint.

 

[JimmyH]

I have a set of 320 MM carriers calipers and hoses of my 2.0tfsi if your interested? PM me