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Brakes - why so bad ?


James Saunders
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Hiya

Had our GTi now for over 3years and the brakes have always felt a bit wooly compared to my company car (nissan primera blush.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blush:" border="0" alt="blush.gif" /> ). Got the car when it had done 20k miles and now done 50 odd thousand. About a year after we got it I brought some new pads but they made no difference to the braking. I dont drive it much and the wife doesnt complain but when I drive it they really do seem rubbish. Have to push the pedal really far before anything happens - my company car brakes as soon as you move the pedal a cm and so does any other car ive driven recently.

I just brought some s/hand EBC grooved discs and greenstuff pads off this site. They are 280mm and came with new caliper carriers. Apparently only a few months old - they look ok and the discs have the faintest lip on them so should be ok I'd have thought.

Fitted them this morning with the help of a friend. Expected a big difference but really they dont feel any better atall... Im really confused and this is doing my head in now !

With the new brakes, when braking from 80ish to a stop - not emergency stop but fairly hard - there is a loud humming noise that gets louder until you come to a stop. This noise is the noise i'd associate with brake fade but they dont feel like they are fading as you still stop.

Can anyone shed any light on what could be wrong or what I can try please ? Just doesnt seem right that the peddle moves so far before the brakes work and why the replacement EBC discs and pads have made little or no difference.

Thanks

James

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Hi Mate

Its had fluid changes (well been charged for it) the 3 times we've had it serviced since we've had it and the brakes have always been sh'te smile.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I didnt know grooved discs made that sort of noise.. Its quite loud inside the car !!

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Grooved discs always humm............make sure that you have them on the correct side of the car as they are directional usually.

I did the 280mm conversion and noticed a vast improvement over my standard setup.........the pads you have may require some more heat to perform better

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There Lupo GTi pads you need, but. Ive done 300 miles on my new 280mm discs and pads. There noisy, which I hoped was them bedding in. EBC have a 500 or 600 mile warranty against rotor noise. I did try an old set of VW pads with the EBC discs and it stopped the noise, however the car didn't want to stop! The EBC disks like ceramic / kevlar pads.

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There Lupo GTi pads you need, but. Ive done 300 miles on my new 280mm discs and pads. There noisy, which I hoped was them bedding in. EBC have a 500 or 600 mile warranty against rotor noise. I did try an old set of VW pads with the EBC discs and it stopped the noise, however the car didn't want to stop! The EBC disks like ceramic / kevlar pads.

I dont think i'll try some original pads then !!!!! Will see how the ebc's go. Only done about 100 miles, was just concerned with the loud humming noise that got louder the more you braked from say 70ish down to stop for a roundabout. Just thought that since they are a few months old they'd already have been bedded in etc..

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Hi James - sorry I didn't get back to you - been a bit tied up with baby stuff!

Everything that's been said on here is correct. I did put the discs in the boxes marked correctly for each side. Yes they do need a wee bit of heat in them - and yes they hum - I take it you haven't had grooved discs before bud? They are way better than standard set up - was the main reason I got them - because the standard set up scared the living daylights out of me!!

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Hi Loopy,

No mate, never brought any grooved brakes for any car !! I usually spend any cash on motorbikes !

Its the wifes car and its always totally standard, apart from the brakes now !!

I didnt actually notice the markings on the box but I think it turns out they are on the correct way round smile.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

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i have brembo disks on the front of mine they seem really quiet under massive amounts of breaking personally id recomend these 30%20New%20Brembo%20Max%20280mm%20Painted%20caliper.jpg border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" alt="IPB Image" /> (not my arosa but a good pic of the disks i have)

just a though but have you got the little screws in the disks?

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i have brembo disks on the front of mine they seem really quiet under massive amounts of breaking personally id recomend these 30%20New%20Brembo%20Max%20280mm%20Painted%20caliper.jpg border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" alt="IPB Image" /> (not my arosa but a good pic of the disks i have)

just a though but have you got the little screws in the disks?

Hi mate, yes those little screws went back in smile.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

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little screws do fekall but to stop the disk from dropping on your toe when putting the wheel back on , har har (but the caliper wont let it fall out, i hear you scream !)

i dont think its the brakes/pads specially if you have changed them already. what kind of pedal travel do you have ? does it feel really long or short ?

or maybe you expecting too much from the car ?

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Hi Blackrat...

Pedal travel is maybe an inch or two or more before anything sharp starts to happen.... Personally I would expect more from the GTi just because the company cars ive had in the last 3 years (bog std saloons) have had far better brakes than what is quite a quick hot hatch... I have since been told that vw / audi have brakes like that were the pedal travels a bit before much happens, unlike nissan/renault where as soon as you move the pedal 1cm the brakes work well...

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i have rotor disc and pagid pads on my car.i bled the brake's when i put them on and i can get my back wheels off the deck under hard brakin with a inch of pedal travel. a pic of my disc's

Picture.jpg border="0" class="linked-image" /> border="0" alt="IPB Image" />

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