Best aftermarket brake discs?

[jackflash 0]

As the proud new owner of a VR6 (as of yesterday!) I now realise what all the hype's about! By far the best handling car I've ever driven. Only thing letting it down is the brake discs are knackered all round. I was wondering what people had found the best aftermarket discs to be, or whether I should just stick to VW's own?

[jonnyboyo 0]

I got brand new standard sized front & rear, drilled & grooved discs from ebay for £100 + £10.50 postage. I got OMP fast road pads front & rear also from ebay. £20.99 & 21.99 respectively. Was a tad dubious at first regards using unbranded discs, but i need not have worried as they've been on my car for 8 months now and are still going great guns!

 

The discs were from sportbrakediscs, username mtec100. Try punching this item number in ebay.....290106415927

It will bring up front & rear drilled & grooved for a VR for £104.99 + £10.50 postage.

 

Hope this helps!

[herisites 0]

Apparently new standard discs with Pagid Fast Road pads is a good option.

 

I am also looking at aftermarket discs as im charging mine soon and cant go any bigger under my wheels so i need some good 280mm discs and pads. I was looking at Black Diamond discs and pads or with pagid pads, anyone have any experience with these at all??

[NickRStorm 0]

Black Diamond disks are excellent IME - have been using them on all my VW's for 10 years now. Don't rate their pads too much, much prefer Pagid Fast Road or EBC Green Stuff.

[herisites 0]

Nice one mate, might give them a try but think i will go for pagid pads!

[dinkus 10]

I've got VAG steel and Pagid FR pads. They work, but they're mighty dusty.

 

I've heard good things about the Black Diamond disks and altough the old Green Stuff pads were rather ropey, they're supposed to be pretty decent now. I'm hoping the disks have a fair amount of life left in them yet, so don't plan on replacing them any time soon, but will most likely be going for the EBC Green Stuff pads next time around.

 

Whatever you do, don't get cheap pattern disks, particularly cross-drilled ones - they're shite and will wear out quickly. The cross-drilled ones also have the added excitement that they'll probably crack if you use them too hard.

[herisites 0]

Yeah i have heard that the old Green Stuffs were a bit ropey and had heard good things of the new ones! So its between the new greenstuff pads or the pagid ones. Do you reckon it matters which pattern i go for with the black diamonds ie just drilled or just grooved or both? I was going to get drilled AND grooved but if it only needs one or t'other then will save a tad bit of money lol.

[A-J 0]

I went for Greenstuff pads on my 16v as Pagid no longer make the fast road pads. Just done my first 100 miles with them and they are excellent.

[vwdeviant 0]

Rob,

 

I'd go for Vented, Grooved discs on teh fronts and plain steels on teh back with the Pagids...

 

Had a set of Pagid FR pads and ?EBC? Star-grove discs on the front of the Rocco with fast road shoes in the rear drums!... and that could out brake a number of hot-hatches and some porkers into roundabouts...

 

You don't really need cross drilled unless you're going at mach-2 everywhere, the grooves do a good job of keeping the pads fresh and letting any hot gasses out... You may also want to look at upping the spec of your brake fluid as they do generate more heat, on and braided hoses too...

[herisites 0]

Cheers for that Jon, was thinkin i should get braided hoses as well so will most probably get some Goodridge hoses. As for fluid, is it DOT 5.1 i need?

 

Would want the best pads with less dust so im thinking i may sway more towards the greenstuff pads as these aren't too bad on dust are they? Cant have my blinging rims getting too dirty now can i :lol:

[herisites 0]

Whoops double post!

[Goldie 2]

Im running EBC slotted and dotted discs and green stuff pads on mine and they are fine..

 

Ive been advised to stay away from drilled through discs as they are the ones that more vulnerable to cracking, drilled ones from Porsche etc ar casted with the holes in so there are no weak spots..

 

Only prob i ever had with the EBCs was when i was running 280s and one of the discs warped but the company sent me a replacement set and arranged courier service to collect the original ones, cant argue with that...

[dinkus 10]

Had heard that Pagid don't make the FRs any more - not sure if that's true and/or what sizes it's for tho.

 

EBC pads are supposed to produce much less dust than the FRs, so should be ok with your bling there.

 

Personally, I'd go for plain disks - Grooves are just there to let the gases escape from the pad surface, but unless you're braking very hard a lot then you won't get any benefit from them (other than looking cool). They'll also make the pedal judder a bit under load too.

 

Disks are drilled to help the disk cool, but unless you're getting the disks stupidly hot anyway, you'll notice no difference. Similarly, they weaken the disk and are likely to crack and they soon fill up with brake dust anyway.

 

Also - think about how much contact area between pad and disk you've just lost from the holes and grooves...

 

So yes, go for grooves if you must, but don't bother with drilled holes unless you want the bling factor.

 

And as I'm on a brakes rant - the reason you warp brake disks is not because you use them hard, it's because you use them hard then sit in traffic with the brakes on straight afterwards. The disk that's under the pad won't cool as quickly as the rest of the disk and it'll distort. That's why if you go on a track day you're recommended to stop the car and leave the brakes off when you're done.

[herisites 0]

And as I'm on a brakes rant - the reason you warp brake disks is not because you use them hard, it's because you use them hard then sit in traffic with the brakes on straight afterwards. The disk that's under the pad won't cool as quickly as the rest of the disk and it'll distort. That's why if you go on a track day you're recommended to stop the car and leave the brakes off when you're done.

 

Thats a good thing to know! Cheers for the help, think i will go with grooved as i want a bit of looks under the wheels, especially with the dark finish of the black diamond discs 8)

[dinkus 10]

Thats a good thing to know! Cheers for the help, think i will go with grooved as i want a bit of looks under the wheels, especially with the dark finish of the black diamond discs 8)

 

No worries. Bear in mind the black wears off after a few hundred miles tho ;)

[herisites 0]

Thats a good thing to know! Cheers for the help, think i will go with grooved as i want a bit of looks under the wheels, especially with the dark finish of the black diamond discs 8)

 

No worries. Bear in mind the black wears off after a few hundred miles tho ;)

 

Well that sucks :( oh well, still good brakes so thats what matters at the end of the day! More money to spend :roll: :lol:

[vwdeviant 0]

Personally, I'd go for plain disks - Grooves are just there to let the gases escape from the pad surface, but unless you're braking very hard a lot then you won't get any benefit from them (other than looking cool). They'll also make the pedal judder a bit under load too.

 

They also do a good job of shedding water/ moisture in the inital contact in the wet, they also help stop pads from Glazing unlike plain discs... This is why the Likes or Porsche Ferrari etc use them... Ok maybe a lttle extreme for "Average" road conditions but I saw a noticable difference on my 'Rocco (No ABS, smaller servo etc).. Also it had less tendancy to lock the fronts up for some reason...

 

I'd recommend a pad/Groved disc swap to any-one running Mk1/2 setups (non ABS) However Not done on Rado yet so this is all based on my experience with even older technology... But I guess the principles still apply...

 

Dinks you're right about cross drilled.. all show and no go.. have seen a cheap one "Let Go" on a track day... not pretty, causes a bunch of damage, and apparently really scary....

[NickRStorm 0]

I've got grooved & drilled Black Diamonds on the front of my Storm and have had them before on a MKII GTI & MKIII VR6 - never had a problem with any of them. Saw over 80K miles on the MKIII & there was still a bit of life left in them. I find the grooves give you a nice bit of feedback through the pedal (particularly in the wet), but on a "grooves only" set I found the whirring under braking more noticable than with the grooved & drilled ones on the GTI.

 

Interestingly, my Porsche 911 has drilled disks all round & no grooves - can't complain about the brakes :D The amount of brake dust is unbelievable though - 100 miles of B-road fun & the wheels are covered in it :(

[jackflash 0]

Hmm yeah I was thinking about pagid pads, heard good things. Black Diamond discs likewise, though I'm tempted by Brembo Max discs purely because they're only grooved (rather than being drilled) and GSF are doing them at £90 pair inc delivery for a VR6 which doesn't seem bad at all. Anybody had any experience of them?

[herisites 0]

I've got grooved & drilled Black Diamonds on the front of my Storm and have had them before on a MKII GTI & MKIII VR6 - never had a problem with any of them. Saw over 80K miles on the MKIII & there was still a bit of life left in them. I find the grooves give you a nice bit of feedback through the pedal (particularly in the wet), but on a "grooves only" set I found the whirring under braking more noticable than with the grooved & drilled ones on the GTI.

 

Interestingly, my Porsche 911 has drilled disks all round & no grooves - can't complain about the brakes :D The amount of brake dust is unbelievable though - 100 miles of B-road fun & the wheels are covered in it :(

 

I was once interested in the Brembos but i got told not to let the name get to me as they are fairly basic apparently.

[jackflash 0]

Yeah got to admit even their own description of them is a bit lacklustre, definitely Brembo's budget option. But then again I have seen them advertised elsewhere for £169.99 for a pair of front discs!

[Toad 0]

Also worth noting that grooved or drilled disks will consume brake pads slightly quicker, neither do it for me, as I know I'm not going to be using my brakes to the maximum of their abilities on British roads, anyone who tells you that they do, is probably a liar and a to$$er.

 

Personnally I would stick with normal disks, and have used the Brembos supplied by GSF in both 256 and now 280mm size and am quite pleased with them. I liked my old Pagid fast roads, but my current ebc greenstuff pads are pretty good too.

 

I can't see how one brake disk can be better than another... They are both steel at the end of the day so the coeffiecient of friction isn't going to vary a lot, the only difference in disks being the rate at which they wear (related to the hardness) The main difference in my eyes would be the pad material.

[jackflash 0]

Ah well ended up going the whole hog and buying Black Diamond grooved disks front and rear with EBC Greenstuff pads all round. About £300 all in but if I hadn't got them on the rears I knew I'd find myself wondering whether it made a difference the whole time. Will be expecting some pretty good stopping power now though!

[dinkus 10]

Sounds pretty nice!

 

Just be aware - brakes need running in and will be downright scary the first time you take the car out so leave a lot of braking room! They will get better and better as they bed in tho 8)

[KADVR6 0]

i have got some brembo "max"?? from GSF, mated to pagid fr's. all i can say is superb. no brake fade at all, and they are lasting well :D the worst brakes i ever had were the zimmerman brake discs, i had 3 sets off them in just over 8 months on my last vr, i kid ya not i had chunks falling out of them, i will try and find a pic of one of them.