efil4sbuD 0 Posted March 7, 2008 Hi My car has failed the MOT for rear brakes again. I'm getting a bit sick of having to mess about with them each time it goes in so i think i'd like to put better calipers on the rear. At the moment i have one original VR and one from a Golf mk2. That's how it was after it failed last time. Can anyone advise me what else will fit that will improve my braking please. I don't want to spend a load of cash but if there's something else that will actually work then i'll take a look. I don't have time to refurb them before the retest so i'm looking to get something on there to pass the test then i'll refurb later when i have time. Cheers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dukest 0 Posted March 7, 2008 mk4 calipers are the standard upgrade for the vr6 rears - about £80 second hand i think + conversion hoses Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dinkus 10 Posted March 8, 2008 They are, but not really a braking upgrade, they just seem to be a bit more resilient to death :lol: Alternatively, you can get rebuild kits for them, so strip them right down, clean them up, replace all the seals and they should be good for a few more years yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
efil4sbuD 0 Posted March 8, 2008 So it looks like i'm stuck with dodgy rear brakes which may require a refurb every year or perhaps every two years if i go for mk4s. Oh well. The MOT tester told me the front brakes were at 300 - 300 what i'm not sure, kg/lb? - and the rear was at 90 and 100 for the handbrake. I was wondering if i can refurb my VR rears to get the figure up somewhat over 90 and have a friend of mine who's a CNC machinist to make a larger handbrake lever (the bit the cable attatches to on the caliper) to apply more force to get the handbrake figure over 100. What do you think? He's currently attempting to make a new part for me from inside the caliper. It's the shaft that the handbrake arm attatches to that goes inside and pushes the piston inwards. This shaft sheared off when i took it apart so hopefully i can soon have my original calipers back on the car. I think i'll give the mk4s a miss if i have to get new hoses for them as well for not much brake gain. I'll let you know how this 'conversion' goes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbeige 0 Posted March 8, 2008 So it looks like i'm stuck with dodgy rear brakes which may require a refurb every year or perhaps every two years if i go for mk4s. Oh well. You shouldn't need to rebuild the mk4 calipers every two years. I had some on mine for over two years, bought second hand and they were fine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
efil4sbuD 0 Posted March 8, 2008 You shouldn't need to rebuild the mk4 calipers every two years. I had some on mine for over two years, bought second hand and they were fine. I know! It was just a joke due to the alarming regularity that i have to fix calipers on my cars. Sorry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites