288 v 312

[coullstar 0]

I was going to finally fit my 288 front brakes however I got to thinking about the 312's. Is there much of a difference between the two in performance?

 

Obviously keeping the 288's mean I can run the Speedlines as well which is a bonus therefore if there is not much difference then I'll stick to the 288's.

[Purple Tom 0]

I don't have 312's, but I can imagine the difference is pretty noticeable. I run 288's and the difference between those and 280's was pretty large, and thats only an 8mm increase on overall disc diameter, coupled with a large increased in pad swept area. If you couple that with an 24mm increase in disc diameter I reckon you're going to notice a massive difference between 288's and 312's.

 

Hopefully someone with actual experience will be able to tell you for definite though :)

 

Tom

[Leonard 0]

Bet the sprung weight isnt great though :?

[8vMatt 1]

I don't have 312's, but I can imagine the difference is pretty noticeable. I run 288's and the difference between those and 280's was pretty large, and thats only an 8mm increase on overall disc diameter, coupled with a large increased in pad swept area. If you couple that with an 24mm increase in disc diameter I reckon you're going to notice a massive difference between 288's and 312's.

 

Hopefully someone with actual experience will be able to tell you for definite though :)

 

Tom

 

I've not got either of these discs......but have been doing some reading up on it. The 288's and 312's both use the same caliper, so stopping won't be noticably different. The benefit of 312's will be a greater surface area to dissipate heater quicker.

 

Ditch both and get dirty great big Brembo 4 pots :nuts: :nuts:

[dukest 0]

no, the reason that people use them is that a larger disc puts the pad further away from the centre of rotation and means less work for it to do to generate the same stopping power. heat dissipation will be a small positive side effect.

 

its going to be more useful for someone who's tried both to comment though, rather than all of us speculate on something we havent tried :salute:

[8vMatt 1]

Didn't think of that part of things, cheers for the info. I'm learning every day :D

[dukest 0]

no problem, i also agree with just going for some proper 4pots too btw :wink:

[Anton Sobriquet 0]

My 288s with standard VAG pads, which came on the car, were absolutely brilliant. Felt very confident on them.

 

I changed last year to 4 Motion calipers & DS2500s with 312s and was hugely disappointed. They were no better and a damn sight heavier!! :(

 

Next stop (pun) AP 330s.

[coullstar 0]

My 288s with standard VAG pads, which came on the car, were absolutely brilliant. Felt very confident on them.

 

I changed last year to 4 Motion calipers & DS2500s with 312s and was hugely disappointed. They were no better and a damn sight heavier!! :(

 

Next stop (pun) AP 330s.

 

Exactly what Ive been told before now that I remember. My old Passat ran 288's and the 4mo has 312's and come to think of it the Passat was as ggod if not better. I'll through the 288's on and get some good pads I think. If I were going for brakes whcih meant not fitting the standard wheels then I would be going for the LCR 4 pots as youve mentioned.

[Vince@Stealth 0]

I've driven both setups quite regularly (on different days though) and thought it is hard to tell the difference too.

Maybe track conditions would see the 288's fade sooner? It's hard to say...

Good quality pads and good brake fluid can make all the difference...

Four pots are great but can give a long pedal that does not inspire confidence even though the braking effort is very good.

[Jim 2]

Seemingly in agreement with comments in here, I've almost always heard from folks that have done these upgrades that the 280mm -> 288mm is a far more significant feeling upgrade than 288mm -> 312mm. I think the 288mm upgrade is deceptive as you only sound like you're gaining 8mm on the discs, but apparently the pads have MUCH more coverage of the disc than the 280's.

[coullstar 0]

Yeah the 288's are fine as the last time I tracked a car it was a Mk3 VR with these and they were fine. My Corrado brakes are shocking at the moment though. 288's it is then maybe some track tyres for the Speedlines 8)

[Purple Tom 0]

Well I fully retract everything that I said, I was convinced the difference would be very noticeable but obviously not.

 

I'm pleased though, I was going to upgrade to 312's from 288's this summer, which would have meant sacrificing my Speedlines and running some other 16" rim as a winter wheel. Now I'm going to keep the 288's, run my RC's as a summer wheel and the Speedlines as winters with some decent winter tyres on :)

 

Saved me some money too!

 

Tom

[mic_VR 3]

I love my 288's, miles better than the original 280's even though my 288's are standard discs and the 280's were grooved/drilled etc.

 

They survived 4 laps round the ring and a session at Snetterton where I managed to hustle a Impreza WRX out of my way and they are still all good, but as Vince has said, and I've said to anyone who's asked me, when you make the change make sure you do a full brake fluid flush and bleed (proper pressure bleed ideally) as that will make as much difference as discs and pads.

[mikkijayne 0]

I believe 312 is the largest VAG disk that will fit straight on, but is anyone aware of anything larger that we can use? I've looked at Audis but the hub centres are different. Is there anything outside VAG with the same hub size?

[swiftkid 1]

323mm i think from a seat leon cupra r off the top of my head.

 

glad to hear people speaking about the 288's, i've been considering uprating for a while. its that decision between 288's and wilwoods/brembo or similar with the additional cost of adapters etc that are worrying.

[coullstar 0]

Also the factor of wheel size limitation comes into it i.e. Brembo's are 17in min.

[mikkijayne 0]

323mm i think from a seat leon cupra r off the top of my head.

 

Nice one thanks! I hadn't spotted those :) One internet for you sir!

[swiftkid 1]

Also the factor of wheel size limitation comes into it i.e. Brembo's are 17in min.

 

thats my thinking as well but i had wondered if you can use the 305mm brembo's from an ibiza (not sure which one) and find some 5x100 discs to fit. Im pretty sure bally is running brembo's under his 16s but he has 4stud

[mikkijayne 0]

Well I was lookingin Etka for the 323s (which seem to be SEAT only), and ran across some disks that are even bigger!

 

Apparently the TT 3.2V6 has 334x28mm disks, with a 5x100 pattern :shock: Unfortunately they are £300 each :gag: So I guess I'll be using the SEAT ones after all...

[OllieVR6 0]

I'm glad this thread popped up, I too have been wondering about this. I'm surprised that the 280 > 288 is so much more noticeable than the 288 > 312! So am I right to think that you can buy 288mm discs, chuck them on and fit pads (from what car) without any other modification?

[dukest 0]

no, you have to have 288 calipers and carriers. the 312s have different carriers again but use the same caliper and pad as the 288 so same pad area etc, its just further away from the rotation point so better "leverage" as I mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

consensus seems to be that theres not much to be gained going from 288 to 312 for that reason so either go straight to 312 or go 4 pot.

[Dr Forinor 0]

I didnt have a chance to compare the 280 to the 288, I went straight from the 280 to the 312s, I DO have a habit of braking quite late and quite hard. For me the 280s were rubbish, they really were not up to what I had to give. These 312s last a little longer but still not any 'REAL' stopping power.

 

My opinion is if you want to get some proper braking efforts, get proper upgraded brakes than just size of the disc.

 

In saying, I recently changed from Tarox pads to Black Diamond pads and there is a big difference. The Tarox were so much better, could handle more adn gave better feel, more confidence so brands make a difference aswell.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I didnt have a chance to compare the 280 to the 288, I went straight from the 280 to the 312s, I DO have a habit of braking quite late and quite hard. For me the 280s were rubbish, they really were not up to what I had to give. These 312s last a little longer but still not any 'REAL' stopping power.

 

My opinion is if you want to get some proper braking efforts, get proper upgraded brakes than just size of the disc.

 

Yeah I'm a late braker too :D

 

I didn't get on with the 288s or 312s and the 280s as you say are completely inadequate for a standard VR6 driven in anger, let alone a modified one.

 

Fade and warping were the main problems. I wouldn't expect OE brakes to survive my levels of abuse and they were out of their comfort zone frequently, but I found Brembo OE spec discs from GSF to resist fade better than OE ones.

 

Decent 4 pot kits bring with them a few benefits, but the endless, repeatable stopping power being the main one. When you first fit them to a car you know well, you will get through your first set of pads pretty quick and you may end up with the odd seatbelt bruise here and there :D

[mikkijayne 0]

but I found Brembo OE spec discs from GSF to resist fade better than OE ones.

 

I agree. I really like the Brembo discs and fit them to everything I own now, although I buy them from a local motor factor a lot cheaper than GSF.

 

Still not found a particularly notable ordinary (ie non-performance) pad though. EBC Red Stuff have a horrible feel from cold, so I tend to just use whatever is available at the time.