LF:+2 or +2.5 Size Complete Brake Kit

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
Hi
as in the title I am looking for a complete used kit to upgrade the stock brake system to 312 or 323mm rotors, 4 piston caliper w carriers/adapter, and 1.8T/VR6 spindle.

If you got something for the rears it'd be even better.

Please let me know if you have any leads.

Cheers

Berk
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
Hi Berk,

I am very happy with my HPA kit. It uses 355 mm Front 6 piston and 335mm Rear 4 piston. The rear design deletes the screw type e-brake calliper and uses a drum style that goes inside the hub of the rear disc. Works great and allows the rear calliper to get the 4 piston design rather than just one like the VW design.

We got these so that we can stop our 2,000 lbs trailer if the trailer brakes should not work
when needed.

We had to do the VR6 spindle swap as well. It seems that VW never thought these TDI cars could go fast enough to really need bigger brakes so we got the little parts (probably from a MK2 or whatever they had lying around)!

Google "HPA Motorsports" if you are interested. They have sales on these kits from time to time.
 

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
Thanks PB_NB
I would like to stay on my 17" and those kits are out of my budget (not sure it would be wise for me to invest something that would be worth more than the car)

appreciated the feedback thou..

Cheers
Berk
 
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PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
Ya they are a bit pricy but maybe a slightly used set can be found. I know that there are some Brembos out there on used sites.

I know about wheels and my snows are on 18" rims and the rims are full of brakes, with the old brakes I could throw a football through the gaps between the rotor and the rim.

I going to put my 19 inch summers on soon and see how much space I have.
 

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
couple questions to be sure

1. I got set of brand new wheel bearings for TDI and wondering if I could use them on VR6 spindle.
2. Multi piston callipers usually go on 30mm + rotors in terms of thickness. Can a multi-piston calliper be installed on 22mm rotor? (roughly 1cm thinner)
 
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Tdi Kick

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Joined
Mar 9, 2009
Location
GTA
TDI
91 Sidekick AHU, '05 Passat Variant BHW, '03 Passat Variant BHW 4MO
Those bearings will work. I did the same when I upgraded the brakes on Wifey's car.
 

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
Thank you
one more question;
Are MK4 VR6 rears and MK4 TDI's rears compatible to each other or required any modifications or any upgrade like front?

Berk
 

Wingnut

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Location
Toronto & Whitby
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta Wagon
Firstly, VR6 rears are the same as TDI rears. The bigger ones are from the GLI or R32. Having said that, the rears are easier to upgrade than the fronts. Just bigger rotors and the larger carriers & calipers to move the caliper further away from the centre. The only issue is the dust shields. To replace them with the bigger ones, you have to remove the stub axle, which usually requires new rear bearings. Or, you can 'modify' the dust shields by cutting off the lip, or bending it flat. Cut slits in the lip every couple centimeters and the tabs will bend so you can flatten the shield.

 
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PHAT-DUB

Vendor
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Location
Markham
Berk,

if you are looking to upgrade your best bet is to find a GLI set up or R32. since you want to stay within 17" wheels.

I am currently looking to do the same for my 2003 wagon.

GLI is the best bang for the buck as the replacement parts are affordable.

I looked at R32 but the cost to replace the rotors etc is almost twice the cost as the GLI rotors and also a increase in unsprung weight.

ECS tuning has a stage 3 kit which uses posche calipers and you can also download a template to see if it would fit your wheels.
 

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
Thanks a lot guys

@Phatdub
i would like to have multi piston calipers on the rears and found this guy in Germany who builds a kit w rotors and adapters. his kit is advertised for MK4 VR6s.
wanted to make sure if VR6 rears are compatible w ours..

Link
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
Berk, multi piston calipers are nice but the VW e-brake used a screw style piston and this is where the multi piston calipers can't connect to the e-brake system. You can get bigger discs but you will need to move the stock caliper out on some sort of bracket which looks like what this kit is all about.

With my HPA system, the e-brake is inside the rotor freeing up the caliper to have as many pistons as HPA wanted to put into it. Mine rears have 4 per caliper but I really wanted 6 ;)

We got these to stop while pulling the trailer. They are way too much for daily driving under 200 kph!

When we did the upgrade we found that the little TDI rear hubs needed some extra machining and reworking to make the tiny hubs get to the VR6 sizing. There is a good chance that the kit wont be a direct bolt on upgrade for our cars.
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
You do realize that as long as you can lock up the brakes/ABS kicks in, is all that you need to stop the car and the trailer. Bigger brakes do nothing for stopping. They give a "better feel" but doesn't increase the capacity unless you are on a rece track. The vehicle's weight controls the trailer when the trailer brakes fail, not the oversized brakes. The trailer will push a light car regardless how big the brakes are. Also you can easily out brake the car with a system that's too big for the car and cause drivebility problems. Bigger is not always better. 6 piston calipers on a street Beetle/Golf/Jetta is just nonsense but they do look cool especially if you laint them red or yellow. :)
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
I am sure that the car could stop the trailer and itself with the stock brakes. We were going for more responsive braking. The challenges we faced were: 1) no declared towing capacity on the car as nothing was published by VW. 2) we have a lot of crappy drivers and hills in this part of the country.

We wanted to be able to stop if quickly while still in control of the car and trailer. The bigger brakes are designed to work when the heat gets up really high.

There is a long 12 percent grade on highway 5 that we will be taking route next month. I certainly wouldn't even consider trying that with the stock brakes.

The brakes are "Blue" ;)
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
That's nice but you still not going to stop the 2000lb trailer on a 12% decline if the trailer brakes fail. The car is too light and the trailer will push it regardless how big the brakes are. There is just not enough ballast in the car for the tires to stick.
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
imo000 - I think I will try this out and see what happens. I can turn off the trailer brakes. There are some steep hills that are remote enough that I can try this without risking others.
 

WrEkkED

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Location
Toronto
TDI
'04 TDI Sport
The big difference is the rears on the gli have more of a contact patch with the pad and rotor. With wider tires, stronger brakes make sense. Bigger rotors are better for towing to reduce brake fade and chances of warping especially woth going to a vented rear.
 

Berk

Veteran Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Location
Toronto, downtown
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI ALH @200K
still looking for Big Brake Kit (4 piston)...
any lead will be appreciated.

Thanks

Berk
 
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