Brake upgrade options

Hey,

I'm looking to upgrade the brakes on my 1987 gti cabriolet. 

I've seen there quite a few choices available, wondered if any of you had any advise on what the easiest option is? 

I don't need performance brakes as the engine is unmodified.

Cheers :-) 

Easiest upgrade is change the brake fluid if it's more than 3 years old, adjust the rear brake shoes manually as the automatic adjusters don't always work every well. They do brake on the rears and it does make a lot of difference.
Maybe some braided brake hoses as they make the pedal feel firmer, good quality brake pads and disc, I use pagid brake shoes and brembo disc and find they bite very well.

After that you can go down the upgraded servo and calipers, I just kept with the standard set up as find it fine for my daily drive.

MK2 16v 9" servo and matching master is also a good upgrade, but no longer cheap. seems to attract a scene tax.

I have a 91 clipper and my brakes are pretty poor. I've read a few of the posts about all the different upgrades you can get and it seems there's loads of options.

As a beginner to the mk1 scene I'm thinking of buying off the self bits to make it more straight forward for myself, so my question is what is a good quality mid range complete kit list? I've been looking on the various sites linked to the club and they have different brands so what would be good brands to get for discs/pads/calipers. My engine is unmodified so I don't need a top of the range big brake conversion, but I want good quality.

Cheers

The 9" servo and bigger master cylinder is a good upgrade to improve the feel/effort required, and if well set up makes a big difference to driving (but not the actual braking effectiveness….)

To improve this, a good first upgrade is to use better pads at the front, eg Ferodo DS2500 or similar.

Next would be drilled & vented 239m discs.

Next would be bigger discs but this needs 1) bigger wheels and 2) caliper spacers or different calipers + adapters.

Anyone any experience with the T4 25.4mm master cylinder? I was toying in this but some say not worth it? 

volkswarren said

Anyone any experience with the T4 25.4mm master cylinder? I was toying in this but some say not worth it? 

Personally I'd use master cylinder and servo as a combination. Do you have one? If so, can you look at the rod which pushes into the cylinder, is it a ball-socket fitting like a Mk3 Golf, or a fork with a pin through it like the Mk1/Mk2? If the latter, does it screw on like the Mk1/Mk2 item, if so what's the relationship between rod and fork, what's the distance between the pin and the flat face of the servo which would bolt to the Mk1's bracket? (Might be able to swap one to another etc). What's the bolt layout and spacing here (might need adaption if its too small/large etc).

mark1gls said

Easiest upgrade is change the brake fluid if it's more than 3 years old, adjust the rear brake shoes manually as the automatic adjusters don't always work every well. They do brake on the rears and it does make a lot of difference.
Maybe some braided brake hoses as they make the pedal feel firmer, good quality brake pads and disc, I use pagid brake shoes and brembo disc and find they bite very well.

After that you can go down the upgraded servo and calipers, I just kept with the standard set up as find it fine for my daily drive.

Yip i agree, a healthy standard braking system will bring the golf to a halt no problems, rememeber these things dont have ABS to control upgraded performance brakes

paul_c said

volkswarren said

Anyone any experience with the T4 25.4mm master cylinder? I was toying in this but some say not worth it? 

Personally I'd use master cylinder and servo as a combination. Do you have one? If so, can you look at the rod which pushes into the cylinder, is it a ball-socket fitting like a Mk3 Golf, or a fork with a pin through it like the Mk1/Mk2? If the latter, does it screw on like the Mk1/Mk2 item, if so what's the relationship between rod and fork, what's the distance between the pin and the flat face of the servo which would bolt to the Mk1's bracket? (Might be able to swap one to another etc). What's the bolt layout and spacing here (might need adaption if its too small/large etc).

Think you have misunderstood T4 master cylinder upgrade is similar to the 16v except it's bigger again, uses mk 1 or 2 servo 9" one is better, diging around on the net shows many people say it needs increase force on the pedal, just looking for feedback or experience 

I've not misunderstood (I don't know the detailed dimensions of the rod between the servo and MC though). If you want to use it with a Mk1 or Mk2 servo, you'd need to be sure of these.

If its a goer, and the hydraulic connections are do-able (almost certainly will be) then it will add more braking force per unit distance of pedal travel, but that would need/benefit greatly from a bigger servo to assist it.

I don't know whether it would make the brakes oversensitive though.

I possibly haven't been clear enough, I'm not asking if it fits, or what servo to use,  it does fit, it is sold as a mk1/2 conversion, as this was a post on brake upgrades I was asking if it had been tried by anyone. 

thelordflasheart said

I have a 91 clipper and my brakes are pretty poor. I've read a few of the posts about all the different upgrades you can get and it seems there's loads of options.

As a beginner to the mk1 scene I'm thinking of buying off the self bits to make it more straight forward for myself, so my question is what is a good quality mid range complete kit list? I've been looking on the various sites linked to the club and they have different brands so what would be good brands to get for discs/pads/calipers. My engine is unmodified so I don't need a top of the range big brake conversion, but I want good quality.

Cheers

You can also fit a mk2 16v caliper with the scirocco 16v caliper carriers (on ebay at times) which allows you to fit a 256mm disc and still looks original. Fits straight on to the hub, normal mk2 carriers don't.

I got the T4 master cylinder 25mm and a MK2 16V servo.
Works fine with the Girling 60 ,280mm at the front.
And MK4 breaks at the back