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The first step is to remove the front wheels. Then remove the clips from the rotor, pull t
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After you have completed taking the assembly apart, remove the Phillips set screw from the
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Once you have the rotor in place, fit the caliper carrier and replace the 17mm bolts. You
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The brake lines are very simple: Loosen the nuts fender side first, then the one on the ca
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To put the lines back on is just as easy as taking them off. Attach the lines at the fende
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Next, move to the back of the car and remove the wheel. Grab a screwdriver and unclip the
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Grab the new rotor and clean it with brake cleaner to remove the shavings and protective f
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For the rear brake lines there are two locations. On both the front and rear sections of t
You can never stress enough the importance of upgrading your brakes when doing performance modifications. The sad fact is, most brake upgrades require a substantial dollar investment and usually get brushed off for other modifications. The thing most people dont know is you dont always have to go for huge calipers and rotors; you can upgrade your current system and still be OK. If you are getting into large horsepower numbers you will want to go with larger brakes to stop you. On the other hand, if you arent going to be pushing 400 hp with your turbo VR6, you may want to look into what the aftermarket has in the way of OE replacement parts.
For this article, we chose to keep a fairly modest price tag and find a replacement for the OE-size brakes. While we were there, we wanted to work out some shortcomings the stock system has with fade and brake dust.
The stock brake setup for the 96 and newer Mk III VR6 cars is 11.3-inch vented front rotors and 8.9-inch solid rear rotors. While these brakes are great for everyday driving, constant abuse causes fade. On most cars, the culprit of fade is lack of places for hot gases to go; as the temperature rises the amount of gas between the pad and the rotor increases. A solution to expel the gases from underneath the pads is to either use a cross-drilled or slotted rotor. Youll then need a high-temperature pad to handle the increased temperatures, and steel braided lines to keep the lines from expanding from hot brake fluid.
For the test we chose to go with EBC slotted and dot-drilled rotors, EBC Green Stuff pads, and Goodridge stainless steel brake lines. For the installation we needed a trustworthy shop that has plenty of experience with VWs, so we called Tom at Renner Motorsport. He has a very experienced staff who are more than willing to answer any questions you might have about what theyre doing to your car. The goal of this upgrade was to get improved stopping distances, less brake fade, and good high-temperature performance for its occasional track day. That is exactly what we got, too!