Budget Brake Upgrade

The first step is to remove...        read full caption The first step is to remove the front wheels. Then remove the clips from the rotor, pull two black plastic plugs from the back of the rotor and remove the two 7mm Allen bolts. Next, take out the two 17mm bolts holding the carrier to the rotor.

After you have completed taking...        read full caption After you have completed taking the assembly apart, remove the Phillips set screw from the wheel side of the rotor. You can then pull the caliper. Keep in mind it is a good idea to clean the surface of the hub of any rust or debris from the old rotors. Once these steps are completed, spray the new rotor with brake cleaner to remove any metal shavings, set the new caliper in place and tighten the set screw.

Once you have the rotor in...        read full caption Once you have the rotor in place, fit the caliper carrier and replace the 17mm bolts. You can set the outside pad into the carrier, but the rear has to clip into the caliper. Set the caliper and tighten the 7mm Allen screws. Finally, put the clips back in place.

The brake lines are very simple:...        read full caption The brake lines are very simple: Loosen the nuts fender side first, then the one on the caliper. Both of the nuts are 11 mm. From there, take the line out of the clip on the strut.

To put the lines back on is...        read full caption To put the lines back on is just as easy as taking them off. Attach the lines at the fender side and then reattach the other end to the calipers. After the lines are attached, clip it back in on the strut. Bam! Steel braided brake lines! (Sorry, I guess I watch too much Emeril.)

Next, move to the back of...        read full caption Next, move to the back of the car and remove the wheel. Grab a screwdriver and unclip the e-brake from the caliper. Remove the caliper by using a 14mm and a 13mm box wrench. Remove the caliper and two 8mm bolts to pull the carrier off. From there, take a screwdriver and remove the cap covering the spindle nut (24mm), then pull the cotter pin, remove the spindle nut, and pull the rotor off.

Grab the new rotor and clean...        read full caption Grab the new rotor and clean it with brake cleaner to remove the shavings and protective film. At this point you may want to change your rear wheel bearings. Make sure everything is greased up properly and set the rotor on. Next, put the spindle nut back on, tighten it down, and insert the cotter pin. Place the cap back on, set the carrier in place, and tighten it. Set the pads in the carrier, slide the caliper on, and tighten it back down. Place the e-brake cable back in its clip and verify you have done everything. Helpful tip: Bearings don’t like to move; they get set in their race and like to stay there. When doing your brakes, it is best to replace the rear wheel bearings as well.

For the rear brake lines there...        read full caption For the rear brake lines there are two locations. On both the front and rear sections of the line an 11mm and a 14mm wrench are needed. You loosen them up, replace them with the steel braided lines, and retighten everything down. The final and most important step is to bleed the system; some systems need power-bleeders, so check with your mechanic for more details.

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 don’t know is you don’t 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 aren’t 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. You’ll 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 they’re 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!