New Front Brakes

wilco184

wilco184

Member of the year 2015
Hello,

I thought I'd do a quick write up of having recently changed the front brakes on my TDI. I haven't really done anything special like swapping to bigger discs etc, I've merely changed to new discs and a different brand of pads and painted some parts.

My previous discs had seen better days. In the picture below, you can see that a large area of the disc was no longer coming into contact with the pad and hence, efficiency was reduced.



The discs have been replaced with new discs from 'Brake Engineering'. The pads have been replaced with Ferodo SL pads. We have used both of these brands on other cars in the past without issue.





Upon removal of the discs, it was revealed that the guards behind were in much worse condition than first thought. Serious corrosion was seen, and needed to be treated. I had planned to clean up and paint the guards anyway, so it was a job worth doing. Both guards were removed, cleaned up and the corrosion removed, primer applied in grey and then painted in matt black. Hopefully this should stop the corrosion for a while.





The visible parts of the calliper were also cleaned up and painted. High temperature aluminium paint was used, due to the nature of the area.



The edges of the discs were also painted with the paint mentioned above. The paint is good up to 750 degrees Celsius, so there should be no problems with it burning off. Painting it here should also stop corrosion on the visible part, as well as inside the vented parts of the disc, which should maintain efficiency. Here's how it looks when reassembled.





After some driving to bed in the brakes, a pattern has appeared on the discs, created by the new pads. It will disappear soon, but it looks interesting!



Regards,

Matt.
 
I should mention too that when replacing the disc and pads on the left hand side, it was found that one of the calliper slide bolts had previously been cross threaded and not repaired. The bottom slide bolt could be effectively inserted fully through its threaded hole, without gripping the threads or rotating the bolt. Quite worrying really, since I've driven over 4000 miles like this.

Anyway, the A2 has it's calliper bolts directly into the hub carrier, so replacement becomes quite a big problem. As it was the thread in the hub carrier that was destroyed, a 'Helicoil' kit was used to create a new thread, instead of replacing the carrier. For future reference, here is the Helicoil kit that was used. The bolt is now secure and back to how it should be, I certainly feel much better now that it's repaired.





Regards,

Matt.
 
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That's a great write up Matt, very good detail and will maybe encourage others to try it out!
The finished article looks superb btw!
Cheers Jeff
 
Nice project and decent quality pics too!
Perhaps you could give us the details of where you purchased some of the parts and price paid for the project for others that may want to venture into having a go themselves..
That Aluminium paint looks good especially up to those temps
 
Crazylegs said:
Nice project and decent quality pics too!
Perhaps you could give us the details of where you purchased some of the parts and price paid for the project for others that may want to venture into having a go themselves..
That Aluminium paint looks good especially up to those temps
Click to expand...

I purchased the parts from my local motor factors. The discs were around £30 for the pair, I can't quite remember the price for the pads, but I'm sure they were around £15 for a set. Not too bad really. In general, I find that local motor factors are cheaper than the likes of Euro Car Parts.

I must correct myself on the paint. They are rated for up to 500 degrees Celsius, I was thinking of the 750 from the paint we used to have. I got the spray can of it from Halfords. £7.50 for a tin that covered the fronts, where I needed, with a little bit left over. I recommend it, it's good stuff. The link is here. http://www.halfords.com/motoring-tr...s-very-high-temperature-aluminium-paint-300ml

Regards,

Matt.
 
Good post Matt. Did you need a push-back tool for the piston? I will be tackling this job next week.

Thanks

Dave
 
Very nice, wish I could carry out such tasks but would require guidance as never done any mechanics so, will leave it to the professionals :) as mine needs doing shortly.

Looks great!
 
Hank said:
Good post Matt. Did you need a push-back tool for the piston? I will be tackling this job next week.

Thanks

Dave
Click to expand...
if you are replacing the pads and discs you can "cheat"

you can gently lever the pads back into the Pistons with a large screwdriver or similar lever.
Since you are replacing the pads and discs it doesn't matter about scratching either. But this method works well because by leaving the pads in place the pressure is equally distributed and so you are less likely to cause the piston to become tilted and jam.
Just apply the pressure to the centre of the pad (ideally) to keep everything nicely lined up.

Steve B
 
Great work Matt.

I need to replace my rear pads soon, so i will try Steve's brake tip.

Im not sure if i should go with ATE or Ferodo pads?
 
Rear pads are different as I believe the piston needs winding as you apply pressure due to the handbrake mechanism.
 
Hank said:
Good post Matt. Did you need a push-back tool for the piston? I will be tackling this job next week.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Hank. Nope, there is no need for a wind back tool, as Steve says above, you can use a screwdriver between the old pads. Just be careful as the potential for slipping is quite high.

manhattan$ said:
Im not sure if i should go with ATE or Ferodo pads?
Click to expand...

Hi Paul. I have no experience of ATE pads so I can't comment on the difference. I recommend the Ferodo pads though, they have a good 'feel' through the pedal and feel slightly softer than my previous Pagid pads.

PaulA2 said:
Rear pads are different as I believe the piston needs winding as you apply pressure due to the handbrake mechanism.
Click to expand...

Although my TDI has drums at the rear, the rear pads on my previous FSI were changed without a wind back tool. As Steve has mentioned, it is possible to do it with a large screwdriver between the pads; although I'm sure it would be much safer and preferable to do when using the proper tool.

Regards,

Matt. :)
 
Thought that I would advise about purchasing the A2 1.4TDI front discs and possibly the rear discs.

Researching the expected quality and price of replacement discs, I found out Brake Engineering is supplier to the trade only and therefore would not really talk to me. Secondly....having discussed the wearing out of discs with a reputable auto repairers, it seems that these days a lot of discs actually come from the far east now and is manufactured of a softer less expensive grade of steel and this combined with the apparent E.U. ruling throughout the auto trade i.e. The withdrawal of asbestos in the manufacture of brake pads. this now apparently makes the pads a lot harder than they were some time ago. These two apparent facts just simply mean any discs will wear thin far quicker and channel the discs....hence our maintenance/repair bills will be far more frequent than they ever were. I can't advise on where to go supplier wise, for decent long lasting discs as if you aim for alleged high quality you still would very likely get the far eastern soft steel made discs at a higher price. clever marketing I think!! As a now retired Engineer, it seems no one can do anything as it is what it is....The modern day of age.

Does anyone know any different ??
 
Good input Clive.

I I don't know any different but I suspect that the discs there are. Third of the price are not necessarily three times as soft.
So I reckon that the lower price discs are not necessarily going to work out more expensive in the long run.

Also so the longer a disc is on the car the more knelt it is to suffer from grooves and wear patterns. So changing your discs ever two or three years is possibly better than using the same ones for 9 years.

I always apply the rule that for safety items you should buy the best ones that you can afford. Just to be on the safe side.
But I have often used the discs that are £30 a set because it is so small a cost that I can replace my discs as soon as they show signs of wear.

So i recomend the discs that suit your pocket.

I am tempted to fit very expensive brakes on the project but that is only because of the high standard of the rest of the car.


Steve B
 
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