Polo 6R Brake Upgrade

[graaja]

Hi All,

I own a Polo 6R 1.2TSi in India. One of the weaknesses of this car is the brakes. The car comes with disc brakes in the front and drum brakes in the rear. I find the braking very poor and some times scary.

At present I have changed the brake pads to Brembos with OE discs, and have set the brake assistance to early in VCDS. Though this has improved the braking from its original setting, it still needs lots of improvement.

Front Brake Upgrade:

For the front brakes, I am thinking of changing the rotors and pads to performance components. I have short listed Tarox G88 or Tarox F2000 rotors and Tarox Corsa or Hawk HPS or EBC green stuff pads.

Has anyone upgraded the discs and pads in their Polo 6R? If yes, I need inputs on component selection.

Are there any other OE options for discs and pads that provide better braking?

Also, I found there are two dimensions available for discs - 256mm and 288mm. Which one should I choose? My 6R comes with 15" wheels.

Rear Brake Disc Conversion:

Would it be good to convert the rear drum brakes to discs? Has anyone done this? If yes, can you please help me with a list of part numbers (OE or after market) to get this done?

Thanks in advance for all the help and pointers.

[iichel]

Yes I've done a few brake conversions.

Front axle:
256mmx22 vented discs are the smallest.

You can upgrade them to 288x22mm vented discs or 312/310mmx22mm vented discs. In both cases, you'll need to replace the wheel bearing housing.
Furthermore, it will require new discs (obviously), new brake calipers, pads, dust cans and caliper carriers. This requires removing the entire old installation.
After the replacement, you'll need to bleed the brakes and align the front axle.

Front axle compatibility goes fairly far, to all 100x5 setups (i.e. Golf mk4, Audi TT 8N, early Audi A3 8L).
The maximum for 15" rims is 288mm disc rotors.

Rear axle:
Drum brakes are the smallest.

You can either upgrade them to 230x9mm solid rotors or 256x22mm vented discs (Polo WRC).
This will require new handbrake cables.
Furthermore, you'll need discs, pads, dust cans, calipers, carriers and brake lines.
The rear axle does not need replacement.
I am not sure whether the 256x22mm vented discs at the rear will fit 15" rims. take into account that these rotors are different from the front axle.

Maybe the 270x9mm solid rotors will work too, I'm not sure.

Notes:

If you are planning to do this yourself, please take good tools.
I.e. the 32mm 12-sided nut is not standard equipment. A good brake bleeder is needed.

After upgrading the brake sizes, it is also obligatory to update your VCDS coding of your ABS unit.

Brake fluid is nasty stuff and burns. Brake dust in combination with brake fluid will absolutely ruin your clothes.

[Asamoli]

I have the same car however mine had both front and rear disks from factory. I've upgraded both the front and rear to brembo max preformance slotted disks and brembo max pads too. Massive improvement over the oe setup

Sent from my XT1572 using Tapatalk

[graaja]

Yes I've done a few brake conversions.
...

Thanks a lot iichel for the inputs.

Front brake conversion:

From your inputs I see I have two options for front brake upgrade.

Option #1
This is the simplest option which requires just upgrading the discs to vented or slotted and good performance pads.

Option #2
I have to upgrade to 288mmx22mm discs. As I do not want to change the rim size now, I am limiting to 288mm discs. For this I will have to replace the wheel bearing housing, the brake calipers, caliper carriers and dust covers. To get the right part numbers for this option, which models should I look up in ETKA?

Rear brake conversion:

Assuming 230mm to be a fit for the 15" rims, which models and PR codes should I look up in ETKA to get all the part numbers of the components.

I am planning this brake upgrade as I have plans to do a engine remap to bump up the power from 105bhp to maybe 125bhp or 130bhp and the torque from 175Nm to maybe 210Nm. From your experience with brake conversions, considering my situation, what options would you choose for the front and rear brake conversions?

Also, I do not intend to do this myself as I do not have the necessary skills. Once I get the components, I will get this done in a garage

[iichel]

It really depends on your budget.

The rear drum brakes don't belong on a car, if you ask me. But the braking performance is not too bad and they are maintenance friendly.
The PR codes, I don't know but in ETKA there is a section for drum brakes, for 230mm brakes and for 256mm brakes. The only difference in the 230mm brakes is the red GTI caliper. Mechanically it's all the same...

For the front axle, a set of performance pads and some proper braking fluid could already do you a good favour. Maybe a simple brake bleed will give you some performance too.
I never had the feeling that the 256mm fronts and rear drums on my 1.2TDI bluemotion were that bad. I could get it into ABS easily, if I tried. 215/40/R17 tires. No shortage of stopping power.

I'm personally not that into slotted and drilled discs. You'll look like an idiot

[graaja]

I have the same car however mine had both front and rear disks from factory. I've upgraded both the front and rear to brembo max preformance slotted disks and brembo max pads too. Massive improvement over the oe setup

Thanks for the inputs. I will check out Brembo max pads and discs.

...
I'm personally not that into slotted and drilled discs. You'll look like an idiot

Ha ha. Even I am not thinking about slotted discs for look. I thought the slotted discs dissipate heat better than solid discs

As I already have changed the front to Brembo pads, I am going to first implement your suggestion of going with better brake fluid. I will then consider other options.

Thanks a lot once again for all your feedback.

[iichel]

Myself, I have the 288mm front brakes with Ferodo 2500 pads and TRW discs. On the rear also TRW rotors but with the factory pads, I think these are from TRW too.

Sometimes I'm considering an upgrade to 312mm, it only needs a change of the brake caliper carrier and disc... but then I ask myself why. I'm very happy with the current setup.

[graaja]

... but then I ask myself why. I'm very happy with the current setup.

LOL. I can totally understand that urge to upgrade

[graaja]

Update: Installed 256mm Tarox G88 Rotors

Thanks a lot iichel for all the inputs.

After considering all the options listed by iichel, I decided to take the easiest approach. Installed 256mm Tarox G88 slotted rotors. I kept the existing Brembo red brake pads. There is a tremendous improvement in braking. Even from highway cruising speeds of 120kph, the car just stops without any fuss. A few pictures.

The stock rotors.


Stock rotors removed.


Tarox rotors installed.


Wheels fixed.

[iichel]

I must say, it looks very neat

[Vroom09210]

Those Tarox disc brakes look tempting and promising in doing the braking duty well. Can you tell the damage to pocket after installation?

[Aquavalver]

Myself, I have the 288mm front brakes with Ferodo 2500 pads and TRW discs. On the rear also TRW rotors but with the factory pads, I think these are from TRW too.

Sometimes I'm considering an upgrade to 312mm, it only needs a change of the brake caliper carrier and disc... but then I ask myself why. I'm very happy with the current setup.

I currently have 288 vented discs on the front of my Blue GT and 256 non vented discs on the rear of my Blue GT. If I changed to 310/312 on the front, would I just need to change the caliper carrier, disc and baking plates? Are the pads and callipers the same? Is the biggest size ay 6r/6c Polo had in rear brakes 256? If I changed to vented rear discs would I need to change anything?

[iichel]

Yes from 288 to 310/312 means you have to replace the carrier and the disc.

I think you can have 272mm rear discs as well, non-vented

[Dink]

232mm non vented rears on the blue gt (same as the gti)

i upgraded to the 256mm vented rear and it helped a lot with higher speed braking

[Aquavalver]

Yes from 288 to 310/312 means you have to replace the carrier and the disc.

I think you can have 272mm rear discs as well, non-vented

Thanks Iichel-the carriers are on their way to me now. Will order the backing plates once I can actually get to speak to the parts department at the local VW dealers!