Roomster 1.9 Tdi modifications

**CanberravRS** · 30-12-2010, 08:47 PM

Ahhh i love it!!! Sweet, simple and effective.. Thats going to be one awesome Roomster.. did you want to show a bunch of us the vehicle at the drive day we have planned for FEB? There is a thread going about it.. its likely a Sat or Sun in mid to late Feb.. I think many of us would appreciate some insight into whats possible once warranty is over.

**Julian Edgar** · 31-12-2010, 05:47 PM

did you want to show a bunch of us the vehicle at the drive day we have planned for FEB? There is a thread going about it..

Sorry, can't find this thread

**CanberravRS** · 31-12-2010, 06:21 PM

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f86/...s-52034-7.html

**Julian Edgar** · 01-01-2011, 06:38 PM

On the road the brake upgrade results are excellent.

The brake bias is clearly more to the front, but this is noticeable only when reversing down a steep gravel driveway, where the fronts will ABS earlier than before.

The ability of the brakes to pull the car down from high speed with progression and feel is superb – vastly better than with the standard brakes. On a back road (hmm, I mean the track) you can drop from 150 to 60 km/h with literally a gentle push of the centre pedal – and do it corner after corner. In an emergency stop the ABS operates as it did with the standard brakes.

Downsides? There are some.

When the brakes are dead cold (in my normal daily drive I arrive at a roundabout after 30 kilometres of country driving that has had literally no brake applications at all) the pedal needs a distinctively firmer push. In normal urban braking that doesn’t occur (the brakes must retain some heat) and in spirited driving the pedal effort is clearly lower than with the standard brakes.

Each new disc has a mass that is 1.4kg greater than standard (interestingly, the new calipers and pads are 200 grams lighter than the old ones) and the Roomster is a car where the 1.2kg increase per side in unsprung weight can be clearly felt. When I went from 15 to 16 inch wheels, the latter fitted with larger tyres, I could feel the increase in unsprung weight, and the same has occurred with the new front brakes. The result is that over lumpy bitumen, the car does not ride as well.

Overall? Very impressive.

**monkeysrus** · 02-01-2011, 12:12 PM

Well done on the braking mods.

I have a set of EBC Reds to go into the Octavia. When i ran them on my previous car i found i required a slightly firmer push of the pedal on the first stop of the day then they were fine. During spirited driving they were much better at handling the heat then the stock pads. Stopping distances felt shorter too. Not sure why when the tyre is the limiting factor?

I also found then to be quite gentle on the rotors which is great for a aggressive pad. I had them in for 40,000k's before i changed the front pads. Front rotors were still ok.

**Julian Edgar** · 02-01-2011, 07:13 PM

Stopping distances felt shorter too. Not sure why when the tyre is the limiting factor?

Yes, it's an interesting point. After modifying quite a few cars' brakes, I think it's because you can brake so progressively to the point just before lock-up (or ABS actuation). In an emergency ABS stop (which I tested), the stopping distance was (of course) no different to the standard brakes.

**monkeysrus** · 03-01-2011, 10:26 AM

From EBC website:

'Tested at the UK Motor Industries Research Association (MIRA) in witnessed tests early Redstuff reduced car stopping distance in tests by almost 50 feet from 100 MPH offering a staggering 30% brake improvement.'

You get a higher friction coefficient with the reds and i assume much better control at higher friction points and for longer duration. Maybe this is a reason for better stopping distances? Would be interesting to get a proper explanation.

**Jarred** · 03-01-2011, 10:48 AM

Why did you choose Redstuff, over a perhaps more daily driver friendly alternative, ie Greenstuff. IIRC, They have pretty much the same hot temp rating, but better to use when cold etc. (just curious)

I've read more than a few autospeed articles before, and they're always great. I do enjoy them! WElcome to the forum too. Always nice to have good technical based thread popping up.

Did you think about running no muffler at all? (as opposed to a new one) What about the rest of the exhaust? Still standard?

I've got a mk 3 1.9 TDI that I'm getting on the road soon, and I'll be looking to get a couple extra neddies out of it as well. (along with various other upgrades ie brakes, susp etc)

**Julian Edgar** · 03-01-2011, 07:27 PM

Why did you choose Redstuff, over a perhaps more daily driver friendly alternative, ie Greenstuff. IIRC, They have pretty much the same hot temp rating, but better to use when cold etc. (just curious)

Mostly local distributor's advice - previously have run Greenstuff on a less hard-driven car that also had regen braking (turbo Prius)

Did you think about running no muffler at all? (as opposed to a new one)

I tried no rear muffler first. Too noisy for me.

What about the rest of the exhaust? Still standard?

Yes.