Braided brake lines

[Treza360]

Not that I wish to make light of this point (it's serious, I have decided I *will* be getting my brake upgrade engineered), but surely this would only be the case if it was found that the illegal modification had contributed to the accident - I doubt they'd throw you in the slammer if you had an accident and they found later your exhaust didn't have a catalytic converter for instance!

I'd say though that they'd take brakes quite seriously given that they're quite a critical system on a car.

[Dub_Star_V6]

Would it be worth investigating going for a set of uprated rotors / pads or even a brake master cylinder stopper before going to the trouble of only fitting braided lines?

Even some more aggressive pads with uprated fluid would offer more immediate positive benefits for minimal outlay.

[gldgti]

when i told shannons about the modifications to my car (told them about EVERYTHING) they were PLEASED to hear i had upgraded my brakes from standard to VR6, they told me that in their policy, upgrades relating to saftey items (brakes included in this category) actually reduce your premium.

ofcourse, upgrading my brakes to VR6 meant going to other factory parts.... which is why my advice to anyone doing brake upgrades is to go to a system that is from another vehicle....or something that is ADR compliant.

again, i would stress that braided lines only give you a piston travel advantage anyway, and wont make your car actually brake any better.

[No457 Snowy]

Something about "upgrading" brake pads that I was told by a reputable independant VW technician which needs to be considered (and often overlooked) is that aggressive, "upgraded" brake pads are great for giving you better than stock brake performance on a track day when they have had a chance to warm up to operating temperature properly.

BUT, ...if you need to do an emergency stop 5 minutes drive from home when they are cold, they don't pull up as quick as the stock VW pads (which perform very well in such situations), and this could mean the difference between a near-miss and someone ending up dead.

Snowy.

[No457 Snowy]

For clarification here is a cut and paste straight out of the RTA's "Guidelines for light vehicle modifications" regarding brake modifications:

Brakes
Brake systems must not be modified such that the brake performance is reduced or that the risk of failure of the brake
system is increased. Brake discs or drums must not be machined beyond the reconditioning limits set down by the
manufacturer. When brakes are upgraded using components or systems which were not standard options for the
vehicle, an engineering certificate is necessary to attest to the adequacy of the new system, eg: hydraulic fluid sufficiency,
balanced braking on all wheels, brake pedal pressure limitations and braking performance.

[aliasmk2]

That sounds like the right message, but there would most likely be minor differences state to state

[Oneofthegreats]

Braided brake hose's (not line's, they're not steel tubing) are a perfectly legal modification to any vehicle & don't require an engineer's certificate, as long as they all have one thing on them.

An ADR-7 marking.

If they don't have this, then as far as RWC & legalities go, there not worth the paper the receipt is printed on!

[425i]

I had braided lines put on my wifes 2000 polo
I went to http://www.braidedhoses.com.au/
Looked up the closest people who were Penrith brake and clutch
Dropped the car saturday morning and picked it up lunch time
Wow what a difference!
The polo allways had crap spungy dead fealing brakes and it pulled up dismaly
even from brand new.
The pedal feel with the braided lines versus stock is chalk and cheese
Going in hot to a round about you can start breaking at half the distance than you used to and you can feel through the pedal what is happening.
The brake pedal feels like it is actually attached to the brakes .
Something that it never felt like before
When I eventually finish the Mk1 its having braided lines

[gldgti]

Something about "upgrading" brake pads that I was told by a reputable independant VW technician which needs to be considered (and often overlooked) is that aggressive, "upgraded" brake pads are great for giving you better than stock brake performance on a track day when they have had a chance to warm up to operating temperature properly.

BUT, ...if you need to do an emergency stop 5 minutes drive from home when they are cold, they don't pull up as quick as the stock VW pads (which perform very well in such situations), and this could mean the difference between a near-miss and someone ending up dead.

Snowy.

also good advice - people often overlook the fact that "performance" brakes need to operate at a higher temperature than is usually encountered on the road.

put it this way - if it were possible to get better braking performance by changing the brake pad material over all driving conditions, then VW would have done it already!

here's another spanner -

manufacturers such as VAG, Mercedes-Benz and other Euro makes (and good asian ones like toyota etc) MATCH the metallurgy of the OEM brake pad to the metallurgy of the rotor/drum - in order to create the best performance/wear package. it is for this very reason that ford and holden poop-mobiles end up doing in a set of rotors every 40-60,000km - nothing is matched. i've never driven a commordore with more than 50,000km on it that didnt have some rotor warpage, and likewise, i've never seen brake disks with so many hairline cracks from thermal cycling and stress buildup than those made in australia and used on vehicles with random off the shelf brake pads.

i guess the point i'm trying to make is that the further you go away from OEM with brakes, the more trouble you are likely to run into, with longevity etc. you might get a better stopping package on the track, but you really need to work hard to make it work better when your sister jumps in your car to go to the shops

[Oneofthegreats]

Obviously you've never seen alot VW or any euro brakes, cause they can be just as bad as the Holden & Ford counterpart's everyone seem to pay out.

I wont argue the fact the Euro brakes feel & operate better though.

I've seen VW disc's shot at long before 25K, I've even seen BMW brake disc's shot at 17K & not just because they undersize, they're also warped

Common wear rates for VW are a set of pad's & maybe disc's at the 2nd service (30K) & sometimes even earlier. Rear brakes seam to wear out at a faster rate on later VW's too.

The ones I see are mosty from the city, but when I was out in the country, the wear rates weren't that much different.

Why is that?

Just remember that you all pay out on a locally produced car's & to me that's a slap in the face, cause you all seem to place VW's & all euro car's high up on the pedestal, but these car's are also just taxi's & ****boxes back in there home country's & nothing more!

Why is it that the euro's, seem to love our aussie export's like the HSV's & such.

Me & Dom found a german video where they put the current V10 M5 up against the VE Clubsport & which one did they like better overall?

The HSV! Go figure!