Front brake pads for MK7 GTI ?

[MarcoPolo]

Hi all

The brake pad warning light has come on and rather handily, my gf's mum works for a brake company and can get pads at trade price. I take it just the fronts have wear sensors?

The only snag is she's come back with 3 pads listed for the 9N3 GTI !! I can't take the existing ones out to check until the day I replace them, so need to order them in advance.

Can anyone confirm for definite which of the following definitely fit? :-

1) http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4040.htm

2) http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4018.htm

3) http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4008.htm

[RITCHAT]

[quote="MarcoPolo"]Hi all

The brake pad warning light has come on and rather handily, my gf's mum works for a brake company and can get pads at trade price.

You will need to find out what make your calipers are most likely to be the lucas type as these are the preferred ones for the gti. best thing to do is contact vw with your chassis number if your car is a gti and they will advise the correct part number for you to cross refference with these cheaper pads. On a safety note don't skimp on your brakes get the best you can afford always. Sandy

[MarcoPolo]

Many thanks. I was beginning to think no one has changed their pads yet!

Well I had no option but to jack the car up last night (I hate working under cars!!) as not even the dealer, with our chassis number, could confirm if we have ATE or Lucas calipers!!

But you are right, we do indeed have Lucas calipers on our 06 model, which needs these pads:-

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4008.htm

Interestingly, I also noticed the rear pads aren't monitored for wear and just uses common or garden MK2/MK3/MK4/Corrado rear pads!

Yes I hear you on pad quality. I would have gone for Ferodo DS2500, but as it's my girlfriend's car, she's not up for paying £140 for 4 pads!!

[RITCHAT]

Many thanks. I was beginning to think no one has changed their pads yet!

Well I had no option but to jack the car up last night (I hate working under cars!!) as not even the dealer, with our chassis number, could confirm if we have ATE or Lucas calipers!!

But you are right, we do indeed have Lucas calipers on our 06 model, which needs these pads:-

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4008.htm

Interestingly, I also noticed the rear pads aren't monitored for wear and just uses common or garden MK2/MK3/MK4/Corrado rear pads!

Yes I hear you on pad quality. I would have gone for Ferodo DS2500, but as it's my girlfriend's car, she's not up for paying £140 for 4 pads!!

Sounds about right the dealership didn't know which type. I had the same problem they tried to pass off non wired pads ie no wear indicator and had the cheek to say that I had to buy a separate part to add to the pads. TRUE PROFESSIONALS not! Any managed eventually to get the right ones.

Ferodo pads you should have no problems, I used to use them on my previous ford cars before I seen the light of quality v dub.

Glad to be of help. Sandy

[whitegtipolo]

i got cheap unipart pads b4 for my polo and they were crap, loads of dust and overheated very quickly!! pays to get good pads and discs on a fast hatch, i learned the hard way!

[RITCHAT]

i got cheap unipart pads b4 for my polo and they were crap, loads of dust and overheated very quickly!! pays to get good pads and discs on a fast hatch, i learned the hard way!

I did the same with my first car a fiesta 1.4s 75 hp not bad back in 88 and quite nipey . I fitted brown brother pads cost 4 quid ,compressed cardboard I later found out was the construction material. I went out to try them nothing heavy duty after about fifty miles or so of cruising I came home and tried to slow down into my road and the left handside stopped working all together total brake fade. At that I went back in and borrowed 10 quid of my mother and bought ferodo pads. Never again will I skimp on Brake pads. Rule of thumb now is buy the best or original from the manufacturers that way when you want to stop you will.

Now I go a bit further and up grade my brakes back and front to the highest spec I can with out being silly. All gti spec mk7 9n3 front and back fitted on a 9n 1.4 tdi twist . Plenty stopping power now should last for years.

[RUM4MO]

To the OP, your dealer was just being lazy, VW and I'd suspect all VAG marques, can retrieve all relevant info on your car's original build from what is called a "car data" statement, what you and other's that feel they need to do, is, go into your local VW parts department and ask nicewly for a "car data" printout for your car - they will need the VIN to do this. This printout should include all possible build options right down to battery size etc and does come in quite handy at times (better to be prepared than to end up being sold wrong parts).

OEM brake pads, I think that VW use Pagid on the front and Textar on the rear as factory fit items (they are both TMD friction companies) - well that was what is on my wife's Polo 9N. The only problem with sourcing these parts is that the main nonVAG parts vendors are ECP and GFS and they too are a bit lazy so they only hold a very small range of almost equivalnet pads. This can mean that you can or will end up with no ant-squeal bits fitted to the pads you buy - so you can end up with lots of annoying noises (like a taxi!) now and again, also you can or will end up with the wrong "sex" wear indicator connectors - again another unecessary inconvenience - especially if like me you buy "ahead" and when you take the old pads out its "WTF?"

So, now that you know which calipers you have (rear will always be Lucas), and you know the "PR" (option) code from the "car data" printout, go onto both these brake manufacturer's sites and you will, without any doubt, find the correct codes for the pad kits, especially if buying from a non-VAG source. With all due respect to the brake place your GF's mum works for, I'd doubt if they will be able to source the exact pad kits you need unless they can source Pagid and Textar and you will be able to give them the exact kit ref numbers for what you need.

Remember it is in any parts place's interest to keep stocking levels low and share across platforms as much as possible - by this can end up not being in your interest, buying cheap is only cheap if it is an equivant part and not just something that lots of small garages find okay and the punters know no differant! I had to carry the loss of a couple of pad kits and beg TMD UK to provide me with what I needed - that I'm afraid is a true story!

Another cruel and sad fact was that the rear pads that GSF had supplied originally were for a Sharan (right in every way but with wrong wear connector), but incorrectly labelled up by GSF at their main warehouse, handed them back in but local(ish) GSF had a back order on the correct Textar rear pads, so I ordered on-line after phoning GSF main office "are they Textar kit ref number blah blah blah?" answer was "yes that is exactly what they are" - they sent a Mintex kit (UK arm of TMD) but that was correct in every way except that they did not have anti-squeal fitted and that they were still using the original style bolts from 197? - and only supplied 2 bolts instead of four - so that also got handed back! Buying this sort of thing should not turn out to be a challenge - life's too short for that crap service - but their prices are very good!!

[RUM4MO]

i got cheap unipart pads b4 for my polo and they were crap, loads of dust and overheated very quickly!! pays to get good pads and discs on a fast hatch, i learned the hard way!

I did the same with my first car a fiesta 1.4s 75 hp not bad back in 88 and quite nipey . I fitted brown brother pads cost 4 quid ,compressed cardboard I later found out was the construction material. I went out to try them nothing heavy duty after about fifty miles or so of cruising I came home and tried to slow down into my road and the left handside stopped working all together total brake fade. At that I went back in and borrowed 10 quid of my mother and bought ferodo pads. Never again will I skimp on Brake pads. Rule of thumb now is buy the best or original from the manufacturers that way when you want to stop you will.

Now I go a bit further and up grade my brakes back and front to the highest spec I can with out being silly. All gti spec mk7 9n3 front and back fitted on a 9n 1.4 tdi twist . Plenty stopping power now should last for years.

Yes, I've always just bought Ford pads for all my Fords, but it did hurt quite a bit when I bought pads for my mother-in-laws Fiesta a year ago, as they cost a bomb - especially as in my heart of hearts I knew that she is not hard on the brakes AND the discs were very near their wear limit - and the MOT guy had given her an advisory on the pad wear while they were still at about half friction material thickness - but at least it stopped her worrying about them!

[MarcoPolo]

With all due respect to the brake place your GF's mum works for, I'd doubt if they will be able to source the exact pad kits you need unless they can source Pagid and Textar and you will be able to give them the exact kit ref numbers for what you need.

Hello sir, thanks for the reply and great info!

Brakeworld may sound like a cheapy "MotorWorld" Halfords equivalent, but I can assure you they are a very big player in the brake industry

They supplied us the right pads for £11!!

I fitted them last night and took it out for a spin and they felt just as good as the Ferodos I took off with the first press of the pedal, no bedding! I then left it with the girlfriend and she reports it feels the same as before, so that's a good sign.
I imagine they will be pretty darn good when fully bedded in. For £11, I am stunned.

Further more, the fit and finish of the pads was OE perfection. Can't fault them at all

[RUM4MO]

Out of interest what was the make of the kit you fitted?

[MarcoPolo]

It was these:-

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4008.htm

They're actually made by BrakeWorld. They're a biggie like TMD frictions.

[whitegtipolo]

bet they fade under harsh usage!

[MarcoPolo]

288s or 312s, they both fade to buggery no matter what pads you've got. Lost count of the amount of 312 discs I warped on my Corrado.

The only way to erradicate fade completely is with PROPER brakes..... AP Racing 4 or 6 pots

On a different note, those cheapy Brake World pads are bloody brilliant now they've bedded in Brilliant initial bite and feel nice a strong.

[RUM4MO]

It was these:-

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/brakeworld/ ... bw4008.htm

They're actually made by BrakeWorld. They're a biggie like TMD frictions.

Humm, I think that you should dig deeper before attempting to qualify that statement - you might even find that they do not claim to manufacture anything actually, just repackage parts made by someone we do not recognise in UK - but that does not mean that they are rubbish, more that it means that maybe they are just cheap copies of some main player's designs/patents. Just take a look at ebay to see how many Turkish government assisted companies there are flooding us with "almost Pagid" and "almost Textar" sort of pads that do not meet either of these companies quality or spec - but look almost the same. Take care now as some of these pads are not sold as fit for use on European roads so insurance claims could be invalid!

[MarcoPolo]

LOL, there's always someone waiting to pounce on an error or incorrect statement!

I guess you mean the pop up "Importers and distributors of brake friction, discs....blah blah"?

Well, since you've requested clarification, my girlfriend's Mum works for United Brake, who manufacture and supply a number of well known brake companies with their discs. I (wrongly) assumed Brakeworld was part of the same firm, but obviously not.

Trust me, I've been driving and modifying VWs for 20 years and have used the finest brake linings available, so I know a good pad when I see one and these Brakeworld ones are excellent for the money. OE plug and wire on the sensor pad, they fit in the calipers perfectly and the initial bite is far better than the pads that came off. Can't complain at all.