UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Not a problem at all. Email has been sent. Hope you get some use out of it, and it also details that tool needed, that I couldn't remember specifically.

The calipers are a single large diameter cylinder, a wee bit bigger than those found on your current brakes. The advantage to running this set-up it can accomodate the 20mm wide vented discs as opposed to your standard solid discs. This should reduce brake fade a bit for you, and it makes warping the discs harder!

If you fancy having a nosey around some scrap yards for your calipers, have a look at Mark1 Golf GTis, and some Scirrocos, think its the GT2/GTX. make sure the calipers have 'VWII' in Roman numerals stamped into them, and jobs a good un.

Karl.

Email gratefully recieved - it seems a pretty straightforward job, but as usual the magazine tends to gloss over certain things, I'm sure I'll sus it out!

Ahah! I know that running the braided hoses will offer a firmer pedal, but is there anything else I can do? I've read about people fitting larger diameter Passat master cylinders, are they a direct swap are do they or the car require modification? To be fair the brakes on my GT aren't bad, you just have to press hard and far down the travel, but they do bring you to a halt pretty quickly. I've also noticed that the 'biting point' of the brakes, ie the free travel the pedal moves before meeting resistance, varies from day to day, sometimes its very little, other times its quite a lot. I don't know if I should be worried about this or not?

There's a big scrappers just at the bottom of my street, problem is people tend to get to stuff before I do! Mk1 Golf GTi's in there would be stripped very quickly! I'll keep my eye out on Porka and elsewhere for some calipers.

Continuing thanks for the advice!

Tom

camp out ....... its a warm time of year you shouldnt need a tent, just a thing sleeping bag

The Master cylinder you're thinking of is a 22mm master cylinder from (I think) a Passat 16V. Again, scrappies are good, though I think they are available from GSF for something in the region of £40.

Karl.

minis84 wrote:I've found some 175/60x13 Yokohama A539 tyres for £33 each

Whereabouts is that from? topgear.co.uk by any chance?

yup thats the place. I'm hoping they'll have them in stock when I need them.

Thanks Karl, I'll have a look around.

By the way, whats GSF?

That'll be German, Swedish and French Carparts http://www.gsfcarparts.com/. And forgot to say in my first post about the 22mm master cylinder, that that is a good way of reducing the 'sponginess' in the brake pedal. Though I have noticed a difference with just braided hoses.

Karl.

ahah, thanks for that Karl.

The master cylinder certainly sounds like a good idea. I reckon its worth upgrading to one, if I can find one.

Just got to get this pesky fan switch sorted out now! Gonna have to go down to the local VW dealership first thing tomorrow morning and get one ordered, can't take the chance over the weekend of it not working.

Bloody annoying though!

Tom

Could try one from GSF. For things like that they will be a wee bit cheaper than the 'stealers' lol.

Karl.

minis84 wrote:yup thats the place. I'm hoping they'll have them in stock when I need them.

Hopefully you'll have better luck than me then, they messed be about for 2 weeks - then I never heard back from them... I was doing it through my local branch rather than the website though.

My brother's just got some Yoko 175/50 R13 on his GT, got them from topgear via the web - but rang every day to hassle them, as the next day promised delivery turned into 5 days. But for cheapness they cannot be beaten.

hi Karl, me again!

Just reading through, you said I might need an offset of ET20 for the wheels. This is quite low, is it to keep the wheels within the width of the arch?

Thanks!

Tom

Now then, the lower offset means they will stick out further. This is the kind of offset I've seen others running, and seems to give few problems. I assume its to give that wide euro look, and allow a bit of clearance for calipers, etc, as those classics do have a bit of a flat face on them.

When you need to get it MOT'ed, I would suggest sticking the steels back on, as Theres a good chance that the wheels will protrude enough so the tyre tread will be very marginally under the arch.

If in doubt, however, I should imagine the guys at AAT will be able to recommend a good offset.

Karl.

if GSF are going to be the "cheap place to go" much longer what with the KS licensing trouble...

might end up cheaper importing those things from an overseas supplier on group buys instead

Now then, the lower offset means they will stick out further.

Duh, yeah course it does I was being daft there! Thats because the wheel centre is closer to the 'middle' of the rim, if you know what I mean?

I'll have to see what will fit and what looks best, they're saying that the wheel is only available with an offset of ET37 on t'internet, but I'm sure there'll be more available if I ask.

Thanks again Karl!

Ohhh yeah....

Ooops, must try not to take things so serious all the time hehehe.

Karl.