I've read a lot of threads about powertrain upgrades - chips, exhausts, cold air intakes, air filters, turbos etc. My car goes fast but my brakes suck!

After tinkering with the engine and exhaust a little I feel a little unbalanced so I've been researching big brake packages for a while now but I'm finding it hard to justify spending the bucks. My rear rotors needed replacing recently so I upgraded to Zimmerman drilled rotors and a set of ceramic pads - they're identical to the Brembos so if I finally pull the trigger on the fronts the drill pattern will match and it wont look like an after thought.

I wasn't expecting any significant boost in braking power but it's amazing what fresh fluid and better pads (I went ceramic - more dust but better stopping) can do for your crappy stock rear calipers. I was also thinking of switching out the brake lines to SS for reduced balooning and quicker response - stock lines make the audi brakes feel spongy at the best of times.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who went with drilled or slotted front rotors and better pads without ugrading the calipers - was it worth it or should I drop the bucks on a 355mm set? For that matter I'dlove to hear from anyone with an opinion on this. I'm not building a race car here but it would be nice to stop this pig when I'm testing the upper limits on a winding mountain road.

Post your thoughts on brakes - I need some good advise.

 

STaSIS/Alcon 370mm get my vote



If you're running a 1.8T, upgrading to 3.0 Carriers and using the 3.0 larger rotors in combination with some more aggressive pads (eg PBR XBR, or Hawk HPS) and SS lines will go a long way towards making the car stop better. If course by the time you've spent that money, you would've been $500+ closer to a BBK

 

Cheers buddy - that's what I'm thinking. If I spend a bit and I'm still not happy then it wasn't worth it. But then just how much is enough? With me sometimes it's never enough.

I do know that what I have now isn't good enough. Question is will stock size Zimmerman drilled rotors with stock 1.8T calipers primo ceramic pads and SS lines be enough?