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Brake Upgrade - solid to vented discs


mahon257

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My 1996 300TDi Disco (with ABS) has had many modifications - most of which have added weight to the car. She now weights just under 3 tonnes!

I have serviced the brakes (new pads/fluid + a new master cylinder). The brakes still ain't filling me with confidence - so I decided to "upgrade". I've bought new Vented+grooved discs and wide calipers from Paddocks.

Here's the problem. Currently the car has solid front discs, with a single brake hose leading to the calipers. The new calipers (dual pot) need 2 x brake hoses each. Oops.

Anyone know how to handle this? (apart from sending them back!)

I presume the current brake cylinder will need to be upgraded too - as more fluid than normal will be needed to move the pads? (I have no idea). I guess I may need a plumber!

Anyway, as usual - any advice much appreciated!

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Personally I wouldnt be to bothered about fitting vented discs unless for very heavy use. After reading various articles on brakes, over the years, I fitted cross drilled and grooved, non vented dics and decent pads. I was impressed with the improvement over standard discs and pads.

Reason being that short duration hard braking produces gas pockets under the pads and reduces braking however with cross drilling and grooving the gas can escape. The main reason manufacturers go for vented as oppossed to grooved and drilled is that its cheaper to produce.

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I've just upgraded my fronts on a 110 to vented, the disk diameter and the caliper are the same as the old solid ones but the calipers have a spacer in them for the extra width of the vented disk. The brakes operate the same as the solids but when stopping with a load on behind I find the vented brakes work better as the dissipate the heat quicker and so are more effficient at stopping. The down side is if you do offroading then the disks get clogged and are a pain in the butt to clean.

K

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I've just upgraded my fronts on a 110 to vented, the disk diameter and the caliper are the same as the old solid ones but the calipers have a spacer in them for the extra width of the vented disk. The brakes operate the same as the solids but when stopping with a load on behind I find the vented brakes work better as the dissipate the heat quicker and so are more effficient at stopping. The down side is if you do offroading then the disks get clogged and are a pain in the butt to clean.

K

Sounds like just the job... any idea where to get the spacer?

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Looked and couldnt find the spacer as a seperate part, and to be honest the thought of modifing the existing calipers did not appeal, replaced the calipers complete with new AP ones from Bearmach, and delphi disks, the vented disks are nearly as cheap as the solid ones. The truck is 1989 so was due a new set of disks and calipers anyway. Pedal is a little softer but I have also upgraded rears from drums to disks as well.

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My 1996 300TDi Disco (with ABS) has had many modifications - most of which have added weight to the car. She now weights just under 3 tonnes!

I have serviced the brakes (new pads/fluid + a new master cylinder). The brakes still ain't filling me with confidence - so I decided to "upgrade". I've bought new Vented+grooved discs and wide calipers from Paddocks.

Here's the problem. Currently the car has solid front discs, with a single brake hose leading to the calipers. The new calipers (dual pot) need 2 x brake hoses each. Oops.

Anyone know how to handle this? (apart from sending them back!)

I presume the current brake cylinder will need to be upgraded too - as more fluid than normal will be needed to move the pads? (I have no idea). I guess I may need a plumber!

Anyway, as usual - any advice much appreciated!

The existing flexy hose goes into a T piece then a short additional copper pipe is required to the extra inlet, a standard mod the kit is available from "go faster" auto shops. My front calipers each have 4 pistons as standard I thought that was the same for a Tdi.

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The existing flexy hose goes into a T piece then a short additional copper pipe is required to the extra inlet, a standard mod the kit is available from "go faster" auto shops. My front calipers each have 4 pistons as standard I thought that was the same for a Tdi.

Or you can use two flexies into a T piece fitted on the inner wing...it's up to you.

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Sorted...

The answer was to replace the solid front discs with vented, then replace stand disco front calipers with Defender 110 (part. STC1266) calipers. The def. calipers have a single hose fitting and are wide enough to take the wider discs.

Thanks to JSF!

Cheers

Nick

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