NA6 brake upgrade

[ham]

Thinking of upgrading the front brakes on my NA6 to those off an NA8. Does it make that much difference??

[Kieran]

I don't have a NA6 but i heard that swapping to the 1.8 brakes makes a significant difference on stock or slightly modded 1.6s if your making a rather large jump in HP(200RWHP+) i would probably just go for a big brake kit.
If not you can always just swap to the 1.8 brakes and if you want abit more of a firmer stop get a brace for the brake master cylinder and some good pads, fluid and SS lines should be enough for upto 150-200RWHP I think but I'm sure someone more knowledgable than myself will chime in.

[zippy2]

I swapped to 1.8 brakes several years ago and can give you some data points to consider.

on good road tires with good rubber at 100km jumping very hard on the brakes the front would lock up at 40km. - standard 1.6 discs, and standard oem pads.

I swapped to 1.8 brakes - same fluid, again oem pads - good rotors, same rubber - again tested several times - from 100km and it would now lock up at 60km - so some improvement, however not what I would expect.


Next I changed to some colbolt pads - and have used these now for about 6 years (several sets that is) for road and track use.

Same tires, same, fluid, same 1.8 rotors, same 100km, very hard braking, - I could now lock the wheels at 100Km - changed to track tires with race rubber (new fluid) - and it is possible to lock the wheels - even on the track at 100km - if I want - the pads are progressive so it is up to you how hard you brake - however if you do really jump on them they will lock.

- this was all with 185 *60, 14. Track tires are now 205*50*15 and yes they will lock at over 100km if I overdo it under braking on the track.

there is some discussion about the extra un-sprung weight of the 1.8s also being an issue if you are not adding some extra power.

So for me the pads were what made the most difference.

Did I "need" the 1.8s - I do not know.

[ham]

Thanks zippy2. Great feed back and real world things to ponder.

[Gravelben]

With standard power and normal road tyres I never had any issue with the standard NA6 brake performance on road or track, didn't even change the pads just put decent fluid in and it stopped hard every time with no fade.

[ross]

Front brake disc diameter goes from 235mm to 255mm and the pads are probably 1/4 larger than the 1.6.
Rear discs are bigger pad the same.
I guess if the factory fitted them they thought it was worthwhile.