Charles@NGP
Ready to race!
Thanks for the info on the 245's. It'll be at least until next year before I switch to those, as I literally just put the 235's on! Not to mention in a week my work commute is going to change from 32 miles each way to 4...
As for the calipers, I'll also be doing the TTRS master cylinder. Also, from what I found the 18Z are a better match than the 17Z as far as piston area goes. The 18Z should be the ~ 2749 mm² variant..
Edit #3.. Since you seem to be well versed in the brake area, what is your opinion on the Golf R brakes vs the 18Z's? I actually like the way the R brakes work, which is MUCH better than the Boxster non-S caliper on stock sized rotors, I just hate the way the caliper looks. Will I actually be gaining anything going to 18Z's?
You're most welcome for the info, always glad to spread proper knowledge around.
As to the Golf R brakes, I think it's one of the better cast caliper options for a Mk5/Mk6 model. The rotor size advantage over the factory brakes gives that extra torque that I feel is needed on these cars. The pad sweep area is excellent on the calipers as well. In addition, rotor selection is great for the Golf R brakes, with multiple manufacturers producing several different variations.The biggest downside to the R brakes has to be the weight though. They weigh in at almost 19 lbs apiece for just the calipers by themselves (4 piston brembo calipers are almost half that weight).
You are correct about the 18z calipers having a better piston surface area than the 17z calipers for the VW master cylinders. With the 17z calipers you're "missing" around 30% of the brakes and with the 18z calipers it's closer to 20%.
What's the piston area of the wilwood kit?
Not to derail the thread but do you think the TTS MC was a good choice for the Wilwood 6-pot super light front kit and Golf R rear brakes on my GTI?
This is for the Wilwood Superlite 6 piston kit. It's a bit on the higher side, but it isn't horrible. With a TTRS master cylinder it would be spot on.
Wilwood FNSL6R: 41.1 + 28.4 + 28.4 mm > 1330 + 636 + 636 mm² = 2602 mm²
For anyone looking to calculate brake information for themselves, here's a great site with several different calculators to use.
I currently have TTRS brakes on my CC. While I feel that the calipers are the best possible drop-in solution for any of the VW/Audi models that can fit them, I do have one huge beef with them: the massive freaking rotors!
Why are the rotors on so freaking big!?!? I get that they give you a nice huge initial bite with all of that torque and all, but it's a pain to find aftermarket 18" wheels to fit over these things. They're also insanely heavy and just about negate the weight advantage of the lightweight calipers. And since that rotor never got used on any other models than the TTRS/RS3, selection for aftermarket rotors is slim to none. 350-360mm would have been a much better size than the 372mm monsters that come on these things.
That being said, if you get the kit to convert the TTRS brakes to use 345mm rotors, you will have it all: great rotor selection with your choice of lightweight hatted rotors or inexpensive factory replacement rotors, and they fit under a ton of wheels!
I'll stop de-railing the thread with this brake nonsense. Now get back to posting up sweet big turbo stuff so I can get back to reading it.