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How to retro-fit the 312mm front brakes to a Mk7 Golf

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Ok, the carriers I took off that were the ones from the the 288s are marked with the 5QM code and the calipers have "57" on them. I'll just pull them off and measure the GD pistons, it's not hard to do and then can be sure.
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
If it has 57 marked on it its what the casting has been drilled for....57mm pistons....
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
If it has 57 marked on it its what the casting has been drilled for....57mm pistons....
Ok - I thought there were folks back a few pages back with calipers marked 57 but measured 55..am I losing it?
 
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golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Ok - I thought there were folks back a few pages with calipers with 57bthst were 55..am I losing it?

I just re-read a load of it..god its confussing.....

Basically loads of cars with 288mm discs..the VINs were stating 57mm pistons but having 55mm ones...or vice-versa......people getting confused with the PR codes etc...basically if you have looked at the caliper & it states 57 on it you have 57mm pistons..so easy swap from 288mm discs to 312mm discs...
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
I just re-read a load of it..god its confussing.....

Basically loads of cars with 288mm discs..the VINs were stating 57mm pistons but having 55mm ones...or vice-versa......people getting confused with the PR codes etc...basically if you have looked at the caliper & it states 57 on it you have 57mm pistons..so easy swap from 288mm discs to 312mm discs...
You are the man golfdave! Thank you - I have done the same...re-reading and it got confusing. Got them all bedded in today. Hit 200 miles and per the pamphlet that came with the EBC Redstuff pads, I did 5 repeats of slowing down from 60 to 20. Got them good and hot...smoking in fact! The braking at thei point can be described as smooth and not as grabby as the 288s/stock pad setup. EBC says the pads won't reach full-potential until 500-1000 miles once the break-in coating is completely gone. Great upgrade!
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Ok. I just popped the caliper off and measured it. I have a 2018 NA Golf Sportwagen S 4Motion (MK7.5). The piston measures 57mm. The caliper has "57" on the casting. The caliper also has a "15". The calipers I bought to get the 312mm carriers were from an Alltrack. The Alltrack calipers have 57mm pistons and say "57" on the casting. These however have the "16" on them. I conclude that the current Golf wagons have 57mm pistons and all say "57" on them which means 57mm pistons. The 15 or 16 on the casting *may* indicate the stock rotor size with 15 = 288 and 16 = 312 and is dependent on the model but doesn't indicate 55mm vs. 57mm pistons.
 
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golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Ok. I just popped the caliper off and measured it. I have a 2018 NA Golf Sportwagen S 4Motion (MK7.5). The piston measures 57mm. The caliper has "57" on the casting. The caliper also has a "15". The calipers I bought to get the 312mm carriers were from an Alltrack. The Alltrack calipers have 57mm pistons and say "57" on the casting. These however have the "16" on them. I conclude that the current Golf wagons have 57mm pistons and all say "57" on them which means 57mm pistons. The 15 or 16 on the casting *may* indicate the stock rotor size with 15 = 288 and 16 = 312 and is dependent on the model but doesn't indicate 55mm vs. 57mm pistons.


you are over complicating it...just focus on the 55 or 57 stamped on the caliper…!!

otherwise you'll get really confused as VAG "logic" can go completely out the window sometimes...:ROFLMAO:
 

davide.bonetti

Ready to race!
Location
ITALY
I completed the retrofit, the garage was 10 minutes driving from home, very close. since pads and rotors are new I am braking very softly. anyway it SEEMS like the braking action is more "prompt".

unfortunately I could not retrofit DCC shocks. while at the garage we found out that the DCC shock base will not fit into my wheel bearing housing. I am talking about the front axle. I quickly reached out to PL24 to examine the problem, and DCC equipped cars from factory have a different housing with a larger bearing, 85mm versus 80mm. it also looks like the piece is aluminum versus cast iron.

this really slapped me in the face, if I had known at the beginning I would have not taken the DCC retrofit project. now I have installed everything (5 extra sensors, control module and wiring), only the shocks are missing, so I am inclined to finish it, but at what cost?

wheel housing and bearing are stupid expensive if bought new and, while I can find them at a decent price on the used market, now I am debated because there might be other pieces that need to be swapped, like tracking arm and coupling joints.

F*** :)
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
I completed the retrofit, the garage was 10 minutes driving from home, very close. since pads and rotors are new I am braking very softly. anyway it SEEMS like the braking action is more "prompt".

unfortunately I could not retrofit DCC shocks. while at the garage we found out that the DCC shock base will not fit into my wheel bearing housing. I am talking about the front axle. I quickly reached out to PL24 to examine the problem, and DCC equipped cars from factory have a different housing with a larger bearing, 85mm versus 80mm. it also looks like the piece is aluminum versus cast iron.

this really slapped me in the face, if I had known at the beginning I would have not taken the DCC retrofit project. now I have installed everything (5 extra sensors, control module and wiring), only the shocks are missing, so I am inclined to finish it, but at what cost?

wheel housing and bearing are stupid expensive if bought new and, while I can find them at a decent price on the used market, now I am debated because there might be other pieces that need to be swapped, like tracking arm and coupling joints.

F*** :)

It has always been known that all AWD/GTI/GTD/R, & DCC cars have aluminum hub carriers for a 55mm damper....everything else gets cast iron for a 50mm damper...& also the bearings are bigger in the aluminium one eg 85mm -vs- 80mm dia for cast iron...

You didn't do your research thoroughly enough...

The Golf Clubsport/Audi TT? 85mm bearing is ever tougher than the Golf 85mm...
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
I completed the retrofit, the garage was 10 minutes driving from home, very close. since pads and rotors are new I am braking very softly. anyway it SEEMS like the braking action is more "prompt".

unfortunately I could not retrofit DCC shocks. while at the garage we found out that the DCC shock base will not fit into my wheel bearing housing. I am talking about the front axle. I quickly reached out to PL24 to examine the problem, and DCC equipped cars from factory have a different housing with a larger bearing, 85mm versus 80mm. it also looks like the piece is aluminum versus cast iron.

this really slapped me in the face, if I had known at the beginning I would have not taken the DCC retrofit project. now I have installed everything (5 extra sensors, control module and wiring), only the shocks are missing, so I am inclined to finish it, but at what cost?

wheel housing and bearing are stupid expensive if bought new and, while I can find them at a decent price on the used market, now I am debated because there might be other pieces that need to be swapped, like tracking arm and coupling joints.

F*** :)


You didn't read the first post in this actual thread did you??….

""Back Ground Facts:-
Upgrading the brakes on VAG cars using parts from other higher performance VAG cars has been common for years. This 312mm brake set up is used on various other MQB platform VAG cars. On all basic Golf’s (Not GTD/GTI/R, etc) the standard & factory option “sports” dampers are 50mm diameter & fit into a cast iron hub carrier. This is fitted with an 80mm diameter wheel bearing.
The DCC dampers are thicker at 55mm diameter & require the thicker 55mm aluminium/alloy hub carrier. So to fit DCC to a “basic” Golf, VAG decided against making a 55mm cast iron hub carrier as they assumed more of the “sporty” cars would be ordered with DCC. So they use the existing aluminium/alloy hub carrier which is standard on the GTD/GTI/R/ & Audi MQB cars. This is made for all 55mm dampers (DCC & non-DCC) & has a 85mm wheel bearing to cope with more torque etc.""
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
VCDS says NO..

Nothing written in VCDS..so manually changed the bit from 24 (288mm) to 34 (312mm)...then VCDS threw a stupid "this module appears to be un-initialised" message, used stock importer coding & then it threw it all out saying "out of range".....bugger..

module all ok & back to previous ok...
I note that they say byte 17 is a mirror of byte 4 - do you think that's the issue? Like you have to do 17 first then 4?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...rTnT22BEh8ocQ1V1qpXOTBX84/edit#gid=1122661309
 

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golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
I note that they say byte 17 is a mirror of byte 4 - do you think that's the issue? Like you have to do 17 first then 4?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...rTnT22BEh8ocQ1V1qpXOTBX84/edit#gid=1122661309

Oooooh!....also noted (pondered) the other night that VW fits the 312mm discs with the alu hub carriers...which have the bigger bearing to spread the load on the alloy...is the ABS reluctor ring the same diameter on both bearings???...as if you change the ABS coding to 312mm it might now read wrong!!...

Will have a good look as that table you link to which has PR codes...which I can decipher....
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Oooooh!....also noted (pondered) the other night that VW fits the 312mm discs with the alu hub carriers...which have the bigger bearing to spread the load on the alloy...is the ABS reluctor ring the same diameter on both bearings???...as if you change the ABS coding to 312mm it might now read wrong!!...

Will have a good look as that table you link to which has PR codes...which I can decipher....
Go forth and research golfdave!
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
One first inspection, comparing a Meyle 80mm & 85mm bearing from the pictures....the difference is a thicker wall outside of the reluctor ring....so the ABS ring looks the same.....!
 
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