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

WhyNotZoidberg?

Ready to race!
Location
Chi-Town
Car(s)
2017 GTI, 2015 TDI
Thanks Dave!!
The 312mm/57mm piston improvement in stopping power & brake feel is quite dramatic, especially in a heavier TDI wagon!

GTE calipers on my TDI:

GTE calipers.jpg
 
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WhyNotZoidberg?

Ready to race!
Location
Chi-Town
Car(s)
2017 GTI, 2015 TDI
This thread has been very helpful. I have a North American 2015 Golf TDI with 288mm front brakes. I was lucky enough to find some new Euro GTE blue 312mm calipers and carriers.

The swap went fine with new rotors and Hawk pads. I did not change the splash shields because per VW the 288mm TDI cars have the same splash shields as the 312mm cars. Now when driving in hard rain on the highway for long periods when I hit the brakes and it takes a second to dry/clear the water. Only happened twice on long trips with lots of rain and not touching the brakes for long periods of time.

Just seeing if any other TDI guys went through this. Going to try and get the part numbers of the existing shields.

In the dry or not torrential rain the brakes are great.

I have (almost) the same car, 2015 TDI Sportwagen 6MT w/ GTE calipers. I also put on Stoptech slotted rotors & EBC Red pads, dust shields left in place.

I got almost 2000 miles on them now (installed right before the new year), most of them highway miles with cruise-control at 89 :) through snow/sleet/rain fabulous midwestern winter weather and haven't experienced anything like your issues in the rain.

I also haven't had any water/rain braking issues with my 2017 GTI when I still had the OEM 340mm PP brakes w/ smooth rotors and the garbage OEM pads. (before I swapped in the TTS fronts)
 
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tigeo

Autocross Champion
Checked mine today - mine was set to medium from the factory.
 

mayday_soc

New member
Location
RI
Car(s)
MK7 TDI
So after reading through this thread more than a few times, what’s the consensus on NA TDI models? (they come with steel hubs and 55mm calipers). Can we swap to 312mm rotors and the gti calipers or do we have to swap out hubs and master cylinders too?
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
So after reading through this thread more than a few times, what’s the consensus on NA TDI models? (they come with steel hubs and 55mm calipers). Can we swap to 312mm rotors and the gti calipers or do we have to swap out hubs and master cylinders too?


GTI 312mm discs & 57mm piston calipers will straight fit onto a steel hub....like mine...just I have non painted 57mm calipers which came with my steel hubs.....so I just required the bigger carrier to space the caliper further out to fit the bigger 312mm discs....


as for master cylinder I think you will be ok..

so just get GTI 312mm discs, pads, calipers, caliper carrier....
 

mayday_soc

New member
Location
RI
Car(s)
MK7 TDI
GTI 312mm discs & 57mm piston calipers will straight fit onto a steel hub....like mine...just I have non painted 57mm calipers which came with my steel hubs.....so I just required the bigger carrier to space the caliper further out to fit the bigger 312mm discs....


as for master cylinder I think you will be ok..

so just get GTI 312mm discs, pads, calipers, caliper carrier....

Thank you for your response. I saw the link for the non painted earlier in the thread and that’s the route I’m going to go. Will EBC green pads be a good match for them?
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Thank you for your response. I saw the link for the non painted earlier in the thread and that’s the route I’m going to go. Will EBC green pads be a good match for them?

avoid those pads..I used to have, but they separated from the backing plates..so did my mates!...for standard might as well get plain Brembo or ATE,
 

mayday_soc

New member
Location
RI
Car(s)
MK7 TDI
GTI 312mm discs & 57mm piston calipers will straight fit onto a steel hub....like mine...just I have non painted 57mm calipers which came with my steel hubs.....so I just required the bigger carrier to space the caliper further out to fit the bigger 312mm discs....


as for master cylinder I think you will be ok..

so just get GTI 312mm discs, pads, calipers, caliper carrier....

Please forgive my ignorance but does the 199$ eBay link most people have been using include the correct carrier? ex:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/pair-brake...258608&hash=item215d8fb893:g:wtYAAOSwYNdcbYVP
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate

mayday_soc

New member
Location
RI
Car(s)
MK7 TDI
So I lowered my new to me dieselgate NAR TDI last week and figured I’d do the brake upgrade at the same time. I ordered all the parts/replacement stretch bolts in advance. Per the VW parts website I’m supposed to have calipers ending in 123/124 which this retrofit in not designed for. Turns out I already had 57mm on my calipers. So to any other NAR TDI owners out there you might want to check yours first and save the $199 on carries/calipers. You can see in one of the pics the caliper I took off with the 57 right next to the new one and both the calipers and carriers appear to be identical. I had completely finished the job before I even thought to look. I thought for sure from everything I read I would’ve had a 55 on my original calipers.

I used factory akebono pads, none of that fancy stuff, but I did do the the crossdrilled slotted rotors for esthetics due to my wheel choice. I forgot to weigh the before/after calipers but the wheel/tire savings was give or take 10lbs. 18” Durban’s weighted in at 21.7kg/47.8lbs and Neuspeed rse05 17x8 with 235/45 weighed in at 16.8kg/37.0lbs per my convert app.

B8s with HR springs feel great. I had some slight rear rubbing with all 4 Durban’s, old parts, spare tire, and tools in the back. After unloading and driving with passengers I haven’t rubbed since.

The difference in the braking is astronomical and that initial sticky grab every time I touch the brake pedal is long gone. I have not done any hard braking yet. Akebono recommends 400 miles of moderate braking first.

Thank you GolfDave for posting this and for Responding to my questions. Here’s a few pics.
FDD05D03-98FF-4B5F-9941-B2BF44A9AAC7.jpeg
F9DF8D30-542C-4196-B6AB-4BFA9F918A99.jpeg
68478543-F0FB-4EB8-A3B6-F21723DDACD1.jpeg
DE1C3470-0B4E-4BE2-B674-CDC67BB42A9D.jpeg
8A90FB48-539C-4014-B2FF-77D680481296.jpeg
 

Elwood

3-7-77
Location
Long Beach, CA
Alright. Someone else with 17s. By the way, I experienced "that initial sticky grab every time I touch the brake pedal" after I did this mod. It was recently corrected when I flushed out all the old brake fluid.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Shouldn't be elsewhere as its mainly the ABS module (can't see why any other module would need the info as it gets it from the ABS unit)...I need to get out & have another VCDS bash at the car,....It could be a "fixed" parameter which is linked to component protection (totally wild guess)

Did you ever play around with this setting anymore/figure out why it won't allow you to change it?
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Did you ever play around with this setting anymore/figure out why it won't allow you to change it?

No not had a play...but I think there is a "fail safe" in VCDS which stops certain functions....but looking on the Rosstech site there was a work around by ticking the other box when the pop up window occurs....

I'm head down will writing for myself & my mum as our solicitors who I instructed back in January fecked up & I had to fire them....so doing it myself...also sorting out loads of photographic stuff...about 1yr behind on that!!!...
 
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