Anybody want to give me a suggestion for where I can start looking for vented front rotors to suit a Beetle? Maybe Gemini? Audi? Goggomobil? BMW? I don't mind leafing thru catalogues, but it's always nicer to benefit from others' experience. Stud pattern is not important but the ability to 'drop on' to the stock bearings would be nice... :thumb
you can have yours vented not sure who would do it
depends on where you are.
I know guy harding from brisbane had the drums on his beetle drilled
marcel
BizarreModeratorThe artist formerly known as blue74l
the ability to 'drop on' to the stock bearings would be nice...
sorry but i dont think there is anything.
I had some rotors from DBA but they didnt quite fit. Needed a bit on machining. They werent vented but...slotted??
Dont think there are any left. The pic below is of them
The only thing i can think of is 944 and super beetle.
You really need to work woith your offset then
I think Richard Holzl has some Porsche ones for sale. Front and rear.
Ask Alex, he should know. Pretty sure they were selling the ones on his car
Vented rotors are much thicker, so you will need to go for a caliper upgrade as well. There are many ways to this, you will need to work out if you really need them for your application and see how much money you need to spend. I spent around $4,000 on my Porsche front & rear brakes, it could have been done cheaper but I wanted to still keep the wheels I was using under the guards, so I had some very expensive machining done.
there was an article in hot vw's a few years ago (maybe it was 10?) about cross drilling it seemed to be an easy way to upgrade your brakes?
does it weaken them much?
marcel
Steve, yep they're thicker 😉 I have a selection of callipers being considered for conversion. Calliper selection depends on disc selection - hence why I am asking!
Blue 74, Steve, I am prepared to get some bearing hubs made to use a centreless 'hat style' rotor if I have to. Will be modified to BMW/Commodore PCD and use studs.
I bought the first four sets of slotted rotors from DBA a few years ago (I commissioned their manufacture) they're good upgrade on the street with std callipers and good pads. Type82e: thanks for the tip but cross-drilling is useless on a non-vented rotor - and to be frank, FUKKEN DEADLY if done DIY...
you can buy kits from the US that comes with a wider vented front discs, otherwise the same as the stock disc. It also comes with a spacer to widen the stock caliper (since the stock ones are split down the middle). I thought it was a pretty wild idea...
type82e wrote:there was an article in hot vw's a few years ago (maybe it was 10?) about cross drilling it seemed to be an easy way to upgrade your brakes?
does it weaken them much?
marcel
DBA don't recommend using cross drilled rotors for motor sport as under extreme use the cross drilling can lead to stress cracks.
I would recommend using slotted rotors. I have these on my High Powered Street Car (240Z) and they are significantly better that the stock (solid) factory rotors.
Wes: good idea - but I'm after larger pad area (using Aussie Holden/Ford callipers) and piston diameter to keep the bias correct F/R to suit the rear discs I'm using. It'd be nice to know what rotors the US kit uses...? Audi, BMW? Or specially-made disc? Diameter isn't a huge concern (give or take a bit from OE specs) but hat height/offset (to fit behind normal offset rims) and being vented is.
MikeM: yeah, as mentioned in last post, I had DBA manufacture some slotted rotors (243S, if you want to order them!) a few years ago. I also had them on my V8 Commodore. Stock-size 290s at first, then when I destroyed them, fitted twin-piston PBRs over 330mm VN Group A slotted rotors. Luverly!
Otherwise, as I said, I'll be getting friendly with the DBA catalog and my local machinist adapting an OE rotor from something else (possibly with use of separate hubs) to the VW spindle. Just got to find the 'Something Else'!
PS: For those who are interested, DBA also does a Porsche stud pattern (5x130mm) front rotor: DBA part number 911
I have been doing some thinking since I finished the Porsche brakes on my bug. On the front if I did it again I would go about it another away.
This applies to factory disc brake equiped cars. I would use a stock beetle rotor or drum (drilled and studded to Porsche PCD or whatever), remove the braking surface, then use this as a mounting flange for Boxster rotor, use a Boxster caliper, these have a radial mounting bolt, have a square alloy block made up to bolt to the factory caliper mounting points and then the Boxster caliper bolts onto the alloy block. You would get a small track increase using Beetle rotor as thick as the mounting flange and lesser increase using a Beetle drum as they give a smaller track from the factory. The increase in track would only be the thickness of the mounting face on the Boxster rotor x 2. You could use this idea with any hat type rotor. I feel the Boxster caliper is the best choice because of the radial mounting makes for easier braket making and the relative thinness of the Boxster rotor is btter suited to lighter cars such as bugs.
I dont have any Boxster parts to measure up, Im sure this could be made to work, does anyone have any dimesions of the Boxster rotor? I know they are 298 mm x 24 mm but I dont know the depth of them.
VWCOOL, are going to Nambucca, we could do some bench brake research.
One of my best mates just sold his Boxster - we could've pulled his apart!
If I can't find 'drop-on' vented rotors, I will adapt discs from another car, as you have. I am thinking along similar lines (OE rotors on custom-made hub, possibly using as u suggest a machined-down Beetle rotor) but using cheaper components than Porsche (Commodore/Falcon etc). This will keep costs down and get engineer-ok extremely strong braking performance, as the Commodore components are designed for 1500+kg. And are relatively cheap... (But no block mounts, of course...)
If you look at my rotors I used a stock 130 pcd rotor, cut off the braking surface and mounted the rotor from the back. I think WRXs have nice size drop on rotors.
How many sleeps to Nambucca. Dont look for my car as it wont be there, I will be around talking shit and benchracing somewhere.
Volkspower wrote:We haven't actually fitted any yet but if you are interested I can trial fit them tomorrow and tell you which ones work with them.
Cheers
Chris
I'm assumeing these are custom Rotors with VW hubs or are they actually something off another car?
They are custom made to fit a VW. We have them in stock in 5x100 and can get 4x100 and 5x130. Also have rear drums in matching stud patterns at $175+ each.
Chris
Cool. Any chance of getting them in 5x112? That would be good as the 3 beach buggies in my garage are all running Kombi hubs on the back. It would be nice to have Kombi stud pattern on the front as well. 🙂
