Hey Guys,

Im Rebuilding the front end on my bug and want to upgrade or modifiy the front brakes on my beetle to something a bit better and also want to run a Subaru Stud Pattern of 5x 114.4 i think it is?? Wanting a Cheap upgrade thats a bit better and will suit.

From Dylan

Dylan the words cheap and brakes do not go together,the standard brakes with decent rotors and pads work quite well and would in my opinion be better off waiting until you can afford an upgrade. Cheers Les

Hey grumble, what rotors and pads can you upgrade to?

There are plenty of "kits" out there
V Force do a Boxster upgrade for one
You need to match the rears as well
There is not much change from several grand

Hi

The only bolt on upgrade is early Type 3 callipers, they use a 42 rather than a 40 mm piston. They use the same pads as 72 Supers, but have a single bleed nipple as opposed to supers which have twin bleed nipples.

I have them on my sons bug.

Steve

Correct

Type 3 drums are the go but parts are hard to get

Hi Lee,
Locking your front brakes up is no indication of how good they are and larger brakes are a huge improvement over the standard ones on your car, the brake should not fade and allow good modulation of the brake force without locking the wheels allowing you to be able to steer the car under heavy braking, if you drive your car with any spirit you will find the standard disc's fade quickly when you brake hard repeatly, i have engineered my four wheel disc brake conversion and both ends are vented 300 MM disc's with the fronts have a four spot calipers, major increase in braking force without any lock up.

Dylan go to your local brake shop, try and find one that deals with performance brakes/pads. Speak to them about getting some better material bonded to your pads and shoes. This will bring about a marked improvement for a little cost.

Good luck

Don't quote me on it but the type3 rear drums are 46mm wide shoes vs 40mm beetle ones sounds about right.
But it;s the design thats better, I had them on my black bug, they're like modern cars have with a hub then the drum sits over that, so the axle nut never needs undoing for anything other than bearing replacement.

Dylan, Subis are 5x100 but 5x114.3 is the better choice as it;s the most common stud pattern out there.

Falcon, toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi etc all use that pattern.

I have had fade twice in my life and it 'aint fun!
The pedal remains rock hard and the braking just fades away.
Real scary stuff.

The standard disc's on my 70 model beetle used to just lock, it was nothing or all with no control in between, the brakes that i built myself are so large for the car i have not been able to get them to fade,