Hey Guys,

My brakes are a bit spongy and i want to upgrade/restore my brakes on my superbug. I want to leave it as discs in front and drums in rear for the time being because funds arnt avalible for discs on the rear at the moment.

So the question is, What can i do to restore brakes and also do a few lil mods to make em cooler and quicker to stop.

any ideas of parts to use, or how to do it or any advice at all comment below.

From Dylan

Dylan redo the stockers they are cheap and effective. When you want to spend real money on the donk then upgrade. M

Probably the best things you can do

1. put new fluid in the system and bleed them really well
2. put new rubber or if possible braided lines on
3. check all the fittings etc
4. upgrade brake pads, different poeple like different styles, but it depends on your use. There are places like QFM which will put any compound (from their range) on old backing plates (try GSL rallysport)
5. make sure the backing plates are in place
6. the fronts can be cross drilled, not sure how much this helps.
7. can got to type three drums on the rear, which are wider
8. Overhaul the MC if its really old
9. check the wheel cylinders on the rear.

Hi Dylan

I fitted early Type 3 callipers on David's bug, they have a slightly bigger piston, 42 mm instead of 40 mm, they do give more bite.

I'm going to upgrade these in the next few months, I bought a Vdub engineering Audi TT conversion for his bug, so they will be for sale in a few months.

Cross drilled rotors will crack.

Steve

Thanks for all that guys!

Arn't braided brake lines illeage? or can you get ADR approved ones? and also, how important are the backing plates? wouldnt it be more efficient for cooling to have them off and have drilled and slotted rotors?

From Dylan

also just remembered it is only a single circut brake MC not dual circt, and it looks pretty bad. I would like to set up dual brake circut system with warnign light.


From Dylan

Les,

Yes it is an S bug but it been replaced with a single one.

From Dylan

Sorry mate but highly illegal.

oh ok wow did'nt even know.

Do you have any good dual circut Master cylinders New or good used ones? i can buy?

From Dylan

Dylan what has been written is great advise. Replace the master cylinder with a new dual circuit one. New flexible lines will ensure there are no probs. and put superbug drum front end wheel. Blinders in the rear. That way you have more read end stopping power. But realistically you would probably be really happy with a fully stick system with all new parts where needed.

I dont think you would need to reace the following
Front discs
Front calipers
Rear drums
Handbrake
Hard brake lines

Good luck fella

Thanks mate and yeah really helpfull but what are blinders? and what do you mean superbug drum front end in it? It had the hard lines replaced but yeas soft ones need relaceing anyways they need shorter ones to fit into the new lowered struts

From Dylan

Dylan,

When you say duel circuit, are you talking about the brake fluid circuits (ie, front & rears are on separate lines), or are you talking about a master cylinder with 2 electrical brake light switches?

my standard brake on 72 sbug (decent second hand drum, new rear slave cylinder, 40 yo lines and everything else)
I get good pedal feel just from adjusting rear brakes
but it seems to go out every month or something

also if you can metal fabricate stuff,
it may be cheaper alternative to install, ie. ford laser brake on the back
what I'm doing is cut the drum into a hub and lathe the hub to fit the disc and then make the caliper bracket
also I'm saving up for a lathe atm lol
and yes a lathe is more expensive than a rear brake set up but I need it for other stuff aswell
(better to have and not need, than to need and not have)
it may be a good way to do it if u have access to a lathe, because u can just rock up at your nearest auto store and ask for pads

Change the master cylinder and stick with a set of type three rear brakes and over haul the fronts, you do not have to replace the calipers as a kit is available to rebuild them, depending on your driving style you can try a softer set of pads in the front as mentioned, any modifications will have to be engineered and approved for use on the road, with any modification there is a lot to concider, its just not as simple as installing another set of brakes, if you deceide to put disc's on the back make certain that they can be installed legally so they maintain the front to back bias, stay away from the EMP* rears as they have several problem's that seem to be unfixable. you get what you pay for.

Thanks heaps mate,

Yeah im not interested in EMPI for brake parts i dont trust them haha. I might be putting comodoore rear discs on the bug but at the moment im going for a pair of typre 3 rear brakes. So i can get these from any Type 3 or only certain models? I drive my bug pretty hard and will need to pull up pretty quick when i need it too and i dont want them to lock up just pull the car up real quick. So would i use soft or hard brake pads?

From Dylan

the basic rule is softer pads will give more bite, but will generate more heat and therefore will overheat quicker. they will also wear out sooner.

but different compunds are designed for different things. A metallic pad will give more bite and not be as heat sensitive, but will chew discs....

The QFM pads seem to have a few good cpompunds and they will put the material onto old pad backing plates.

I used to run stock pads in mine, and the only times i got fade was after 3 laps or QR or on a 15min blast through rathdowney.

Ok thanks heaps for that!

The Stock system is going to be good then. I got a good idea of what i wanna do now.

Thanks Every1

From Dylan

Soft pads, but the down side is that they wear quicker

No i will be using my new wheels that are coming. They are black.

From dylan

He's talking about switching the master from a dual circuit to a single.

i was under the impression that all road legal brake lines cannot be braided as it makes inspections impossible to detect ruptures or leaks..

makes good sense to me.

Oh and brand new german dual circuit masters $180.00.