My pads are starting to get pretty worn, especially the rears, so I decided that I'm going to get a performance brake kit (cross-drilled rotors, pads). Where can I get a good quality kit for a decent price? Brembo is too expensive, plus I would need to get 17" wheels. I have a 99.5 1.8T, sport suspension. My goal is to spend less than $1k.

 

Don't bother with cheap drilled discs. You are better off getting oen audi discs, and a decent set of pads, and decent brake fluid... Ther eis a lot of bollox written about brakes. You can improve what you have without the absurd expense of new discs, calopers, etc... Buy new discs, and get good fast road pads. NOT race pads, as they require high temps to work well...

 

I concur...The point of slotted rotors are to keep your pads clean from dust and grime and the point of cross drilled rotors are to help dissipate heat at high temperatures, In which if you aren't racing everday then it makes no difference really...If you are interested in the look of the rotors and calipers I suggest go to a local shop that sells parts for your car and buy some cross drilled rotors from them, when I inquired they were something like 65 for the front and around 50 for the back. Then while you change your rotors just take the calipers off and paint them...You will have a clean look with your new 17's for way under 1k...Let us know how it works out. and 1 more thing...Brembo is overpriced...If you aren't doing track runs on Laguna Seca and stopping from 130mph-0 everyday then in my opinion they are for looks...Save your money and invest the rest in a nice set of wheels.

 

as these guys have already stated, cross-drilled and slotted rotors are pretty much useless to you. not to mention you'll have to replace your pads twice as often. bigger rotors, however, will definitely be beneficial to you. www.purems.com has an awesome BBK for 350 bucks that includes larger rotors (A8 rotors, i believe) and carriers. You keep your stock calipers, pads, etc. upgrading your rear brakes is pretty much a waste of time and money.

 

Good point, forgot to mention that your pads get worn down faster. But yeah bigger rotors are not a bad idea, if you were looking for a cheaper way to stop better and not just for looks...350 isn't bad...Is that for front and back Bentframe?

 

Decent pads, decent fluid, and 4 good tires.

 

no, that's just fronts

 

ecs has a good kit that uses the stock calipers and upgrades to a bigger disc for $650

 

I don't agree that bigger rotors are a good idea. They look nice, yup, but do they make you brake quicker? Nope. Again, the extra cooling you get from a bigger set of rotors are great if you track your car, or drive like a loon, BUT for normal people, who drive fast on occasion, its not really worth the extra expense.

To start with, the most important factor in braking is your tyres. then the quality of your brake pads, and discs, and fluid. Size doesn't really come into the equation for 99% of drivers.

Put it this way, if you can lock your brakes, or get the abs to come into effect in a straight line, then you are already applying enough force on your current brakes than the tyre can cope with. Bigger discs will only mean that you apply less force on your pedal to apply this force. You can have brakes from an F1 car but stick with regular road rubber, and you will still break the friction, and cause a skid with the same amount of force on the brake.
The best thing you can do for your brakes is get better rubber, better pads, decent discs, and decent fluid, (most brake fade problems are actually the fluid boiling, and the air bubbles in the liquid compress more than the fluid does).

sorry it may not make sense, but thjere are better things to spend cash on than a new spangly brake conversion... Just buy decent quality stuff for the brakes you already have...

 

I have the rotors purems.com has, teh zimmerman ones, and i got some perfromance pads. Still breaking them in but i needed to replace both so i figured whats another $30.