Fabia VRS Brakes - Rubbish?

[mr. hedgehog]

I took delivery of my VRS a couple of weeks ago, and immediately felt that the brakes were 'soft'. I queried this, and was told by the dealership to give the brakes time to bed in. I have now covered approx 2,000 miles and the brakes, IMO, are still stodgy and rubbish. I struggled to believe that all was as it is supposed to be with the car and thought i'd conduct a bit of a test... I drove my mates 100PD Fabia back to back with the VRS - we both agree that the 100PS stops sharper, by a small margin.

Coming from a 20vt leon, with very strong brakes with top notch pads and disks, i half wondered if i was expecting a bit much of the little green VRS calipers. This is what the dealership is implying anyhow. If this is the case, and I somehow doubt it is, i cannot help being disappointed by the braking performance of my new car. I was under the impression the brakes on the Fab VRS were the same as the ones on the Golf TDis? I've certainly seen no complaints on the forums about braking performance.

Anyone got any comments on this or advice for me? Thanks.

[Lummox]

Originally Posted by mr. hedgehog

the Fab VRS were the same as the ones on the Golf TDis?

Same size disc, pads and calipers are different.

[Chris GB]

Originally Posted by mr. hedgehog

I took delivery of my VRS a couple of weeks ago, and immediately felt that the brakes were 'soft'. I queried this, and was told by the dealership to give the brakes time to bed in. I have now covered approx 2,000 miles and the brakes, IMO, are still stodgy and rubbish. I struggled to believe that all was as it is supposed to be with the car and thought i'd conduct a bit of a test... I drove my mates 100PD Fabia back to back with the VRS - we both agree that the 100PS stops sharper, by a small margin.

Coming from a 20vt leon, with very strong brakes with top notch pads and disks, i half wondered if i was expecting a bit much of the little green VRS calipers. This is what the dealership is implying anyhow. If this is the case, and I somehow doubt it is, i cannot help being disappointed by the braking performance of my new car. I was under the impression the brakes on the Fab VRS were the same as the ones on the Golf TDis? I've certainly seen no complaints on the forums about braking performance.

Anyone got any comments on this or advice for me? Thanks.

Dont know what you are expecting but I find the VRS brakes to be satisfactory for road use and I dont drive like an angel. Do you get the feeling you are not getting enough stopping power, then all of a sudden you get significantly more?

Chris

[mr. hedgehog]

None when pressing lightly - then, if i mash the pedal REALLY HARD, i get some feeling of stopping. on weekend I tried slowing from 80 to 0 approaching a roundabout on some duel carridgeway and nearly overshot the line - my old leon would have stopped in half the distance and it weighs more. There doesn't seem to be any 'bite'.

[Shifty]

When I was still on standard brakes, i thought they were far from rubbish tbh.

[aixlad]

I must admit I was quite disappointed with the brake performance at first, but after they had bedded in, they were OK. I remember it took ages to bed them in because I drive like a Granny and feel cheated if I don't get 70mpg!

[Wardy]

I just find they don't inspire much confidence. Maybe that's the best way of putting it.

I've found in the past, with reasonably extreme breaking, they'll eventually work, but for the majority of the time, in those situations, you feel it's more by fluke that anything else!

Maybe that's why the 312mm upgrade is such a popular one?? Or maybe people put them on for a variety of reasons, I don't know.

Steve

[mr. hedgehog]

How far do people think 'bedded in' is for you avarage 55mpg av driver? I think there may actually be something wrong with my brakes - especially as my mates PD 100 stops if not much better, definitely as well.

A change of pad and disk worthwhile - had ferodo on the leon and it made a significant difference to already strong brakes.

[mr. hedgehog]

Confidence sums it up - i have no faith in their ability to save me if some uninsured nova boy pulls out in front of me. I'm having it mapped next month - i'm getting a bit concerned that the brakes arn't up to the job...

[Wardy]

If you're getting it remapped, I'd certainly get them uprated before then. In fact I'd do brakes and springs before map, but that might just be me

On the bedding in question, I'd say 200 miles or so. And a few 'emergency stops' from 60-ish to just short of zero. Seemingly a well-documentated way of improving brake feel/performance. Has been covered on here before.

Check out GolfTurbo's thread for the kits, as mentioned, you can't go far wrong at £225. Cracking value compared to the sum of those parts from a stealer

Steve

[Milkyjohn]

I am not sure why they need bedding in so much,mine felt like oil contamination at first or as if somthing slippery was on the disk but after first week they are strong and powerfull enough for the car they feel even better after a few thousand miles

[SkodaLover]

I refer to my brakes as "one shot pot's" meaning they're only good for one high speed stop, before masses of brake fade

They are fine for slow or city driving and are quite sharp... BUT

I had one really bad expierence, when I had four passangers in the car, I came off a motorway and was attempting to pull up behind a row of stationary cars at the bottom of the slip, that were waiting at the traffic lights. I was not speeding, I started to brake well in time (what I thought would be ample time), I was absolutly ON the brakes and I just (JUST) managed to stop in time! That's seriously put the wollies up me!

I do not rate the brakes...

[chris_newell41]

I think you all drive too fast. I think they have tests for this kind of stuff. Called Stress test etc.

Also I have seen the stopping distances for a fabia VRS which lower than other hot hatches that are much lighter.

80mph - 0 onto a round about are you nuts!

[Wardy]

I've had that a few times too, leaving yourself what you think to be ample room. I think it's again to do with the feedback and confidence you have in them - you're applying what you consider to be reasonable pressure in a standard situation, then you realise that they're not biting enough and resort to stamping on them

This does remind me that I need to get on and paint my calipers and get those 312s on

Steve

[Shifty]

I actually think that the brakes give poor feel as standard, but work very well. I never had brake fade, nor any worries about stopping the car.
The TT calipers,tarox g88 disks, and tarox rallye pads that I have now, probably don't pull the car up much quicker than the standard ones, but they inspire confidence, which is a major factor when braking.

Tyres and tyre pressures are key to how your brakes feel too. Maybe your pressures are too low at the front. I used to run 36psi on the Conti Sport Contacts, and 34 psi in the Bridgestone Turanzas.

[Wardy]

Originally Posted by chris_newell41

I think you all drive too fast. I think they have tests for this kind of stuff. Called Stress test etc.

Also I have seen the stopping distances for a fabia VRS which lower than other hot hatches that are much lighter.

80mph - 0 onto a round about are you nuts!

As some have quoted, the issue can present itself in a 'normal' driving environment. 80-0 isn't that unusal, for me anyway - the A34 bypass up here allows this in between the roundabouts. In my case, I'm not talking about 'max attack' along the stretch and then standing on the anchors at the last possible moment for the roundabout, I'm talking about picking a braking point that you consider reasonable (and know that in previous cars in similar conditions stopping from this point was feasible) and the car not quite performing to your expectations. In all my cases, the car's pulled up with some room to spare, but it is un-nerving and not what I'd describe as ideal. OK, in a perfect world, we all wouldn't exceed the marked limits of 50/60/70 on the aforementioned road, but hey...

I just feel that if Skoda went to the trouble of creating a 'warm' hatch that gathers speed so safely and effortlessly, they might have put a bit more design into the brake system?

Feel free to disagree, but those are my views

Steve

[Wardy]

Originally Posted by Shifty

I never had brake fade, nor any worries about stopping the car.

I'm surprised TBH Dave, knowing your style

I remember doing some 70-0 stops, two within a couple of minutes of each other, and by the third stop there was significantly more travel on the pedal than at the beginning. Ironically this was an exercise to firm up and improve the braking feel Oh well....

Steve

[Shifty]

Originally Posted by Wardy

I'm surprised TBH Dave, knowing your style

I remember doing some 70-0 stops, two within a couple of minutes of each other, and by the third stop there was significantly more travel on the pedal than at the beginning. Ironically this was an exercise to firm up and improve the braking feel Oh well....

Steve

Im as puzzled as you, but if i'm honest, I won't lose any sleep over it. Poeple drive differently, and no two cars are identical. My remapped and fettled 306 estate got tremendous fade after a couple of good presses. Made driving quickly impossible, well stopping it anyhow. I genuinely thought the standard brakes on the Fabia were adequate for the standard car. My mate thought so too, he really loves to brake, and in his car, again all standard, regularly entered the sliproad to Charnock Richard services at maximum speed, only braking halfway down the slip, pulling up to a nice straight halt exactly where he wanted to. Unnerving as a passenger, but a testament to the Skoda's brakes.

Never once did i get brake fade on the standard setup. It seems alot of people claim to though, and I can't imagine that my brakes were special, so, who knows.

[Chris GB]

First up, pedal feel. In the standard vRS I feel that you get relatively little braking until you put more pressure on the pedal and then you get a lot. This can be disconcerting. I think it is the result of the braking assist system discussed here recently. Under moderate braking, the system behaves normally, under a little more pedal pressure, the servo effort increases and you find you either come up on the bend and have to brake very hard just before you get there, or you brake harder further out and end up too slow too early. This is a real pain in the **** and makes progress either full on or too relaxed. The system is just on its threshold at the sort of pace I like to enjoy country lanes at.

My theory is that by fitting the 312mm setup, you need less pedal pressure for the retardation required and thus dont encounter the servo rate change in spirited driving until you are really pressing on if ever.

With regard to the brakes generally, I have had the ABS on approaching corners in the dry at over 90mph, so they work OK. You cannot stop any quicker than the tyres will let you.

Brake fade has not been an issue either. Sure the pedal feel changes once you get heat into the system, but they have never faded, even on stretches of road where I have had fade in quite serious cars. They have never even started to grumble.

Could be you did not bed them in sufficiently when they were new (I have seen under use of new pads lead to a deep glaze layer that wont come off again as it "grows" through the pad). First advice (before ditching the pads or the whole braking system) is to try taking the pads out and grinding them down with a strip of emery cloth laid on a flat surface. Take about 1mm off the face of each pad and see if this improves things.

It certainly sounds as though you have a problem with the system. Just one last thought. Are you pressing the pedal hard enough? One of my pupils was unable to get the ABS in the car working on a dry road. Turned out he was used to driving his car with much bigger servo assistance on the brakes. He was just not putting enough pressure on the pedal, but thought the brakes were no good in the Fabia. Once he got them on properly, he changed his mind on that one.

Chris

[WW_VRS]

When I first got the car I really scared myself with regards the brakes - they were NOT bedded in yet. This combined with the 'pedal feel' section of Chris' post pretty much sums up my experience with the standard brakes.

The nose takes a dive when you really hit the brakes hard, which kinda makes it feel like you're really doing an emergency stop, whereas you're probably not. The natural response is to ease a little which will reduce the amount of braking force applied.

I am getting the 312 mm TT brakes fitted mainly as I want to avoid the insecurity factor. The brakes DO work fine however, and as already mentioned, tyre pressure is VERY critical for the vRS owing to it's heavy engine. Too low and you're all over the place generally, the car wallows (relatively speaking). Too high isn't good either but you get the idea

Ever tried switching from a car with servo assisted braking to one without and back again? In one direction it feels like the brakes have been removed and in the other it you'll brake FAR too hard initially