Errr, no. Ed 30 brakes are gash. You have 50 hp more at stage 1 than an r32 and brakes that were budgeted down. Anyway, you're happy with standard , I like braking late and being able to stop in an emergency situation. We're both happy
Standard brakes may well be gash, but they will still bring the car to a stop. So they are "good enough" for their purpose. If the car ends up not stopping at a junction, or not slowing down enough for a corner, it's not the brakes fault, it's the drivers. Doesn't matter what brakes / suspension a car has got, it should always be driven within its limits regardless. The limits change with bigger brakes or better suspension, but that doesn't stop the fact it should still be driven appropriately.
The OP has a GTI, no mention of ED30, so he is only looking at slightly more power (15-25 bhp) than a standard R32 when stage 2/2+. So R32 set-up would work fine. But standard set-up with good pads would also work well enough.
+1
Brakes are sized appropriately for the car's weight, performance and intended use. The R32 got bigger brakes because it's heavier and likely to be driven more aggressively than a GTI. Similarly, the Bentley Continental GT got 420mm brakes not because they look cool, but because it weighs 2.5 tons and can do 200mph.
The GTI only weighs, what, 1350kg? So brake fade isn't as much of an issue as it is on the R32 and Bentley.
A simple test for braking power is to pull an ABS sensor and stand on the brake pedal at 70mph. If the brakes over come the tyres grip and they lock up, they are powerful enough for that application, the end. I can easily get my standard brakes to kick the ABS in, so to me it suggests the brakes are more than up to the job.
Another good test is to fit the brakes from a 991 GT3 RS onto a Golf, and then put the Golf against a 911 GT3 RS in a 150 - 0 braking test. They're within 60-70kg of each other, so a good test. Which would have the shorter stopping distance?
My point is, 911 brakes on a Golf doesn't = 911 stopping power. It just changes the pedal feel. Folk can choose to stand on the pedal harder with standard brakes, or fit bigger brakes and get the same from less pedal effort. Option 1 seems far cheaper to me.
If brake fade was a regular occurrence for me, absolutely I'd upgrade them, but that only happens very rarely when I drive like an idiot. As bizarre as it must sound to a lot of people, I do find the standard brakes to be very good. Maybe mine are just working properly and other people are using cheap pads / discs or something, or their rear calipers are seized up?
