So since I've had a few brake kits now I thought I'd do a review on each setup and some sort of comparison between them all.
Standard brakes: sh*t and made of chocolate. Were fine until after remap when i stepped on them at about 95 and the car wouldn't stop. Causing me to be very scared and realise immediately that I needed an upgrade.
OEM pads and discs which I had fitted new when I first got the car.
Cost: nothing
R32 brakes: Very good for the price, plenty of stopping power but struggle on the bigger stops (110mph+) and can be made to fade relatively easily. Great for most fast road users up to 300bhp or so. Can fit behind some 17" wheels including Monza's (just) and will clear behind the spokes of nearly any wheel you can buy. However they are heavy and can feel a bit sharp and 'bitey' at slower speeds. Wouldn't recommend for track use.
Generic Pagid pads with MTEC dimpled and grooved discs.
Cost: £300-£500
TTRS brakes: Fantastic brakes which give loads of confidence and a fairly long but nice and progressive pedal feel making it easy to modulate your braking. Also much lighter than the R32 setup iirc about 4.5kg per side. Fantastic overall stopping power even from big speeds and never got them to really fade on me even after 30minutes straight hooning around Silverstone (although its not a particularly brake heavy track). Not at all 'bitey' at lower speeds due to the longer (but not spongey) pedal. Downsides are with the standard rear brakes (using OEM pads and MTEC drilled and grooved discs) I found the rear end quite twitchy and floaty to a point that made me brake a fair bit earlier on track on the big stop at the end of the back straight at Silverstone. Also the clearance is pretty crap as they're a very wide caliper however lots of people have them so there's loads of information about what wheels will and won't fit over them.
Edit: thanks to @xjay1337
I had forgotten a big plus point about the TTRS kit which is there are at least 4 different disc diameters you can use in many patterns from many companies to suit your needs. Also since the calipers are used on lots of cars there's also a huge pad choice again to suit whatever your needs are.
Brembo sport pads and MTEC drilled and grooved 340mm TTS discs (using AKS brackets).
Cost: £750-£1100 obviously you can send much more with 2 piece discs and something like Project MU pads but this is based upon what I have used personally.
Forge 356mm 6 pot brakes: First off these are about 1.5kg per side lighter than the TTRS kit and have much thinner calipers which gain you somewhere around 15mm or so of extra clearance which is a great start. Straight away the pedal travel is reduced by at least 25% which caught me out at first however you adjust to them very quickly and I wouldn't call them sharp, it takes a few days to adjust but once you do they're fine and now I actually prefer it. The stopping power is phenomenal, it didn't take long for these bad boys to set in and after a couple of hundred miles I stamped on them and my eyeball nearly popped out of my head. My first big stop was from about 90ish and I stopped a good 50ft earlier than what I had anticipated, they're simply fantastic and you can do it time after time but they just keep on stopping. Obviously I would need to get them on track for a full comparison but I highly doubt I will be disappointed and cannot wait to give them a hammering. They did squeek a little bit at low speeds for the first couple of weeks but seem to be fine now. They look fantastic now I've painted them but its a bit annoying they only come in a matte black type of finish. I also had the Caddy rear caliper mod done so can't compare balance direct with the TTRS kit but it is a far more well balanced car with this full set up than it was before although still some back end looseness to help with cornering.
EBC yellowstuff pads and whatever discs the came with lol, as far as I know there's only one disc option but there are a few pad options as they share these calipers with AP.
Cost: £1381.21
Caddy rear calipers: Can't really do a review because I changed the fronts at the same time so no comparison but they do work well with the Forge fronts and are something like 2.5kg's per aide lighter so well worth it. They also use the GTI/S3/R32 pad so don't even need to buy new ones.
Cost: £150 fully refurbished.
Overall if I was starting again I would definitely go for the Forge kit as it suits my needs very well. The TTRS kit is still great and nobody would be disappointed with them but probably a bit frustrated finding wheels that fit over them lol. The R32 kit serves its purpose very well and with some decent pads makes a great value kit with no clearance issues which is a bonus. The standard brakes with OEM bits are a joke as the golf is a heavy car and with 200bhp needs far better stopping power, I never tried uprating the lines/ pads and discs so can't speak for their full potential but in standard form they are piss poor.
I probably missed out loads of bits because I'm and idiot and this is the longest thing I've written since my ICT coursework 6 years ago and just like then I'm writing it late at night
. Hopefully this helps someone and if you have any questions please just ask.
