Front brake discs size upgrade

[jackthelad]

Hi guys,
the brakes on my 197 were crap and I thought it was the pads, took the old pads out to find about only 2 Pistons were moving, tried to bleed them and the one side bleed nipple is clogged up, took the bleed nipple off completely and all sorts was coming out so decided it's time to get them rebuilt and serviced.

when I get them back I want to replace the discs, car is going to be meg'd and I'm not worried about brake noises so I was going to go for mtec C hook discs and ds11 pads.
Before I buy these tho I was wondering is there a brake disc size upgrade? The calliper seems decent enough but in the golf scene there's a few guys who use a bigger carrier meaning a bigger disc.

just thought I'd ask first

many thanks again
jack

 

[Sean197]

Reyland do the 330mm upgrade, around £530, which include discs and brackets needed to space out the calipers slightly. Search for them on ebay.

 

[DS197]

If you don't mind spending some money, you should go for the Megane 265 brembos as they use larger pads and then upgrade to the 343mm discs. This is pretty much what i'm looking to do once I get everything else done. Heres the link to the discs: http://www.reyland.co.uk/renault/

 

[jackthelad]

The reyland disc upgrade doesn't sound a bad idea. It's a lot more than I wanted to spend but I don't really have a budget and brakes are the one thing I shouldn't budget on.

has anyone done this and said its worth it? The stock set up isn't too bad and with some decent discs and pads I thought it would be ideal. just don't want to go overkill.

cheers guys

 

[DS197]

To be fair, the standard setup isn't bad at all as it's the same as what the megane has and there's loads of people running them with 270bhp+ on the standard setup. There are quite a few people with the 330mm setup on here so hopefully they can give you a better idea of what they're like but no one has the 343mm setup on here or the megane forums as far as I know.

 

[jackthelad]

Yea fair point. The car will be a lot lighter too being stripped for track, lexan Windows etc, I just don't want it being over braked if anything. Plus it's all money to go to other bits on the money pit

 

[Ed_]

http://www.godspeedbrakes.co.uk/discs/262-330mm-clio-sport-197200-front-g-hook-discs-and-bells.html

i used Godspeed on my Astra 888 in the past, cheaper and better than the Alcon discs it came with

 

[Sean197]

To be honest I can't see how £500 for what is essentially a larger disc conversion is value for money. The standard brakes are great, I can't imagine the bigger discs kit would be £500 better than some grooved standard-size discs and uprated pads.
Maybe someone who has actually used these can shed some light though.

 

[montana]

You should see an improvement from rebuilding the calipers , so they are actually working properly. Stick with current OE size and make a decision once your calipers are back up to full health, may save yourself some money. They really are decent in standard form.

 

[jackthelad]

To be honest I can't see how £500 for what is essentially a larger disc conversion is value for money. The standard brakes are great, I can't imagine the bigger discs kit would be £500 better than some grooved standard-size discs and uprated pads.
Maybe someone who has actually used these can shed some light though.

Thats what my thoughts are. The car isn't heavy and will be lighter, I think disc size isn't an issue with the calipers but heat dispersion maybe.
I'm no expert tho so would be good to hear from experience

 

[Antti O]

Clio 197 / 200 brakes are awesome when they are in 100% working condition. Just my opinion.

 

[Yiannis197]

Depends on the usage really and how heavy you are on the braking. You say the car is light but it is not that light. The car weighs 1240Kgs, plus fluids (oil, coolant, petrol etc) plus a driver plus maybe a passenger and you are flirting with 1400 Kgs easily if not more. Add some luggage for a roadtrip and the necessary spare, tools etc and we are talking 1500 kg.

As I said, depends on the usage. I had been running out of brakes every year in the Alps, to the point that I couldn't have a spirited driving in the downhills. I started with the stock setup (brilliantly serviced of course), then I went to DS2500 pads, then to 330mm PF at the front with DS2500 with ATE fluid, then to a bespoke 2 piece at the rear with CL RC6 all around and SRF and that has been the only setup that has been proven bulletproof so far.

As I said, depends on how and where you drive the car, if you are also an experienced track goer the stock setup will simply not be enough by any means. Ideally though you should be upgrading only if you outperform the existing setup, my personal opinion of course.