FuzzKill posted:

I did something I've never done before. I downgraded my brakes.

The whole front subframe from the donor car are bolted in the back of the GTI, so I have front struts, spindles, bearings, and brakes.

The stock GTP front brakes are giant (by VW standards) cast iron single piston calipers. Which makes my rear brakes larger than the fronts. No good.

There is a solution! Kind of. The 'track' GTP's or people obsessed with weight reduction figured that you can run Grand Am brakes. The Grand Am uses a slightly smaller rotor, same surface area pad, and has a slightly smaller caliper piston bore. But the GA calipers are aluminum and the rotors are a bit thinner so I believe it ends up being about a 20lb drop. With a slightly smaller piston, it should improve pedal feel as well as make the bias not as terrible as it was.


Stock setup.


New vs. old pads. Overall pad is larger, but contact area is about the same


New vs. old rotors. Slightly smaller, slightly thinner


All done

Anyway, got everything installed, it still locks the rears up wayyyyy too quickly. So I'll need to do something else about the brake bias.

Also got started on the corners of the firewall (that I've been avoiding) and the rear parcel shelf/engine cover.