Upsizing brakes
 

I’m in the thinking box regarding upsizing the brakes in my A8 D3. Mostly because it has the smallest discs mounted on the D3, and then driving with 19 inch summer wheels (18 inch winter wheels) makes the small disks more apparent. The disks are now 321x30mm in the front and 280x20mm in the back. There are several options to choose from, and I’ve been thinking about 360x34mm in the front and 335x20mm in the rear.

Anyone having any experience in such a job?

Will there be any conflicts with the onboard computer regarding changing disk size?

The wheel bearing housing is the same on all the models as far as I know, so there shouldn’t be any worries there.

The carrier needs to fit the size of the disk size, so they need to be replaced front and rear.

The calipers on my car are one piston type, and for the 360x30 front disks, it needs to be a two piston type, so they need to be replaced too. In the rear I can reuse the old calipers.

I’m aware of the EPB in the rear, but as the old and the new disks have the same thickness, I’ve been hoping it could be as simple as to slide off and on the caliper without any other changes to the caliper. As I don't have VAG-COM yet.

Anyone who can follow my thoughts and can confirm that all this should be a simple bolt on job? Or any other thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

Front will be a 'simple' caliper mount and caliper swap. The rears, I'm not 100% sure on as I thought the caliper mounted directly to the hub and my other PC is acting up so I can't check part numbers for rear discs, but I thought they were all the same on D3.

Thanks for sharing PsYcHe!

For the rears, there is different carriers for different size disks for sure. Luckily the rear caliper can be reused on all sizes, so only need to find the right carrier.

upgrade front brakes
 

Thanks for the link, but unfortunately too late as I've already got front and rear carriers and front calipers. New disks, pads and some other stuff are in order. Will sand blast the last carrier today, and then paint all carriers and front caliper. The rear caliper will be sand blasted and painted at the same day as I take off the old brakes as they will be reused.

I have some 360mm sat on my shelf discs pads carriers ready to just bolt on if you want them ? £150 complete +++

Appreciate the offer, but as mentioned, next week I'll have everything I need.

Using the standard calipers?

The winter is getting closer and I changed to winter wheels a couple of days ago. Was thinking to change the brakes at the same time, but decided I couldn't wait any longer. The discs took about three weeks to arrive and they are now just being painted as they where untreated. Didn't want them to rust immediately. Calipers and carriers has been painted earlier.

While changing wheels, I used the opportunity to try the big carrier and caliper on as a test to see if it would fit together with the 18" winter rims.

Along the way I took some pictures.
First one showing the 19" summer wheel and my small brakes.

http://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...f88cf7a42e.jpg

Then a couple showing the bigger carrier and caliper together with the small disc.

http://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...5fa7ed64df.jpg

http://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...9fc17124d8.jpg

And then one with the 19" wheel. Added a light in the front so the gap would appear better.

http://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...c2defde16f.jpg

And last but not least, the big question, will it all fit with my 18" wheel?

http://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...2ab6c09f70.jpg

And the answer is YES, and with bigger margin than I thought it would. Not that the gap is big, but I was actually more than 50% sure that it wouldn't be any room at all.

Will let the discs dry for some more days before putting it all together.

Then I learned from the good people at Audiworld that there is different coding in the ABS/ESP for different brake sizes, engine sizes and even short or long wheel base.

I guess there are many here who have done changes to their cars brakes, so the question is, have any of you done any coding to the ABS/ESP module to make sure the car, and the brakes, behave consistently in a critical situation?

Haven't updated this for a long time, so I guess its about time.

The process was just a simple bolt-on, without any surprises along the way.

Here some pictures of the new brakes installed on the car.

Rear

http://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...6d43abe6a6.jpg

Front

http://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...73164fd40c.jpg

The whole car

http://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.audi...fd11a879f1.jpg

Next out will probably be to replace the sway bars with S8 type.