Seems like all i’ve been doing for the last month is researching and shopping for the brake upgrade for my 2001 Volkswagen GTI. It all started as my brake pads and rotors were wearing down and due for replacement. Though it’s almost eight years old, i don’t think the brakes have ever been replaced (i’ve had it for four years, and it only has 76k miles). I’ve been of the “might as well upgrade it when it wears out” mentality, and also had ideas for improving the appearance over the stock braking system. But it turns out that like with many other automotive upgrades there’s a ton of hype and misunderstanding concerning brake system upgrades. And besides usually costing the most, what looks good often doesn’t mean better performance. So it’s been quite a learning experience.

After some initial research i was going to simply upgrade to the 312mm rotors up front like on the special edition GTIs and Audi TTs, and get some more aggressive pads. But i’ve had an eye for starting to do some “show” on my car that up to this point still looks bone stock.

I think what really set this all in motion was running across some pictures of the Thunder Bunny sporting white calipers glowing behind gold rims. I’ve been scheming on white as an accent color for my green GTI, and thought something like that might work for me. But the factory brake calipers just don’t look good—partly because the sliding caliper and carrier mechanical design, and partly due to the rough cast iron finish. Even if i did put some kind of coating on those calipers, they would still be ugly sliding calipers with casting seams and an orange-peel finish. Not the kind of thing you want to show off in my opinion—might as well keep them as dull and unremarkable as possible. So that meant new calipers.

[To be continued…]