17" brakes

[TripleBee]

Only the front brakes are different. The rear are the same.
Reminds me of the days of my Golf mk4. SDI had 14" brake system, TDI 15". You could not mount the SDI rims on a TDI because of the different size of brakes in the front.

 

[westfalia]

even after 140000 km, I am still running on my first set of front brake pads.

How did you manage that, you must never stop.

 

[TripleBee]

I must say they are getting at the end of their lifespan, as I heard them squeeling coming down the Mont Ventoux in may, when it was about 30°C.

How do I manage this? You drive a van, so your sitting position is way above the normal car. I always look at least 5 cars ahead, if I can look that far. When the first one hits the brakes, I stop touching the accelerator, or tip off the cruise control. At the time the one in front of me brakes, I am way behind, not needing to brake as they all go on again. It is called defensive driving. But mind you, when going 70 or 90 km/h, and the traffic lights go to red, I have to brake too.
And on holidays, when driving small bendy hill or mountain roads, it is still a little 3000 kg that you need to slow down. So saying that I must never stop is not true. I just look good ahead, and read the traffic. In 95% of the cases I know what the other traffic is going to do, and I have adjusted my driving to that, or am at least aware to react in the right way.

When the traffic lights go green on the other hand, I am almost every time the first to set off, so the tyre wear I have now at approx 45000 km with the front tyres, could be a lot more.

And fuel economy is all together about 7,7 liter /100km. Not that bad for this engine.

 

[WelshGas]

I changed my brake pads at 77,000 miles ( 123,200 Km ). They still had plenty of life but my garage was doubtful they would last another 20,000 miles ( 32,000 Km ) until the next service and I was off to Norway so they got changed.

 

[TOADY]

I must say they are getting at the end of their lifespan, as I heard them squeeling coming down the Mont Ventoux in may, when it was about 30°C.

How do I manage this? You drive a van, so your sitting position is way above the normal car. I always look at least 5 cars ahead, if I can look that far. When the first one hits the brakes, I stop touching the accelerator, or tip off the cruise control. At the time the one in front of me brakes, I am way behind, not needing to brake as they all go on again. It is called defensive driving. But mind you, when going 70 or 90 km/h, and the traffic lights go to red, I have to brake too.
And on holidays, when driving small bendy hill or mountain roads, it is still a little 3000 kg that you need to slow down. So saying that I must never stop is not true. I just look good ahead, and read the traffic. In 95% of the cases I know what the other traffic is going to do, and I have adjusted my driving to that, or am at least aware to react in the right way.

When the traffic lights go green on the other hand, I am almost every time the first to set off, so the tyre wear I have now at approx 45000 km with the front tyres, could be a lot more.

And fuel economy is all together about 7,7 liter /100km. Not that bad for this engine.

I tend to use my brakes mostly for controlling speed down gradients believing break components are cheaper than gearboxes.

 

[TripleBee]

I tend to use my brakes mostly for controlling speed down gradients believing break components are cheaper than gearboxes.

Of course, cause when they say: use your engine braking, the only thing that happens in my California is: going up to 3000 rpm without slowing down, so then I can do nothing else than brake.
I take it as a practical joke: engine braking was an option on my California I did not take!

 

[Scorf]

Just to add (I may have mentioned it elsewhere on the forum), I noticed this option (3080Kg GVW & 17' chassis & brakes) on the Cali Configurator literally the day before we placed our order.

I chose it because I wanted the biggest brakes possible due to towing a heavy German Caravan....

Of all the options I chose (£12k's worth!!!!) this was the best decision. The brakes are tremendous, giving absolute confidence even with a train weight of getting towards 5 tonnes. Would highly recommend