5+5 Brake Upgrade results.

[Chris <Ckor1@student.monash.edu.au>]

All parts needed for the upgrade were purchased from Audi Spares (Audi
Wreck)
at a cost of $585. The following is a list of the parts i needed.

Both LH and RH Front Struts, these included springs, shock absorbers,
calipers
backplates, vented discs, Pads etc. This was taken of an '88 Audi 80 4 cyl.
Each side
cost me $95. The rear axle came with discs, calipers, handbrake cables etc.
This
was also taken off the same model Audi. The rear axle cost me $395.
Everything was
second hand including the pads.

Everything bolted straight in and the only modification was to drill a
slightly larger
hole in the white bushings where the handbrake cable goes through so that
the new
cable would fit through. The rear axle bolted straight up to the existing
shockabsorbers
and pivot points.

The difference is much greater then what I orginally expected. You hardly
have to
push on the brake pedal and the car stops. The brakes aren't to touchy but
not to
hard either, they're just right. Another thing that is different is the way
the car handles.
It sits much tighter on the road yet you don't really real the bumps that
much, especially
on dirt roads. The front struts are much stiffer then the old ones.
(Apparentley the newer
4cyl models are heavier then the old 5cyl models.)

The only problems I really had was bleeding the brakes properly. I have bled
them 3 times
and I still think there might be a bit more air in there (The brake pedal
doesn't pump up as
hard as it used to). Despite this the braking is still much better then the
way it was before.The
only other problem was the backing plates they gave me did not fit and after
swaping them
with another pair I ended up cutting them and drilling some holes to make
them fit.

Was it worth the money ? I think it is, the car is very different to drive,
has less role when going around
corners and of couse the brakes are heaps better. I live up in the hills and
have taken the car down some
fast steep hills using the brakes as much as possible and I didn't notice
any signs of brake fade.
 It took about 2 days to do, but this  is only because I was working in
between. You could
easily do it in a day provided nothing goes wrong.

This is definately the way Audi should have built these cars in the first
place.

Also thanks to all those people who responded to my original post.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

Chris
'81 5+5 190 000 Km's