# GLI Brake upgrade on 1.8T GTI



## ocharlas (Jul 2, 2007)

Well just the fronts. This will be my first brake job.

One of my front calipers took a crap and took the pad and rotor with it, so I figured I might as well upgrade while I'm at it. I picked up a set of GLI front brakes and am going to try and swap them tomorrow. The brakes basically came in two pieces for each side: calipers/carriers/pads all assembled together, and the rotors. Other than the actual pieces themselves it doesn't look like there is any hardware. And then obviously I have everything that's currently on the car. Am I good to go? I've checked out a bunch of threads here and videos on youtube, and it looks like everything should line up fine, the plan is to remove all front brake stuff, replace with new brake stuff, then bleed all lines reservoir first, then rear pass. side, rear driver side, front pass., front driver. I think/hope (and I just jinxed it...) it should go smoothly, but I wanted to post up here anyway and see if anyone had any addition dos, don'ts or general words of wisdom. 

Also, seeing as how the calipers are loaded with the pads and on the carriers, can I just throw the whole thing on? Or do I have to take it all apart?

in general looking forward to it though - hoping I don't put my car out of commission for the week...


----------



## twin2626 (May 11, 2006)

it depends what year the GLI was. If it's


----------



## ocharlas (Jul 2, 2007)

Ok so I put the new brakes on and bled all 4 brakes, but now the pedal feels soft and hits the floor. I suspect air in the lines, seeing as how this was my first time bleeding brakes. I went in the correct order and pumped until there were no more bubbles, so I thought that I did it right. The pedal feels normal when the car's off but as soon as I turn it on it loses all resistance. It still stops, but pretty slowly.


----------



## twin2626 (May 11, 2006)

You may have messed up your slave. I did that my first time bleeding. How did you bleed it? 

Only thing you can try is driving is somewhere and having them use a power bleeder on it and see if it builds up pressure. If not then you have to replace the slave. It's an easy fix just a bit of a pita and hopefully no lines break. 

You must have done something wrong. Did you do it by yourself or was someone pumping for you?


----------



## ocharlas (Jul 2, 2007)

I had someone pumping for me, but I think we must've messed up the process somehow, I think maybe we overpumped, or maybe were just sloppy. We're going to do it again tomorrow.

4-5 pumps, keep pedal pressed on the last one
while pedal is down, open bleeder valve
when there is no air left in the line, close bleeder valve.

repeat?


----------



## twin2626 (May 11, 2006)

you arent doing it right. 
4-5 pumps to build pressure.
hold down on last pump
open bleeder, pedal will go down to floor if not already
close bleeder
release pedal
repeat
if you were keeping the bleeder open while pumping to remove air then you were letting more air back into the cylinder


----------



## ocharlas (Jul 2, 2007)

Yup that's what I was doing. Went and redid it this afternoon by myself and it feels much better. 4-5 pumps, then the last pump I stuck a 2x4 between the pedal and the board so it stayed down, went out and opened the bleeder valve, shut it when the bubbles stopped, then released the pedal. There's definitely much less play in the pedal, it feels like I actually have brakes now. 

Is it a problem that no additional pressure was applied when I opened the valve (such as a human foot would provide)? The board was pretty tight, but I'm guessing that since it was there when I went back to the front, that the pedal didn't go to the floor.


----------



## twin2626 (May 11, 2006)

Yes im sure you need the extra pressure to purge the fluid when the valve is opened. Otherwise it's only purging with the pressure you have built up. After you open the valve, the added pedal movement down, will just push that much more air and fluid out. 
It sucks trying to do this by yourself.


----------



## ocharlas (Jul 2, 2007)

ok cool. that's kind of what I figured. It's definitely much much better than the first time, but I can tell it's not as tight as it should be. oh well, third time's the charm. Tomorrow I'll do it with someone to help. thanks for all the help by the way.


----------



## OddJobb (Nov 6, 2004)

If by accident you get air int the ABS system by running the reservoir dry, you'll need VCDS (a.k.a VAG-COM) to get it out.


----------

