# 2.0 ---288mm vr6 front brakes?



## erikl (Jan 14, 2008)

I've got the ecs 288mm 5 bolt front brake conversion on my 2.0 mk3 jetta. It's time to replace the rotors. The thing I was trying to figure out is what type of car these rotors would have originally come from so that I can get something from overseas. I think they may be from a mk3 16v because they are five lug? These rotors have the same offset as the 2.0, so normal vr6 rotors won't work.
I'd appreciate any help.


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## OddJobb (Nov 6, 2004)

erikl said:


> I've got the ecs 288mm 5 bolt front brake conversion on my 2.0 mk3 jetta. It's time to replace the rotors. The thing I was trying to figure out is what type of car these rotors would have originally come from so that I can get something from overseas. I think they may be from a mk3 16v because they are five lug? These rotors have the same offset as the 2.0, so normal vr6 rotors won't work.
> I'd appreciate any help.


Why are looking to get them from overseas? Techtonics Tuning has these:

http://techtonicstuning.com/main/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_13_175&products_id=1271


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## erikl (Jan 14, 2008)

I don't want those because vr6 rotors have a different offset.


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

What size are the center holes on the five bolt rotors that you have?

I got some five bolt rotors and brake calipers off a Passat (model year was about 200 or 2001) that may work (late last year to do some ABA compatibility research). 

The MKIII VR6 11.3" (and 11.0") rotors have a larger sized center hole for the wheelhub than these Passat 11.3" rotors do (these Passat rotors have the right sized center hole to fit 4-lug wheelhubs), and it appears that the offset may be correct (if I remember correctly). I tried one of these rotors on a 4-bolt wheelhub on a ABA steering knuckle with the ATE 57 11.3" brake caliper that came with the rotors, it slipped on.

The Passat brake calipers I found are ATE 57s. The standard MKIII VR6 brake calipers are ATE 54s. MKIII Girling 54 (10.1" and 11.0"), and ATE DE 11.3" 54 brake calipers are all designed to work with rotors and wheelhub combinations with the same offset from the caliper mounting face.

The wheelhubs have different lengths from the cv end to the wheel/rotor mounting surface, and that is what determines the required rotor offset to get the rotor friction surface into the same plane as required by the brake calipers.


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## erikl (Jan 14, 2008)

I'm actually running corrado g60 rotors right now that i redrilled to 5 bolt since my last set warped. I have DE calipers, so now these rotors are slightly smaller diameter than the ones i had on. I believe the rotors i had on before this were from a company called eurospec? and they might have come from ecstuning. I just don't like having only one option for rotors right now since i would at least like plated rotors without being cross drilled.


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

I just went out to the garage to mock up the 11.3" Passat rotor, 11.3" caliper and ABA steering knuckle. It's close, but not close enough.

At this point I'd said that it's a safe bet that you aren't going to find a stock 11.3" rotor with the correct offset from any other VW model that going to fit.

You are going to have the same problem everytime you wear out the special rotors that you are using now. I'd suggest that it would be a good time to switch to a different setup that would allow you to use standard VW parts when replacement time comes around.

Personally, I think the least painful conversion would be to use ABA steering knuckles and your 11.3" brake calipers with VR6 wheelhubs, and VR6 outer cv joints on your existing ABA cv axles. Then, you can use standard 11.3" MKIII VR6 rotors.

Around here, I can buy a used VR6 steering knuckle with the wheelhub and the cv axle for about $35. Then, what I would do is pop off the wheelhub and the outer cv axle, and sell the VR6 steering knuckle, with the option of selling off the remains of the VR6 cv axle, or keeping it to use as a core for trade-ins. Just selling off the VR6 steering knuckle should more than cover the $35 paid for the parts.

After buying a new wheel bearing, I'd assemble the VR6 wheelhub to the ABA steering knuckle, then pop the ABA outer cv joint off the ABA cv axle, and replace it with the VR6 outer cv joint.

Reassemble the steering knuckle and cv axle to the car along with a new standard MKIII VR6 11.3" rotor, and your existing ATE DE 11.3" brake caliper. Then, the next time you need new front rotors, you can order them from anywhere, and there won't be any fitment problems. I'm kinda partial to Meyle plated rotors. They're inexpensive, high quality, and appear to be wearing well on my 97 Jetta GT (Corrodo G60 11.0" front calipers and rotors). Soon to be MKIV alloy rear calipers on the Meyle 8.9" rear rotors I installed last year.


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## erikl (Jan 14, 2008)

I thought about switching to vr6 suspension to fix this, didn't realize i could get away with just those parts! Looking online it seems the outer cv joints cost as much as complete axles? can i use the complete vr6 axles or is the length different?


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

No, you can't use the whole axles. You just need the outer joints.

And yeah, I was looking at the cost of the outer joints, they do cost as much as a rebuilt axle (or low quality new axle). I think the actual axle shaft is a different length from the ABA axle shaft. While the VR6 outer joint is different from the ABA outer joint (different number of splines), I believe that the inner joint is the same.

Again, if I were doing the conversion, I'd go to one of the local self-service salvage yards and pickup VR6 steering knuckles with wheel hubs, and the cv axles, strip them for the wheel hubs and the outer cv joints, and sell off the remaining VR6 parts to cost the acquisition cost. 

I'm pretty sure that by selling off the VR6 steering knuckles and partial cv axles I could cover the cost of the new wheel bearing, bringing the total net cost of the front conversion to zero $$$.


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## erikl (Jan 14, 2008)

If only there were self service yards around here! I'd prefer brand new parts anyways and thought empi brand new axles were ok?


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

Personally, having seen the EMPI axles, I think they are junk. I suspect that the people who like them like them because they go though alot of axles, and the EMPI axles are cheap.

While the EMPI axles are functional equivalents to the original VW axles, they are not identical. You only need the out cv joints, and cannot use the complete VR6 axles. I would be worried about whether the outer cv joints can be removed from the EMPI shafts, and reinstalled on the ABA shafts. The joints may not be compatible, since the axle shafts are not the same as the VR6 parts.

If you are bent on new parts, buy new outer VR6 cv joints, and install them on your existing ABA axle shafts. New outer VR6 joints will be less expensive than new EMPI axles.


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