Brakes

i would agree. When i first drove my 328 after purchase the brakes were actually disapointingly bad.

After some investigatings I upgrades the pads to EBS yellowstuff and by doing that (and only that) I complete transformed the performance. Now i would rate them as far beyond avarage. (and better than my Audi a6 quattro)
Obviously there more good pads, but bottum line is that by changing to the right modern pads you can increase performace considderable.

 

YellowStuff are brake pads, that is what he is saying to change, they are made by EBC.

 

Both 308's and one Mondial QV cabrio I got, are all with original "bad" braking power, but there are HUGE difference to Monndial 3.2 cabrio I got. That car has original factory brakes and as instant you touch pedal you brake necks of all pasangers. If I remember right normal 308/328 serrie cars have 23mm mastercylinder. Mondial 3.2 got 25mm mastercylinder from factory and that makes those brakes like "from different planet".

 

I agree with replies above, change the pads & bleed the brakes. I changed my pads to EBC reds & WOW! what a differenence over the old ATS original.

 

Haven't driven a 328 to compare, but... I agree with the statement about the 3.2 Mondial's brakes. The thing just stops. I am intrigued; is the master cylinder the only difference between the 3.2 Mondial and the 328? After all, the Mondial is considerably heavier than the 328. Mine is an ABS car, not that the ABS activates much (only twice in one year now). Did the later 328s have better brakes?

 

I got one without ABS

 

Just to reiterate, EBC is the manufacturer, and Yellow, Green, and Red are different PADS that they offer.

 

Hey Lazy,

Here is a good link that summarizes the uses of the different color pads.
http://www.perfectbrakes.com/products.asp?cat=2637

or search through the manufacturer's descriptions here

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/selector.shtml

 

The brakes on my 3.2 mondial feel significantly more "boosted" than on my 308. However, I would rate the 308 brake calipers as better brakes from an engineering standpoint. The 3.2 has single piston floating calipers on the front that I believe are the same as a Toyota Corolla of equivalent vintage. The 308 has twin piston front calipers that are the same as a 911 of the same vintage (porsche is renowned for good brakes).

It may not be just a matter of different booster levels. The 308 has the lateral placement of the MC with a mechanical mechanism in between to link it to the pedal - this is much less direct than the 3.2 which has a longitudinally place MC with direct link to the pedal.

I've driven 328s that have a more "boosted" feel to the pedal than the 308. It would be interesting to see if anyone knows if the booster is the same between a (non-ABS) 328 and a 308....

 

I had my booster replaced last winter (328 non-ABS) and it seems that the boosters are all the same for Fiat Dino, 308/328 and Mondial.

 

When you rate brake "performance", are you looking at stopping distance at maximum braking (just at the edge of sliding), or are you looking at pedal force required to break the tires loose (or trip the ABS)?

I recently replaced the OEM pads on the EVO with R4-S pads. *
(I probably should have scrubbed down the rotors to remove any residual material deposited by the old brake compound, but I had enough trouble just cleaning the accumulated crud off the backing plates.)

With the old pads, very little brake pressure would cause everything in the car to wind up in the firewall.
With the new pads, heavy braking will still trip the ABS, but it takes a lot more pedal pressure to get there.
But the results are more controllable brakes.
(And less squeaking from cold brakes in the city.)
(And, hopefully, less dust. With the OEM pads, the rims would be black with brake dust after only a couple of months.)

My (non-ABS) 328 has enough brake grip to cause the tires to come unstuck. Without fatter tires, "better" brakes aren't going to do much except make them more of a hair trigger, and make modulating the brakes harder.

I've been considering putting R4-S pads on the 328, too (despite losing the sensor contact), because the ATEs blow out a bit of dust too, although they don't squeak quite as badly when cold as the EVO's brakes did.
(I suspect that just cleaning the backing plates would reduce the squeaking.)

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* Ever see those old movies where they'd push in one drawer only to have two others pop out?
That's what it's like, changing pads on a four pot caliper.