Technical Front Brake Upgrade

MadMan0 · Mar 5, 2014

Hello again,
The search turned up plenty of ideas, but didn't have anything about results.

Mk1 1.1 punto

Looking at swapping the front brake discs to the Punto GT grooved/drilled rear discs with Green Stuff pads.

Looks like it's a straight swap. Anyone done this? Anything special? Or no difference

Thanks in advance

fingers99 · Mar 5, 2014

Probably more effective -- but you need 14" wheels -- to swap the front disks and calipers for GT3 ones. You can't beat more pad/disk area, and ventilated disks will always be more effective than pretty pretty drilled and slotted ones.

Probably work out cheaper, too!

Liquid Knight · Mar 5, 2014

From my Sporting 1.6 thread...

Liquid Knight said:
I was getting my X-1/9's mixed up there. One had the Hf engine and the other had a Punto 90 Cabriolet engine in place of the 1500 one.

So toady I have gone from this...

...to this...

Not impressed? Okay these brakes...

...to these brakes...

I've used the Cinquecento conversion disc for two reasons. Primarily they are the ones I had in my shed but importantly I don't have to fit the 10mm wider Punto GT wheel bearings (10mm wider to accommodate the ABS trigger wheel) and the wheels sit at the standard track width so unless you look closely you can't tell the brakes are vented discs with a bigger pad surface.

Obviously due to not having tax (as my van hasn't sold yet) I could only test the car on the private farm track and I have to say the GT brakes are much more progressive, plenty of feedback and retard the car smoothly and quickly compared to the standard set up. The pedal travels a little bit more due to the size of the pistons but I can live with that.

...the Cinquecento conversion discs were £48, the calipers were 99p (listed on eBay as Fait Punto breaks). No need to faff about with spacers and offsets with the narrower discs.

MadMan0 · Mar 5, 2014

fingers99 said:
Probably more effective -- but you need 14" wheels -- to swap the front disks and calipers for GT3 ones. You can't beat more pad/disk area, and ventilated disks will always be more effective than pretty pretty drilled and slotted ones.

Probably work out cheaper, too!

By swapping the rear GT discs to the front of the 55 punto you shouldn't need to swap anything because they are the same size, no?
Only difference being that they a called rear discs when you search for them online, and they come with drilled and/or grooves.

The greenstuff pads are just standard upgrade parts so no issues with them

Thanks for the post Liquid Knight, looks good

Nice to see there are more options out there!

fingers99 · Mar 5, 2014

Liquid Knight said:
...the Cinquecento conversion discs were £48, the calipers were 99p (listed on eBay as Fait Punto breaks). No need to faff about with spacers and offsets with the narrower discs.

The calipers were a bargain -- £40 - £60 is more usual. You probably paid (it's a few years since I bought any) a little over the top for the disks. There are no issues with offset with the PGT brakes and calipers on a Punto (or Cento), only with the (increasingly hard to find) Uno Turbo ones (which, however, will fit under 13" wheels).

Liquid Knight said:
(listed on eBay as Fait Punto breaks).

Bad smellers will be punished financially! You should tell that to the staff at PPC!

Liquid Knight · Mar 6, 2014

fingers99 said:
Bad smellers will be punished financially! You should tell that to the staff at PPC!

It's a top tip for anyone who wants a bargain. Always try variations of spelling when you search. I got a set of Putno GT wheels for £40 as well.

flisko · Mar 13, 2014

fingers99 said:
Probably more effective -- but you need 14" wheels -- to swap the front disks and calipers for GT3 ones. You can't beat more pad/disk area, and ventilated disks will always be more effective than pretty pretty drilled and slotted ones.

Probably work out cheaper, too!

how will disc brakes from a gt make your car brake better if they are the same diameter as for a 55

fingers99 · Mar 13, 2014

flisko said:
how will disc brakes from a gt make your car brake better if they are the same diameter as for a 55

And since when have they been the same size? :bang:

Uno tub has bigger, better calipers (and rotors are vented). GT has bigger calipers, bigger, vented rotors.

flisko · Mar 13, 2014

guy from the store said its same

fingers99 · Mar 13, 2014

flisko said:
guy from the store saids its same

What store, ToysR'Us?

Punto GT ones are 257 x 20 (same as Alfa 155)
Punto 55,60 and 75 are 240 x 11 (same as Cinquecento/Seicento).

If in doubt, check with brakeparts.co.uk

flisko · Mar 13, 2014

what about caliper taken from a mk2 punto and put on the mk1, will there be any noticeable difference in brake powah perhpas?

fingers99 · Mar 14, 2014

flisko said:
what about caliper taken from a mk2 punto and put on the mk1, will there be any noticeable difference in brake powah perhpas?

Doubt it. I'm not 100% sure what calipers the cooking Mk2s were using. Pad sizes and rotor sizes in the on-line http://brakeparts.co.uk catalogue.

If the disks or pads are bigger, they'll stop faster. If the disks are vented, they'll stop faster for longer.

But GT3 is the way to go (sorry, I mean, stop). Just make sure you have grippy enough tyres to suit.

flisko · Mar 15, 2014

7% difference between 257 and 240
81% difference between 20 and 11

dont know if pads are bigger

store has 257 x 20 discs listed for a mk1 55, do they even fit or do u need gt caliper?

Punto GT ones are 257 x 20 (same as Alfa 155)
Punto 55,60 and 75 are 240 x 11 (same as Cinquecento/Seicento).

fingers99 · Mar 15, 2014

store has 257 x 20 discs listed for a mk1 55, do they even fit or do u need gt caliper?

They won't fit 13" wheels or take a P55,60 or 75 caliper. Who are these fools?

flisko · Mar 15, 2014

fingers99 said:
They won't fit 13" wheels or take a P55,60 or 75 caliper. Who are these fools?

aham, will they fit punto mk2 caliper?

dumbledore · Mar 15, 2014

I believe if you get the ABS front gear, i.e disks, calipers and pads will be a sensible uprate. From what I seen the disks are 257x10.2mm as opposed to 240x9.2mm and the pads look bigger.

fingers99 · Mar 16, 2014

That'll work, and the pads are the same as the the GT3 (I think). There are a fair few cars with the 257 unvented disks, big difference in the calipers is that the sliders are shorter (hence they won't take the 20mm vented disks).

There's a pretty good list in the Cinq/Sei faqs (or maybe guides). Only real issue with unvented ones is that they'll overheat in extreme use (but it's for you to find "extreme").

But the brakeparts.uk catalogue is pretty much the best reference (with part numbers and keen prices) out there.

onlycat · Jan 29, 2021

Can anyone tell me which caliper the red one is? I have a set of these and they need a rebuild. I was told they were Punto GT but they are not like other GT brakes I've seen.

Lee184 · Jan 29, 2021

U need coupe pot ones with brackets mate
I have the fitting brackets if u wanted to use coupe front brakes

Technical Front Brake Upgrade

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