[halftone]

Best brake upgrade I did was accidental. Brakes seemed a bit variable in weight/effect. I noticed the vacuum pump cover was distorted and leaking some oil. Replaced that with new = more servo effect, and also the turbo became more linear and predictable.

With good disks and pads, and braided lines, I've never felt the stock 147 284mm fronts were inadequate, never had fade.

 

[halftone]

Not sure that counts as an "upgrade", more of a 'repair'...

Regards,
John.

Quite right but a weak vacuum pump on a diesel can (and did, here) go unnoticed, and the reduced servo effect = apparently weak brakes. So seemed worth mentioning.

The pump (on the end of a camshaft) depends on engine revs. The only symptom I (eventually) noticed was brakes getting heavier in stop/start traffic when revs were consistently low, and the vacuum in the servo reservoir became depleted by repeated applications.

When I bought the car I thought the brakes were OK, but at times lacked confidence. It passed MOT with no trouble, yet I thought they should be better. Discs were worn and I changed them and fitted new pads (all Ferodo) and braided lines, new rear calipers and fluid, but changing the pump (about 6m later) fixed the confidence and consistency that had been missing.