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Vagbremtechnic – VBT-Hooked Brake Discs

Posted by Mike @ Vagbremtechnic on 6th Jul 2017

The need to ceaselessly innovate and improve is a trait of pretty much all aspects of the aftermarket car world, but nowhere is it more apparent than in the world of high performance braking. Perhaps this shouldn’t be all that surprising; after all, everyone wants to stop in as short a space of time as possible and with the minimum of fuss, and this only becomes more apparent if the car in question is travelling at high speed!

We at Vagbremtechnic have long valued our position as one of the country’s foremost VW Group brake specialists, and it’s a role we take very seriously indeed. How seriously? Well we’re never happy unless we’re dabbling with new, interesting or different braking solutions and design traits, with one of the most successful being VBT-hooked brake discs. Now before we go any further we should point out that we’re not claiming to be the folk to have cooked up the idea itself, that honour falls to our good friends over at AP Racing, but it’s still something which have embraced in a very real way, which in practice means that many of our products can be ordered with said discs included.

First things first, just what are the advantages to running brake discs with a VBT-hooked surface? The primary reason is heat dissipation, clearly one of the most significant features of any brake disc, particularly those intended for installation on high performance applications. The carefully cut grooves have been shown to provide enhanced ‘bite’ when braking from high speed, not to mention better debris clearance properties and resistance to distortion and associated vibration. Not only do these properties make for an enhanced road driving experience, they instil confidence when driving on a track, encouraging later braking and, as a direct result, improved lap times. It should also be noted that VBT-hooked discs are now the specified, homologated disc for the BTCC and have been for many years.

As we’ve already mentioned, VBT-hooked discs originally entered the VBT repertoire through our extensive use of AP Racing hardware, but the success the discs have enjoyed mean that a large proportion of our kits can now be specified with them. Better still, we can even supply direct replacement, OEM-fit discs with J-hooked surfaces, meaning that there’s a very good chance that we’ll be able to supply them for your VW Group car, no matter what it happens to be.

Those VBT discs intended for fast road use sport appropriate modifications, namely grooves that don’t extend to the outer rim of the disc. They instead remain within the confines of the disc face, a deliberate design trait proven to offer the best relationship between performance, road noise and fatigue from multiple heat cycles, the latter significantly enhanced over those discs with more traditional, drilled surfaces. It’s another example of the ability of our in house development team to maximise the effectiveness of certain products, wringing extra performance out of them wherever possible.

Further evidence of our willingness to innovate can be found in the manner in which we spec our kits, with a non-handed OEM casting employed in conjunction with a left/right VBT-hook pattern. We’ve personally found that this arrangement enhances both temperature stability and gas flow path, particularly when twinned with an appropriately designed disc face for either the nearside or offside of the car in question. Our engineering team has seen real success on a budget when these discs are used with a four piston caliper upgrade, far more than we initially expected!

While it’s undoubtedly the case that all our VBT-hooked discs can be used on the public road, it’s also true that they really do come into their own when in a track environment, and when paired with suitably uprated brake pads. Indeed, this setup has been shown to be a true ‘track day enabler,’ so much so that many of our customers subsequently find other aspects of their car’s chassis wanting, and therefore invest in uprated tyres and suspension!

Click through to learn more about VBT-hooked discs and the VBT range in general, or get in touch using the information below: https://www.vagbremtechnic.com