Advice for brakes ?

[jujunosuke]

Hi everyone. Please forget my bad English.

I recently bought a 97 Supra TT in Nagoya Japan.

 

One of my Japanese friend bring me to a garage he know well and i just asked to the owner what to do to start Racing. (The owner of the garage is most specialized in RX-7 but he also have a lot of experience with Supra).

And more importantly he is doing Racing himself so he has a strong Racing experience.

Here is the link :

http://www.zimax.co.jp/

 

 

After inspecting my Supra, he told me that i need to get new suspension and new brakes in order to race.

He also told me that because the Supra was heavy, if you don't have strong brakes, there is the possibility that the brake not respond correctly at high speed, and then i could crash. (Which is a little bit scary to be honest).

I think he is right, my brakes and suspension are the stock ones, and they are getting quite old hehe.

 

Do you know how much could it cost to me to get a new suspension and brakes set ?

I think it is very expensive but necessary if i want to Race in good condition.

 

Are some of you Racing out there ?

What brakes or suspension can you recommend to me ?

 

Thanks!

[Abz]

I race!!

 

The larger stock brakes with some decent pads (like Chris Wilson pads) are good for track days. Brembo's are also a good choice though they cost a heck of a lot more.

 

With regards to suspension it depends on what you are after really. Suspension is only part of what you need, the other main factor is ensuring you have a good geometry setup. My previous Supra ran on stock suspension & eibach springs & with a suspension setup it drove very sharply & well if a little too harsh for London roads.

 

Also are you in Japan? Because prices will be quite different to what they are in the UK.

[mihai]

You live in Japan ? Nice! the easy and cheap way is to put new disc and pads! or for raicing ventilated discs, You can make the car as light as possible! and the suspension are very important! it has to be Coilovers ! and new or good tyres! and strut bars front and rear! etc It depends how much do you want to spend, are a lot of options! btw: add a feu photos with your car.

[Tyson]

Where is Chris Wilson when you need him If you are just going to use it for racing I would rip absolutely everything out, who needs creature comforts and sound proofing when you are hooning around a track !! There are a lot of weight reduction threads on here and how people have gone about it so try a search.

[jujunosuke]

thanks for your answers guys.

 

Where is Chris Wilson when you need him If you are just going to use it for racing I would rip absolutely everything out, who needs creature comforts and sound proofing when you are hooning around a track !! There are a lot of weight reduction threads on here and how people have gone about it so try a search.

 

My supra already had a basic weight reduction, But my brakes are really in a bad conditions.

[Dnk]

You live in Japan ? Nice! the easy and cheap way is to put new disc and pads! or for raicing ventilated discs, You can make the car as light as possible! and the suspension are very important! it has to be Coilovers ! and new or good tyres! and strut bars front and rear! etc It depends how much do you want to spend, are a lot of options! btw: add a feu photos with your car.

 

The stock suspension are coilovers

 

Strut bars are a waste of money and in the dry you can hoon around

on a trackday on part worns pretty quickly and save yourself a fortune in tyres

 

To juju

 

Are you just doing track days or actually racing the car in a championship ?

 

Depending on what your doing the cheapest route for a very good brake set

up to replace your old brakes are the 4 piston front 2 piston rear o/e supra

brakes, their only downfall is the front calipers are very heavy.

 

The whole kit front and rear here is approx £1100, a brake fluid change

to something like Motul RBF 600/660 would be advisable along with fitting

braided brake lines.

Also inspect the stock brake pipes for corrosion.

 

For suspension a set of Bilsteins with a lowering spring is more

than good enough for trackdays.

 

If your going racing properly then you can spend fortunes depending what

championships your racing in and what the regs allow.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Dnk (see edit history)

[Alex]

As you're in Japan and looking top race;

I would look at the Endless & GReddy/Trust Brake setups. I believe they use Alcon/AP/Brembo parts.

To use anything bigger than stock ie the 355mm kits you will need 18" wheels with the correct clearance, you also want them to be light. I'd recommend the Volk TE37 Forged Magnesiums or the CN28's.

For "race" suspension you should really replace all of the bushes with new OEM or harder ones. I'd look at ZEAL or Top Secret (rebranded Ohlins) for coil over kits.

Also fit front and rear strutbraces (Cusco) and weld in a roll cage to add more stiffness.

 

HTH

[Luxluc]

I fitted a big brake kit front and rear 3 years ago. Although it was a costy investment, it's one of the beast modifications I did to my Supra. The stopping power from higher speeds (120+ mph) is very impressive.

 

I'm running Stoptech 355mm kits front and rear.

[mihai]

the best answer is from Dnk ( i wanted to say some of his tips.... )

[jujunosuke]

Thank you so much everyone for the very informative answers!

 

@Dnk, Actually, i will just do track days.

I want to improve my skills as a driver, and i also would like to understand more the potential of my supra. (To know more about my car and how to drive it properly).

So, nothing too serious, but who know, i may be addicted soon hehe.

 

I will go to another specialized Supra garage near my home to hear their recommendation as well.

I will have a look at the products you guys mentioned.

 

@mihai

Yep, Dnk always have long and usefull answers

 

@Luxluc

Merci pour l'info! (French)

[Dnk]

As your not actually racing it really depends on just how much you want to spend

[jujunosuke]

Hum, the minimum of course, but i would like to spend the money progressively if possible.

As i did not race yet, i don't even know if i am going to like it or not hehe..

 

I am sorry, my question was really vague.

But to be honest, after going to that guy garage, i though i was going to spend so much money in order to prepare my supra to race.

I was thinking about renting a car which is already made for that.

 

Fuji Speedway is not that far from my house, and i guess they have some ready to go cars there.

Taking few lessons with an instructor would not be bad as well.

Just the time for me to get comfortable with the driving line, rev matching down-shift and all the other stuff, before racing my own Supra.

 

What do you guys think ?

would it be a good strategy ?

 

I am sorry if my question is not related to the suspension and brakes anymore.. ^^

[Gaz6002]

Do you mean racing or trackdays?

[Dnk]

Thank you so much everyone for the very informative answers!

 

@Dnk, Actually, i will just do track days.

I want to improve my skills as a driver, and i also would like to understand more the potential of my supra. (To know more about my car and how to drive it properly).

So, nothing too serious, but who know, i may be addicted soon hehe.

 

I will go to another specialized Supra garage near my home to hear their recommendation as well.

I will have a look at the products you guys mentioned.

 

@mihai

Yep, Dnk always have long and usefull answers

 

@Luxluc

Merci pour l'info! (French)

 

Do you mean racing or trackdays?

 

[Dnk]

What brakes does your car have fitted, some jap spec models come with the

larger 4 piston 2 piston set up as it was an option in Japan.

 

From the left the first 2 photos are the larger brakes, the other two in blue

are the smaller j spec 2 piston 1 piston design

 

In my opinion for track days the larger o/e brakes if working correctly

with fresh fluid in the system are more than up to the job even with

o/e discs and pads but you can uprate the discs and pads if you wish

Edited January 22, 2013 by Dnk (see edit history)

[jujunosuke]

@Dnk, as always, thanks for taking time to help me with detailed pictures, i appreciate your effort very much.

 

Ok, i finally got some more infos. I asked to my friend who came with me to the shop.

And basically what the garage guy said i that i need to change the brake rotor!

 

To answer your question, my brakes are the one on the left side. I mean i think so. Because they are not blue, they are black color.

 

So, with this black brakes with fresh fluid and new rotor would be enough for track days ?

Hopefully these rotor won't cost me too much.

[Dnk]

Ignore the colour of the calipers, take a photo of the front and rear calipers

through the wheels and post it on here then we can tell you what you have.

 

I have done track days using Toyota O/E rotors and brake pads and not had

any problems.

 

They are not too expensive and would be approx £300 here for both

front and rear rotors and brake pads.

 

You could upgrade the rotors and pads if you wished but you will need to

research this more as i have not used anything other than Toyota brake parts