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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Up graded pads and discs


Mad Ad

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Will soon be time to replace the discs and pads all round with braided hoses. I hate the j-spec brakes. What do you lot recommend? I was thinking porterfield pads all round with maybe 3G braking discs or red dot discs? And finishing off with braided lines for a better feel?

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Originally posted by Mad Ad

Will soon be time to replace the discs and pads all round with braided hoses. I hate the j-spec brakes. What do you lot recommend? I was thinking porterfield pads all round with maybe 3G braking discs or red dot discs? And finishing off with braided lines for a better feel?

 

 

I recently did the brakes on my UK - I opted for standard disks, Hawk HP Plus pads and Goodridge hoses - has a nicer feel that OEM and hasn't faded on me yet, good bite and excellent stopping performance (time and time again). Downsides are the dust (which is eating my alloys :() and the squeel they produce when used, I'm not sure if other similar spec pads suffer the same issues.

 

I'm guessing that the usual problems apply with the J-Spec - moving to anything but OEM disks generally means going for the same size setup but with grooves or holes, from my research this has the effect of reducing the available friction area and causes the disk to get hotter because it has less material to act as a heat soak, the only way to transfer more heat away is by using a larger heat sink which means use of a larger disk, larger in either diameter or thickness. This is where big brake kits come into their own I suppose, they don't stop you any faster but give more pad contact and a greater area to spread the heat.

 

What I'm saying here, in a vague way is that if you are sticking with the J-Spec sizing you might as well just buy standard disks and spend your money on the pads and hoses, the only real gains to be had are by moving to a UK or other 'Big Brake' setup.

 

There are some nice looking hoses up for grabs in this thread.

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Cheaper variants are available - I'm not sure if they are better options though.

 

You could try Brakes International - I set up a group discount scheme with them for the MR2 chaps and made some great savings - their Supra offerings are a bit thin on the ground at present but they list a few bits - if you can't find what you need ring them up and speak with Steve - tell him Michael Canny from the MR2 club put you in touch and you might save some money :)

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Originally posted by Mad Ad

But arent the standard discs £100 each or something ridiculous? Surely there are better discs out there for less money? The calipers have just been overhauled so don't really want to up grade to uk brakes just yet.

 

UK brakes are approx £170 for a pair of front disks from Toyota, £70 for the pads, don't know about jap ones though.

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Originally posted by Mad Ad

But arent the standard discs £100 each or something ridiculous? Surely there are better discs out there for less money?

Don't forget that if you fit non standard brakes you'll have to declare them as a modification to your insurance company, and that'll most likely cost you extra.
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Originally posted by Mad Ad

So what if I just upgrade the pads? Do I have to tell my insurance company that as well cause they are not OE items?!

I wouldn't think you'd need to bother if it was just pads. It's not like they could easily tell by looking (when they're examining your write-off :D )
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I put UK fronts and Goodridge hoses on 18 months ago - I can't fault these barkes. I'm using Portefield R4 Pads - lots of dust and squeel. They will not fade, but they will STOP!!

 

As far as insurance goes, I declared them as a mod but didn't get a premium hike. After all you're less likely to hit the car in front.

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