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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Brake bite, or lack of.


carl0s

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Doesn't particularly bother me, but I'm curious all the same.

 

My UK car, and my current car which also has UK brakes, well the brakes don't seem to 'bite' at all. It stops well enough, but there's no clingy grabbiness at all.

 

I drove a 5spd NA with the 2pot brakes, and this had grippy brakes like what most modern cars have (fiesta being one, although they're too grabby).

 

My current car has CW fast road pads on it, and fresh-ish (6wk old) fluid.

 

Is it simply characteristic of the larger 4pot brakes and their design or something?

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glazed pads?

 

Dunno. I ruffed them up a bit with sandpaper before putting them on (they were 2nd hand), and I got through a few sets of pads on the last car and it was the same, and of course the last set of pads on this car. :shrug:

 

They certainly stop the car well enough, it's just that there's no grippiness from light pedal action. You have to push pretty hard.

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disc brakes should have a braking effect directly proportional to the pedal pressure ,light pedal pressure-light braking etc

Pad bedding in is important and seldom carried out ,but this usually causes vibration and noise rather than poor braking at low pedal pressure

I would not use 2nd hand pads myself,but if they seem to work ok under high loading and no vibration I guess your brakes are as normal

Different pad compounds will massively affect the braking and feel so to compare car for car is not possible a fiesta for example weighs fuck all and never gets to any great speed -so has far less heat to cope with

I suspect your brakes are fine

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I find this too. I have never had that sharp BITE sensation of the brakes that I would like. It does brake fine enough but you have to press firmly. Let me put it a different way....

 

Does anyone have very sharp biting stock brakes?

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Braided brake lines and bracing the master cylinder will help brake "feel".

 

Got both of those, brand new rear pads, newish front pads, slotted DBSs so no chance of pad glazing, and the fluid was all bled through only yesterday by a professional.

 

Anyone got any more bright ideas?

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I find this with the new UK spec I've got, but when I put UK brakes on my old j-spec they felt much better. However, my old setup also had grooved/drilled discs and braided hoses. I suspect the discs made the biggest difference.

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Personally I like brakes to be a bit progressive and soft at first. Its nice to be able to stop slowly and smoothly or generate harsh braking by pushing your foot harder. I drive a transit every now and again and the brakes go from nothing to emergency stop in no time at all. No way you can do a smooth stop in it.

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The other way of looking at is this.

 

Do your brakes stop the car?

Do they do it well?

"Feel" is in the mind. As long as the work then why worry?

 

They stop the car fine.

 

I bled the brakes about a week before going around Oulton park, with a proper racing driver giving it some (lots and lots of smoke, but no pedal problems so no air in the system).

 

They stop the car fine, it's just that the NA car with the 2pot brakes that I drove had very grippy brakes, just wondered if it was something perhaps related to the design of the 4pots over the 2pots :shrug:

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I've had this, or have this now...

 

Jspec brakes grabby and I like that..

 

the rotoras I have on now (6pot) were grabby when new but now 70% through the pad and on the new car they have lost their bite (fresh fluids and no air), but still work well on track though... no fade and full power.

 

I wonder if it had anything to do with master cylinder wear.. can master cylinders wear, loosing bite at the start of the stroke?

 

the test for me would be to buy some new pads and see if it brings back the grab, I worte to rotora asking about uneven pad wear, as I have some, but have to get all the serial no's before I get an answer.

 

or change the master cylinder.. they are not so expensive..

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