Brakes Advice

[albertmdh]

Front brakes were acting up, took her into the shop. They say I need new loaded calipers, $89 a piece, new rotors, $89 a piece, and new brake lines, $100, plus $130 for labor. For some reason the quote was $750, even though those prices add upto less than 600. anyways, i went looking for parts.

If anyone has any advice on the companies, brands, prices, or products, or has a better suggestion, I'd really like to know.

1. Rotors: http://www.performancerotors.com/product_info.php/products_id/563{1}1{2}5?osCsid=f8afc8db29c6686b4acaa4067f3f208c

brembo blanks, $90 for a pair(or 175 drilled and slotted, worth it?)

2. Calipers:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/catalog.php?catalog=1&partnum=17541&a=FR1-17541

A1 Cardone loaded calipers, $56 each

3. Brake Lines:
http://www.suprastore.com/eabrlikitfor1.html

Earl's brake lines-$90

so with this stuff and someone helping me get it on, it would be $292, better huh.

anyways... input.

 

[CPT Furious]

Definitely don't pay the the $750! Could your calipers be rebuilt at all? It sounds kinda fishy to me that they would just be all-out trashed. Mine have been on the car for 17 years and still work! This is also a job you could certainly do yourself so I think you can save a lot of money...

 

[albertmdh]

pretty sure the calipers are junked, i mean rattling smoking crappy crappy sounds.

 

[sathu]

I think the better question to ask is, do you really want to trust the calipers to perform well when you need it to when you have all that weight and hp behind you?

I am looking to get bigger rotor and better calipers but no one offer upgrade, only oem replacement :icon_frow . The rubber seal around my front and rear caliper is all dried up and look like it about to crack or something and the cylinder is actually brown in color. I think it getting rust deposit on it.

But yeah screw the shop man, buy the parts and do it yourself, it not that hard if your doing oem replacement anyway, just gotta bleed the brake after ward and brake it in.

 

[lanky189]

i'd say new calipers and rotors if necessary, the earls lines will net you a stiffer pedal and greater braking response.

if you go with fancy rotors stay away from cross drilled as they tend to crack slotted is the way to go.. these cars def lack in the braking dept so any chance for an upgrade should be taken... also check into some Porterfeild pads

btw.. talk to Bzdaname over on vasupras..no doubt he'd love to give you a hand with the work...

 

[albertmdh]

thanks lanky, i've posted over there, I'll go for the slotting I think, so those rotors seem like a good deal? everywhere else i looked it was 90 each, this is 90 for a pair, or 155 slotted. and are those calipers ok?

 

[lanky189]

yeah thos calipers are fine, you'll get some toyota nuts who say only calipers from toyota are acceptible... but as long as they don't fail on you, (lifetime warranty) i'd say go with em. The rotors seem like a catch, as i recall (and it's been a while since i prices mkiii supra parts).

 

[sathu]

Slotted rotor doesn't seem to give you as much cooling as cross drilled rotor. That and they will eat up the pads much faster than cross drilled. So I guess it all base on what you want out of your brake. Slotted rotor cut away the pad surface everytime you brake so it basically a new surface after everybrake thus wear the pads faster if I am correct.

 

[albertmdh]

that would make sense, i think i'll just go for the blanks.

 

[bluemax]

A guy at work has a side business of doing cyro treatment on rotors.
He's getting me a set of rotors and custom Porterfield pads for my wife's VW. If anyone wants to cryo their rotors, I can get you his number. You can either send him your rotors or he can go out an buy them. But its not real cheap.
Its costing me around $650 for all 4 custom made pads and slotted rotors on the VW. He usually uses carbon-kevlar pads and slotted rotors. He says he believes this is the best combination for street applications. The good news is that he says with the cryo treated rotors, I'll never have to worry about rotor wear.

 

[lanky189]

Slotted rotor doesn't seem to give you as much cooling as cross drilled rotor. That and they will eat up the pads much faster than cross drilled. So I guess it all base on what you want out of your brake. Slotted rotor cut away the pad surface everytime you brake so it basically a new surface after everybrake thus wear the pads faster if I am correct.

well cross drilleds crack..

so which would you rather replace more often? pads (which are by design, wear parts that are SUPPOSED to be replaced regularly) or rotors (which ARE wear parts but are NOT SUPPOSED to be replaced regularly)

I still say slots are the way to go... unless cross drilleds are champhered properly they eat pats just as quickly as slotted, and slotteds are champhered the good ones anyway

 

[bluemax]

You have to be careful about cross drilled rotors on vented rotors. The holes have to be placed correctly on the rotor in relation to the internal stiffeners. Otherwise you will have strength and internal cracking problems. So who ever puts the holes in has to know where the stiffeners are.

 

[SupraLover]

As to the slotted/cross drilled rotors, let it be told, they make a huge difference in stopping. At least the cross drilled ones on my Turbo-Miata (never used slotted). I use to have brake fade untill I switched up the rotors. As to the cross drilled craking, I never had that problem, but then again the Miata is a hell of a lot lighter then a supra, when I asked about getting thise on the Supra, I was told it would be better to get slotted in the front (wont crack) and run cross drilled in the back, due to the nature to the weight of the car and that the front is responsible for aprox. 60% of the stopping as apposed to the rear. Either way, technology has come a long way, and I have not heard of cross drilled rotors breaking on Supras. In short, if your going to buy rotors, upgrade them now, especially if there almost the same price

 

[bluemax]

I think you only have a problem with cross drilled rotors if you get a cheap rotor where the manufacturer just drilled the holes anywhere, or if you race. The racing brakes are a different set-up. I am told they get extremely hot and are designed to run extremely hot. A drilled rotor will develop cracking due to the heat. The heat creates stress risers at the holes.
The street brakes won't work well in racing and racing brakes won't work well on the street. As far as braking, I'm surprised the cross drilled ones stopped better. You actually have less surface area on the rotor and pad because of the loss due to holes. The out-gas affect I am told only happens when hot.
The slotted discs are suppose to keep the friction face of the pad fresh.

I am also told that if you brake real hard and come to a stop. Don't leave your foot on the brake. Let the brake off to let the pad cool. Otherwise the pad transferes heat to the disc and will create a local area of different material temper state. This will create a build up of pad material thicker than on the other areas on the disc and will make braking feel like the disc is warped.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[albertmdh]

well, im ordering stuff next thursday, so if anyeone has advice on better sites or something, hook me up!

 

[mrnickleye]

Why do we have cross drilled rotors??? Brake temperature control ...
Brake Fade...caused from excessive heat, thus, cross drilled rotors for more cooling. The stock front brakes are so big and thick and 2 sided with (stiffeners?) cooling fins to help with keeping them cooler. Just look at ALL the big ole american cars.
I've read some info that indicates cracking occurs in crossed drilled rotors that were drilled 'after' all the machine work was done. So...read up on the ones you are fixing to lay down your $$ on.