ok me thinking brake pads

[Karim]

ok karim is thinking about new brake pads for his lil gt, any opinions? i need something that'll get the job done on the street but will also work well for auto-crossing. any suggestions on which ones to get.

Karim

[autxr]

You already wore out a set of stock pads?

Go with a stock replacement, just a normal pad. Autocross doesn't require anything more than stock, some folks actually autocross with pads that would overheat in normal driving!

Scott

[Karim]

no stockers aren't gone yet, just thought of an upgrade because I might go to one of my regions performance driving schools at a track and they told me to expect me to go through my pads there and will want to get new ones after. So I was thinking if there was anything better than the stock pads?

Also what are the advantages of stainless steel break lines?

One more thing, how hard is it to change the pads on the celica? this will be my first time replacing pads on a car.

thanx for the help guys

Karim

[autxr]

I see, you asked about street and autocross. THere is a big difference between street and autocross and a high performance driving school.

If I were goign to look for an all purpose pad for that, I'd get Porterfield R4S pads. Their street compound will do nicely at a track school.

As for changing pads, it is pretty simple. Do it at home first so you know what tools you will need.
For the rear I'm not even sure the caliper needs to be moved, the pads pop right in and out.
For the front (more important) you will need a 14mm wrench and a 17mm wrench. The 17mm one needs to be thin (you will understand when you get there).

If you don't have a grinding wheel handy, I suggest finding some cheap wrenches. A standard Craftsman open end wrench is TOO THICK. Use that as your reference.

Scott

[Karim]

thanx scott, can you recomend a site or somewhere that I can order the pads form and an idea of how much they'll run? i checked tirerack but they only seem to carry the EBC pads and hawk pads

also i heard trd makes pads for us any word on those?

question about the rears, i don't know how to get to them since I have a gt and have drum brakes at the rear.

thanx
Karim

[autxr]

http://www.porterfield-brakes.com/

Don't worry about the rears just upgrade the fronts. The rears only do about 1/3 of the braking anyhow.

Scott

[GTS LAID]

hey scott... how the hell are my rears down to 1mm when my fronts are still fine... i dont do anything requiring ebrake usage out of the ordinary... every once in a while the front loses it a little though so i pull a little to throw the back into the turn a little better... other than that though.. normal GTS :) driving

[erok]

I have stainless brake lines and Porterfield R4S pads in my GT-S. I got the lines from PHR (see sponsors) and the pads from Porterfield directly (I found their contact info on-line).

In any situation, the stainless lines improve pedal feel allowing more precise control of the brakes. I feel that this was a good improvement to the already excellent brakes on the car.

In my experience, the Porterfield R4S brake pads under normal conditions and on autocross courses will not heat up enough to be a significant improvement over the stock pads. I've only done one autocross, and between the short course length, low speeds and 15 minute wait between runs, the pads just didn't heat up. And they NEED to heat up and be kept hot to really do their thing.

On the other hand, on the one road course track day I've been to, the brake pads, stainless lines and Motul brake fluid made for absolutely incredible fade free braking all day in 100+ degree heat. A big improvement over stock. I was able to out brake nearly everyone else on the track. I'd typically follow a more powerful car (mustang, WRX, Audi S4 for example) down the straights and move to one side of them as we approached a corner. They'd begin braking before me so I'd pass them then nail the brakes and beat them to the turn. The deceleration felt like I cought the arresting wire on an aircraft carrier while landing a jet! There were a couple times where someone would try to hold off braking as long as me and I'd see them spin off the track in my rear view mirror!

So the bottom line: Stainless brake lines = good everywhere. Porterfield pads = good on the race track, no difference everywhere else.

Hope this is useful. By the way, I've found (don't ask me how) that drum brake shoes typically respond less well to abuse of the hand brake than disk brakes. Even if you've only done it a few times, that's the fastest way to wear out your brake shoes. Also, you may have left the hand brake on while driving and not realized it. This would obviously kill the shoes too.

[GTS LAID]

is the ebrake on a separate system from the rest of the rear brakes? I know its cable actuated but i thought it used the same caliper...

[erok]

The e-brake handle actuates the same components as the regular brake pedal, however the force applied to the rear brakes through the e-brake handle is greater when you yank on it to lock up the rear wheels than that which is usually applied by the main braking system through the brake pedal. Hence the accelerated wear when using the e-brake system.

[Karim]

thanx for the info guys!

Karim

[Raymund]

go with brake fluid/pads. forget about the SS line for now.