6th Gen - St202 - Brake Advice

February 24, 2006

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could give a little bit of advice on what disc brakes are best suited for the ST202.

Basically i am looking for some replacment discs for my fronts, they are standard at the moment i.e 275mmx28mm vented, and i was wondering if anyone here has either used -

1. 3G discs - 10 groove / 20 groove (I have heard alot bout these, some good thing and some bad)

2. EBC - Grooved and Dimpled (Not Drilled!)

or

3. Black diamond Grooved

(Or if you know of any other brakes????)

in terms of the pads i am pretty convinced that i'll be getting the EBC Greenstuff, and the rear brakes will be to follow.

Any advice would be greatfully recieved.

Thanks

Tony

February 24, 2006

Are you going to track day it?

If not then I would not even bother upgrading the disks as the standard ones are great! Just put some decent pads on and they will perform well time after time.

I was contemplating doing the same as you and uprating the whole lot as I was never that impressed with the standard setup (it was ok but not the greatest) & the disks were at the end of their legs anyway and needed to be replaced, but everyone including my trusted mechanic over at P.P.S Bodytech said it was not worth the extra cost as the standard disks are of a high quality anyway and more than capable of stopping the car. So he just upgraded the pads to Mintex performance ones.

After doing over 1000 miles with the new disks & pads I can say the performance pads have made a massive differance to braking, the car pulls to a stop far harder and I have not yet experianced any fade!

I have Mintex performance pads fitted & new standard disks.

However if you wish to upgrade your disks aswell then it is your money! I would say only replace with uprated disks if you fancy spending some serious money or if you have a large increase in horse power planned for the car.

Also the new disks stopped the mild steering wheel wobble I had at 70mph too!

But if you decide to go for it then Black Diamond driled & vented all the way with predator pads for me! Would need serious hike in power to justify that expense though!

Never really heard anything good about green pads from anyone I have spoken to in the industry whcih has personally put me off them, but a few people on here have them and I am sure they will be along in a bit with some oppinions for you.

February 24, 2006

Ive got Black diamonds and no complaints here! Basically I dont know what it was like before as the car had them when I bought it. Ive braked very hard on a few occasions and still have never heard the ABS kick in. Quite Pricey though

February 24, 2006

To be fair, most of (Or all) the brake fade i get is from the pads on there, they are "APEC" basically cheap and nasty (i'll be honest, they cost £20, no wonder thay are :censor: . but, no worse than standard pads tho)

Any idea how much genuine toyota standard discs are?

In terms of the pads, i've heard so many people rave on about the EBC Greenstuff, The Black diamond Preditor stuff, Mintex performance stuff, it begs the question, are they all as good as each other?

Anyway, many thanks for the responce, i think i'll give some new standard one's a go first.

Oh yeah, defernatly not for track use, the celica is me pride and joy, plus i need it as my daily drive, the track days can wait until i can buy a gt4 aswell :D .

Thanks again

Tony

February 24, 2006

Most people upgrade their brake components when the old ones are tired. So of course the new parts are going to make a noticable improvement, no matter what they are. :rolleyes:

For discs it's not worth bothering about all the grooved/ drilled gimmicks, just get standard pattern parts - no need for genuine toyota ones. I think I found buypartsby the cheapest place for mine. Pads are a bit more complicated due to the different compounds and 'ingredients' used in the friction material. However, I always choose genuine manufacturers brake pads for road use. You should find that combination will make a world of difference over a tired old setup. Also, if your brake fluid is over a year old, replacing it may well improve pedal feel.

If you really need better braking performance, the best route is to get bigger dia. discs and larger calipers - but then you've got extra weight to lug about, so it's not worth it unless you really need the extra braking capacity.

February 24, 2006

Dont bother with ebc disks i had them on my 2.2 prelude wot a waste of £150 they were. spent a few hundred miles bedding them in. then bout 500 miles later i had warped them i and i didnt even drive it that hard.