I need to drastically improve the braking performance of my 94 SW20 GT can you help?
Have you experienced similar problems listed below?
Is the advice right?
What is the best solution/s?
Rough Cost?
 
 
Brake Booster – Standard: slight leak
Rebuilt 3 months ago + brakes bled = slight improvement
 
Brake Fluid – Can’t Remember:
Any Suggestions?
 
Brake lines – Standard
Advice – upgrade to braided lines = $280
 
Calipers – Standard: I think?
The previous owner did a bad job of painting the callipers.
Advice – paint may have got into the pistons and they are not working efficiently = sand blast the callipers and rebuild them.
 
Pads – Endless Brake Pads: scuffed to remove any shine or paint
Advice – Endless Pads might not be the best for hard daily driving
Any Suggestions for the best pads to use?
 
Rotors – Slotted Rotors + Machined 3 months ago
Advice – Buy new rotors
Any Suggestions for the best rotors to buy?
 
Suspension – Tein Coilovers completely rebuilt 9 months ago
Advice – Suspension might be too firm = preventing optimal weight transference to the front of the vehicle under breaks.
Should I put the spare wheel in the front (currently out of the car) or increase the weight in the front?
Do I need to buy coilovers with adjustable dampening?
Any Suggestions?
  
Tyres – Kumho: from memory they are ECSTA spt KU31
Advice – Perhaps different tyres would provide more grip and help pull the car up faster?
Any Suggestions for the best tyres to use that will give good grip but won’t wear out in 3 months?
 
Thanks for your help.
 

I take it you're experiencing very poor braking performance?
In day to day driving/twisties/track?
 
I had Ku31s on my SP23 until recently and they pulled up significantly better than the Toyo Teos I have now. They're an excellent tyre from other reports also. Ku31s don't last terribly long either, I only go 30,000km out of them.
 
I'd be pointing my finger at your pads. I push my MR2 hard through twisties and I really have to be driving like I'm on a track to get them to fade. This is with worn out 1990 NA brakes and QFM A1RM pads. I love these pads, they take a few corners to come up to temp but then they just start biting and don't stop but when they're cold they perform on a par with standard pads.
 
I'd suggest QFM HPX pads for their better bite at cold temperatures, if day to day braking is the problem. Otherwise go the A1RM. They're made in Australia and are cheap!
 
Given then your car has the biggest booster/calipers/rotors to come from the Toyota factory I think there's something wrong somewhere. Like I said I think it's your pads.

Awesome!

I had a look online and the HPX pads have some really good reviews for hard street driving.

"Given then your car has the biggest booster/calipers/rotors to come from the Toyota factory I think there's something wrong somewhere."
+1
 
Braided lines won't give much 'bang for buck' and won't do much to improve braking, also need to be checked regularly for damage unlike the stock rubber.
 
If you don't want to spend much, I have found Castrol Response Super Dot 4 to work well, but change it regularly.
 
With calipers, slides must move freely.
Dont sand blast, maybe use paint stripper to remove paint.
Rebuild kits don't cost much anyway.

+1 braided lines not worth it $$$ IMO unless your current lines are no good.
Like MRVirgin said, I think you'd be really surprised what a pad change/upgrade can do for your braking. I had some Dixel Racing pads put in mine when I changed to bigger front calipers and those pads were horrible from cold. Almost rear ended someone once on a cold morning. Changed to Ferodo Target pads and there was a huge improvement in cold initial bite. I can also punish them hard in the twisties and they never fade there either. :)
 
So ideally, how often does fluid need to be changed anyway? every 2 years/15,000 km??

wider front tyres...
 
 

Per usual my advice is start from the cheapest item and then work up the scale to most expensive.
 
No point doing the expensive stuff if your cheap stuff isn't working properly.
 
Start with the perishables (pads, fluid) and if they don't solve then move to the hardware.
 
If you find you're not liking it still, then perhaps then consider a complete brake upgrade?

 
 
" If you don't want to spend much, I have found Castrol Response Super Dot 4 to work well, but change it regularly"
 
How Regularly?
 

MRTurbo 
every 2 years/15,000 km?? 

 

There's so many things that factor into when you should replace your brake fluid. Because brake fluid is so hydrophillic (absorbs water) it's the water content that determines when you should replace it (that's my understanding anyway). So this really comes down to the humidity of where you keep the car and the condition of all of the seals in your braking system.
 
If in doubt you can buy paper test strips from bursons that will give you an accurate reading of the water content in your brake fluid.
 
Otherwise I think two years is about right.

Yeah, the manual say change after 2 years.
However some people like to change it more frequently or even after every track day, depending on how hard the brakes have been worked.
And also depending on climate, as has been mentioned.