well,
after a drive of an N/A wit the same model brakes but upgraded pads, i must say mine isnt that far worse off, so it could be me just not using the brakes properly?? lol
i swear the hyundai stops better anyday.
i will however now change at a minimum just the fluids and pads. if the rotors are warped then thats going to be swapped over for new ones
 
cheers

If you really wanna max out the stock system try Motul RPF600 or Castrol SRF for fluids coupled with really good pads. Unless you are regularly taking it to the track like Trav said I think you will be hard pressed to find a reason to go any better for street driving (if so you may need to re-evaluate how you drive on the street haha)
Also 3 years is old enough for the tyres to get hard even if the tread looks good. Don't forget THEY will be the final judgement of your braking performance.

Further to this, on the weekend, I just swapped out my old 7/8" M/C to the later 15/16" one and it made a very noticeable (good) difference  in pedal feel (on '92+ brakes). Pedal feels 'harder' now and not spongy and there is less travel and more control.  I didn't bother with the late model booster, more work and cost.  ABS is still ****e though lol

Reddtarga

It should be mentioned that there is a price to pay for that improved pedal feel -  more pedal effort needed.
But if you like the result, great.

Yeah that's right. I don't mind the paying the price, I actually prefer it over new(er) cars that are FAR too sensitive eg. work Holden Cruze where I nearly went through the windscreen!

Pedal feel may not necessarily indicate how good your brakes are.
At different stages I tried a 15/16" bore, and then later a 1'' bore M/C with my early model small brakes.
With the 15/16" M/C pedal feel was firmer with less travel and a bit more pedal pressure needed, but not too bad.
With the one inch bore M/C there was a good firm pedal with a lot less travel and great smooth pedal modulation, but a lot more effort needed to stop, so strong leg muscles needed.
 
Anyway, after driving with each of those for a while, regardless of their better pedal feel, I found that in a panic stop situation the stopping distance with them was actually longer than with the stock 7/8" M/C.
For that reason I put the stock one back, and I'm wondering whether maybe Toyota got it right after all lol.
 

Reddtarga
Pedal feel may not necessarily indicate how good your brakes are.
At different stages I tried a 15/16" bore, and then later a 1'' bore M/C with my early model small brakes.
With the 15/16" M/C pedal feel was firmer with less travel and a bit more pedal pressure needed, but not too bad.
With the one inch bore M/C there was a good firm pedal with a lot less travel and great smooth pedal modulation, but a lot more effort needed to stop, so strong leg muscles needed.

Anyway, after driving with each of those for a while, regardless of their better pedal feel, I found that in a panic stop situation the stopping distance with them was actually longer than with the stock 7/8" M/C.
For that reason I put the stock one back, and I'm wondering whether maybe Toyota got it right after all lol.

I found when I just changed to the later calipers up front, there was no noticeable difference in pedal feel but changing the rears as well, resulted in a low spongy pedal with not much feel. Obviously the 15/16" M/C is designed to work with the '92+ brakes, otherwise I would have retained the original M/C, hence Toyota being correct :P

ok, so i was filling some air in the tyres and while i was doing that i happened to notice that one of the brakes had the backing plate missing and Lo and Behold theres a TRW brake Pad sitting in there. so looks like they were some decent ones afterall and not some ****ty ones as previously thought.
this explains why there wasnt much difference between mine and Trees car (his was still better for sure, but i was expecting a BIG difference)
so i have decided to flush the whole brake fluid system and refill with some fresh brake fluid.
let you know how things go

so the brake fluid has been done and dusted, also did the clutch while we were at it
 
first lesson learnt - never bleed the clutch without keeping an eye on the very very small reservoir. after 2 failes attempts we finally ended up one under the car and one topping up the reservoir as it drained, very quickly might i add
 
brakes feels a lot more better in the limited braking i did on the way home, i havent put the pedal through the floor yet, but feels a bit better.
 
biggest improvement i noticed is now the gears are shifting a lot better than before, actualling getting it into gear is more smoother, i think this has a lot to do with replacign the clutch fluid. the old fluid that came out was black and reservoir was filled with a nice black gunk on the bottom, needless to say with our bleeding skills the whole clutch line has been thoroughly bled a few times over.
 
Special Thanks goes to IAN (redtarga) for helping and showing me how to bleed the clutch and brake lines.
cheers