Nomis

Why didn't the SC3/4 come with the same 4 Piston calipers as the LS400 - what was Toyota's thinking/reasoning here? I did a search on this but didn't come up with anything definative. If this has already been covered - somone point me to the correct thread. Thanks.

EUROJulian

Forget old SC400, new SC430 didn`t come with big brakes ider. I think those are same brakes as ours.
New LS has so nice aluminum calipers with cross bolts, just a beauty. Why Toyota? Why?

I think they got satisfactionary stopping distance with cheaper setup. Both on ours and new SC430 so they didn`t bother. Beancounting?

Nomis

Maybe, but why cut corners on such a crucial aspect of the car. Toyota spent millions of dollars developing the 1UZ engine replete with 6-bolt mains only to skimp out on the brakes I was hoping there was some logical explanation like - they wanted to keep the weight down up front so as to not disturb the weight ratio any further or something to that effect.

reamemiya

iTrader: (1)

i don't think it was really considered cutting corners. our cars aren't fat like the LS therefore we don't need 4 piston calipers. i think it was more of a decision of wight vs. power and also could of been a factor of $$$.

i always complained about this before and even got a set of LS calipers, but after a while of thinking i would sacrific some stopping power for saving some weight. and it's not like our breaks are ****. got some rotors and good break pads and you're good to go

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

When the SC came out, the power of the braking system was being touted all over the magazines. The SC's stopping power was damn good at intro as they were being compared to the best. So probably they felt the car didn't need any more stopping power than it already had. Weight savings and $$ saving was probably a bonus. So I don't see it as skimping out. Plus the SC's were not as heavy as the LS. I always worry about what's behind me rather than worrying if I'll stop in time when in a hard braking situation.

Aristo300

Well I fixed the factory defect with LS4 brakes on my car.. this thing stops!

CleanSC

Here here.

We should be very thankful that we have the option of using brakes from other cars that just bolt-on. That's a luxury not many can claim to have. So just go out and get them.

As for another reason they SC didn't come with 4-piston binders: They don't fit under the stock 15" wheels.

EUROJulian

We are talking big cars here, SC3 it is just a toy, they never needed big brakes in stock form. Need arrived after people started "tunned" them.

EUROJulian

This is bad post Nomis. Cutting corners? Do you think stock brakes are unadequate for the car? Proof is in stopping distance. Those are capable and good brakes (I mean SC4) for stock cars.
Like somebody said before, be glad that you have cheap high performance option avaible.

STRONG SC

how fast do you plan to really drive? I just want big brakes to keep up w/ my friends blingin' *** 8piston AMG brakes!

BLK13X

How big are the brakes? Are the brakes on the SC4's bigger than on the SC3's? I know that Soarer twin turbo brakes are larger than Soarer V8 brakes (the same as the 93~95/6 Supra RZ turbo brakes).

mikeloc24

The SC400's calipers are "slightly" bigger, and the stopping improvement is negligible. I went with the LS calipers as well, can't comment on how much better they are because they're sitting in a box in my house until I can paint them and install new rotors

In due time Jose (CleanSC), in due time...

SCV8

Uh, SC3,SC4, Supra N/A all have the same brakes for any given year, my car has various parts from all of those cars interchanged within one assembly.
The cars came with only (crankshaft!) 250hp, and were sold as dentistmobiles, so really wasn't necesarry, and the panick stopping really isn't that much better with a high performance setup anyways; the 4 piston arrangement really only shines on the track or in sport driving on curvy roads.
More parts = higher cost.

neoprelude

What about the later 16" wheels?

CleanSC

It's cheaper to run the brakes they already have that fit under the older 15 inchers.

Just because they spent the money upgrading the wheels (which helps sales as it looks better) it's not as cost effective to design and manufacture a new brake system. So they just went with what they had which was designed to fit under smaller 15" wheels.