https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ghlight=brembo

Pics of various setups here, from OEM size slot to BBK

 

You want a racey looking BBK, Rotora best bang for the buck! You want a VIP looking BBK, Gold Endless BKK for sure!!! But ill tell you the OEM brakes on our GS's are Amazing!

 

So basically, you just want your brakes to look better. This is probably the primary reason why we do the BBK upgrade. Let's not kid ourselves, how many of us do road racing that mandates an upgrade?


One: They will make your car look better.

Two: Again, the BBK will make the car look "better"

Three: Again the BBK will make the car look "better"

Fourth: Again the BBK will make the car look "better"

Fifth: BBK does not take the place of defensive driving;

Sixth: Again the BBK will make thecar look "better"

How about going with gold Supra brakes! I would go with the factory rotors and brake pads. Cross-drillled rotors may crack on you. Slotted rotors will wear out your brake pads prematurely. After I needed a brake job, I got ride of my slotted rotors.

 

I understand that most of the people that have responded to this thread stated that the BBK is only for fade resistance on the track. But does anyone really have any proof/testing data to back up what they believe is more for show than performance? Once I get my BBK, I'll be conducting a few test btw. the BBK and OEM GS300 brakes and will post my results when completed. I know that plenty of folks on this forum have BBK prior to me but has anyone really put their brake system up to it's intended use to see the difference??

 

So the Supra brake system is 1 inch bigger for front and rear, and is OEM quality?

this may be a possibility.

I will do some searching/

 

I don't have data...but my Supra TT brakes seem much stronger than my stocks. The Supra TT brakes are four piston, compared to the stock GS300's two piston, anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong

 

I'll post the link later but M&T did a test on BBKS and cheaper upgrades and had results. Mostly helped with fade.

 

That's the improvement in pedal feel - and your confidence level as a result.

Mike, yeah thats the article that I recall as well, good test. BBK can help if a car has an inferior design for their OEM brakes but that isn't the case with the 2GS.

 

Mike you know how I feel about this question because we've had something like this pop up on SELOC a few years back and it started a big heated debate. Back when I had my IS300, I did conduct some testing with just upgraded rotors, pads, lines, and fluid and it made a lot of improvement in terms of initial "bite" but did not improve stopping distance at all. Therefore, now that I'm given a chance to test out a new BBK, I jumped on the deal and will be doing a complete test in the coming month or two when I get it and will post results when I'm done with the testing..

 

The stock brakes on almost ALL Toyotas are very very good. Now the next steup up is to Lexus, and the brakes are even better. Thus, the GS has some excellent brakes from the factory. It is more than enough for any street driving. It's even enough to slug the car down quickly from high speeds 120+MPH without any problems(don't ask me how I know this ). I think the GS brakes are rated the best in class by a long shot. Magazines have it measured at 112ft 60-0mph VS BMW 5 series which is around 120-125ft or so. That's the difference between a near miss and a tree or concrete pillar.

However the biggest determining factor of a braking system is gonna be the tires. I can say with almost 99% certainty, for all modern cars the tires are going to lock up long before you reach the clamping capacity of the braking system. So if your stock braking system can lock the tires, a big brake system will do absolutely nothing for you unless you upgrade to some wider and super super sticky tires. If your stock brakes can still lock the tires with big and sticky tires, then again the big brake system will do nothing to improve your braking performance. On modern cars the ABS system activates rather than locking the tires, but if the ABS system is engaging then you have reached the limits of your tires and not of the braking system.

The catch...
Ok everything I've said above this only applies for "NORMAL" street driving conditions. Now where a BBK will really benefit you is if you do a lot of track racing or if you run the brakes really hard on a normal basis(me ). The stock brakes are great for 1-2 high speed stops, but thats where the fun ends. Try it a 3rd time and your braking power will decrease significantly, again don't ask me how I know this . Now with a set of bigger upgraded brakes, you can continuously slam the brakes from high speeds and braking power will not reduce significantly. It takes a tremendous amount of hard braking to start noticing fade on a big brake system and it's only a marginal decrease or maybe even no decrease at all. I'm talking about 10-15 or more continuous stops from 100mph or so(what I mean is to start from a stop, accelerate to 100, slam brakes to 5mph, immediately reaccelerate to 100mph, and repeat for 10-15 times) and you might or might not get a slight hint of brake fade.

Now, if your normal driving habits do not include beating the hell out of your brakes...then a big brake upgrade will do absolutely nothing for you besides looking pretty. Oh yeah, and also burning a hole in your wallet

 

Here it is


http://www.caranddriver.com/features...ng-brakes.html

A great read.

 

Glad to read this thread. I currently have OEM sized x-drilled rotors and let me tell you, when my buddy was driving my car after the install, with a puzzled look on his face, asked: "What the heck is wrong with your brakes"?. I got scared because I thought something went wrong already he replied "you're brakes are too touchy". I just sat back and smiled.

Now I was thinking about going BBK but reading this thread makes me (moreso my wallet) feel alot better. My rotors are a bit warped so either time to resurface or buy new ones. I heard upgrading your brake hose(s) change the feeling significantly.

Good luck with whatever you do.

 

I totally disagree with that. I just put on the Brembo BBK on my GS400 2 days ago and it is night and day difference with stopping power. If I nail the Brembos on the freeway it feels like my eyeballs want to pop out of socket.

 

I understand what you're saying by the "initial bite" being better than the stock brakes.. But do you have any data to back this claim up. That's what I"m trying to do to seperate facts from rumors..

 

Well... I've had the OEM, upgraded OEM (rotors, fluid, high friction pads, SS lines), Supra TT and also currently have Brembo GT 355mm big brakes on my GS so I've got a lot of experience with different brake setups since 1999 on mine. Perhaps yours feel so strong because they are new and your old brakes were worn... back to back like you're doing isn't quote new vs new. Also you don't often go out with OEM brakes and really haul the car down from speed all that often to test how long they stop. They DO FEEL much better and more confidence inspiring that's a lot of what you're getting. But I bet you can't beat the 112 ft stopping time from 60mph that the OEM GS tested.

Specifically what Brembos did you put on?