ok so i've been thinking about doing the ls400 front brake upgrade since i had my 99 gs300 2 years ago, but i traded it for an 01 is300 3 months after getting the black/black gs300 (totally regret it now), and now it's my lil bro's car now. i have an 05 wrx wagon now, and i still have my 93 sc300. i switch whips every year pretty much. anyway from what i've read, the ls400 brakes can swap on to every lexus i've owned.

so my bro's is300 needs new brakes, and i suggested he upgrade to ls400 front, and i was planning to put his 01 is300 front calipers on my sc300. i just want to confirm if this is possible or is in anyway an upgrade or downgrade? i don't plan on keeping the sc300 unfortunately and i would rather upgrade the is300 since that's my bro's car.

for my sc300 my rear rotor is fubar so i need to replace the rear rotor. i've been reading that the sc400's brake rotors are bigger than the sc300's, but the caliper and pads are the same? is this true? i'm planning ordering 99 sc400 rotors for my sc300 rear's. i read all you need to do is trim the dust shield. is that all i need to do? would i need the sc400 rear brake caliper bracket as well? or could i run the sc400 rotor on the sc300 caliper and pads and just trim the shield?

sorry for all the questions but i tried to read as much as could before i posted...thanks in advance

 

i believe the bolt pattern is wrong, plus it's not really that big of an upgrade. It's still a 2 vs 4 piston caliper. I'd just do the LS400 front and SC400 rears and call it a day.

 

Ok I understand that the ls400 bolts up to the sc300/400, gs300/400, and the is300's but you need a bracket? Is that correct? I thought I were the same bolt pattern? As for the rear, your saying I should swap out for the sc400 caliper? I thought its the same caliper as the sc300? Sorry I didn't cross reference part number but I know the pads came up the same on the 93 sc300 and 99 sc400 when I was building my list on rockauto.com.

 

IS300 have similar sized brakes to a standard SC400/300, and the bolt patterns are different.

if your bro wants 2LS/TT brakes on his 1IS, he can but he needs to buy a set of Figs brake caliper mount bushing adapters and (for the LS calipers only) a set of front RCAs to clear the tie rod end.

nobody makes an adapter to put the IS brakes onto the SC because it simply isn't an upgrade.

 

thanks for clearing that up. seems like you need a lot of other parts for the ls400 brakes to fit on the is300.

as for the sc300, i can just ls400 caliper/rotor/pads with out a hitch? how about the rear? i can go sc400 caliper/rotor/pads? or could i just put the bigger rotor? would i need the caliper bracket for it to clear?

 

I believe you should do the full setup to be safe. I think the pad is larger due to the larger rotor as well.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I went and ordered 99 sc400 loaded rear calipers (centric) and blank rotors, and 99 ls400 loaded calipers all from rockauto. I'm looking at slotted and cross drilled rotors on eBay, because the raybestos blanks on rockauto.com were $100 for both but like another $100 for shipping!