Brake part numbers and upgrade

January 2003

by Peter Scott

I have fitted slotted rotors, EBC greenstuff pads and stainless braided brake hoses for a terrific brake upgrade

Twin Turbo Soarers (TT) and UZZ32 V8 Soarers have large front brakes. Regular V8's and the 3.0 litre 6 cylinder NA have standard front brakes.

All Soarers have same rear pads. The TT and UZZ32 have a larger rear disc with same pads - the larger disc provides greater braking force - the same way a longer spanner allows you to tighten a nut harder, the larger disc allows the same pad to provide a greater force.

Larger front pads do not provide greater frictional force (these sounds weird at first I know). This is because the piston force is spread over a greater area reducing the pressure. The main advantage of larger pads and discs is greater heat capacity - heat causes out gassing and the dreaded brake fade.

A good upgrade for a Soarer with standard brakes are some front TT callipers and discs - ask a wrecker.

Front Pads

Here are pictures of the small and large front brakes and pads:

Larger brakes on left, standard brakes on right.

Toyota part numbers for the front standard brakes are:

There are a lot of different numbers - but notice that many are interchangeable - where it says (subs) is an alternative number. The aftermarket supplies one standard pad for all the standard Soarers.

Part numbers for the larger TT and UZZ32 front brakes:

Shom ordered some front pads for his TT recently : 04465-24021 (he was told that 24020 doesn't come up on the dealer's pricing system - both Lane and Brighton Toyota in Melbourne). So he got the subs number-  no sweat.

Rear pads are a bit simpler:

All the Soarers are the same before 1994 pretty much. After that there might be a few differences - you'll have to check.

 
Looks like the original 04466-24020, has been "superseded" to 04466-34010.

So that is the stock situation - but what if you wanted to upgrade?

Emanuel Spinola has done the Big Brake Upgrade to his Soarer. Not for me. I wanted to keep my genuine 16" Active 10 spoke set of 5 wheels. The UZZ32 is the only V8 with the larger diameter brake discs as found on the TT. As soon as you fit the Supra brakes you need minimum 17 inch wheels plus the wheels have to be shaped specifically to fit over the callipers - if the middle of the wheel is the wrong shape then it will hit the calliper - a large offset will help but isn't the whole story.

All the other V8's come with smaller brake discs - they can fade badly. If you have never had brake fade or have never thought you need more brake power then leave the brakes alone. A good upgrade for the regular V8 is to put some Twin Turbo front brakes on - forget your old 15 inch wheels though - they won't fit any more.

The slotted rotors I used are DBA - Disc brakes Australia: http://www.dba.com.au/rotors_slotted.asp

Directional slots - different for left and right.

They are directional slotted - one for the right, one for the left. These are the serious rotors, slotted rotors are heavy duty for track use, sustained braking, police cars, ambulances or heavy vehicles. - the cross-drilled rotors are for posing only, the holes are prone to cracking - this is the advice I got from DBA.

My front hub. See the Active suspension strut - the height control rod on the right and the standard rubber brake hoses - I upgraded to the stainless braided lines afterwards - the braided lines are great. See how my front hub is a bit rusty? It might have come from the snow areas in Japan.

This is the inside of my old front rotor. The piston has "pushed" through the pad leaving a surface that isn't even any more  - the pad covers the whole disk, it had a large ridge worn into the surface the same size as the calliper piston. The brake guys reckon this happens on 4wd vehicles where the brakes get wet a lot  - the disk starts to rust and wears away the pad where the pressure is slightly lower on the outside of the pad. You would imagine it would only happen when the pad started to get a bit thin? Anyway I thought this wear pattern was interesting. Didn't bother me - I was replacing the disks with brand new high tech slotted rotors.

On the bench and on the car the rotors look great. My wheels fit just fine so I don't need spacers or longer studs.

After a couple of thousand kilometers the brakes were still going just fine - had fitted the stainless braided lines by then as well.

Pretty cross drilled rotors are same for both sides - not recommended for track work or sustained heavy use - better than standard rotors though.

These rotors bolt on to an Active or TT, they are too big for a regular V8 unless you get the larger TT callipers. I think they just might have them for the standard fronts as well know - when I got mine (slotted not drilled) they didn't make them in the standard size - only the larger size.

Front pads come in two sizes, small for regular V8's, and large for the Active and TT - there are some other small differences but they are interchangeable. For example there are supposed to be small differences between the Active and TT pad - but the aftermarket ones you buy fit both.

The EBC greenstuff pads I bought are low dust - I had Toyota pads before and the Greenstuff pads are noticeably cleaner. They bite harder as well - no warm up period with these pads, they work great cold and and keep on working - I haven't had fade yet with these brakes s see how they go on a track day.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com.au/home.htm

http://www.ebcbrakes.com.au/green.htm

These Greenstuff pads are terrific - super clean no dust no squeal - I will fit them again for sure. Great bite - terrific feel and power - very happy with them. Not all green pads are EBC greenstuff. My rear pads looked green but they weren't EBC greenstuff. The pads have a higher friction coeff for that great initial bite. No warm up period for these pads - they work straight away and are great for spirited hard driving. For sustained track use and racing redstuff is recommended but they aren't available for the Soarer. The first time I noticed them the most was looking for the correct freeway entry early in the morning - I didn't see it until a bit too late and stabbed the brakes, the car for sure pulled up quicker with these pads and slotted rotors - no doubt about it for me. Never fit new pads on old rotors - they won't work properly and wont last.

Here are the part numbers for upgrading to slotted rotors, EBC greenstuff font pads and EBC street kevlar rear pads:

Rotors: DBA 748 SL and 748 SR (large brakes only) about $200 each

Front pads: DP 21223 (large front only) about $220 front set

Rear pads: DP 1008 (all Soarers) about $110 rear set

Stainless braided hoses about $350

So all up $730 for rotors and pads, $1080 all up for parts plus fitting.  I am very happy with the brakes now.

The rotors come in a snazzy cardboard chrome box and in sealed plastic bags - no annoying anti rust red sticky stuff to wash off the discs first like in the old days!

The EBC greenstuff pads are super clean - the rear street kevlar pads not as much - my rears are always dirtier than my fronts now. Usually it's the other way around.

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My old rear rotors

Machined my rear rotors - replaced a stud and new kevlar rear pads

Some concerns reported below using them with DBA slotted rotors.

EBC said it's the rotors, that it was a Ford or Holden thing only and that DBA have changed the type of steel in rotors since and it's all ok and won't affect the Soarer.

DBA said it's only EBC pads and all other pads are fine.

I have had no problems so far after some 8000 km. You can some some black resin on disks - but it all works just great.

One of the companies (forget which) also advised that a good hard flogging to get the brakes real hot now and again will get rid of resin build up too) - but I haven't had any problems yet.

Peter

I had EBC Greenstuff pads and EBC slotted and dimpled rotors installed on my wife's Forester GT. The pads suffer from a problem where they leave resin deposits on the disc surface which causes an annoying shudder when braking. The rotors aren't warped but you can see black resin deposits on the disc.

Another guy on the Performance Forums was complaining about the same thing happening to his slotted DBA rotors with EBC pads.

Here's the link
http://board.performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=363108#post363108

Another EBC link

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