Lowered Taco? LETS SEE 'EM!

Thanks bro! not as expensive as I though it would be

I had to try it a few times but it worked eventually

 

god don't get a roll pan for an off road truck

 

I need a colormatched front bumper fawk!

 

x2 man

 

Snooping around a very old thread on CustomTacos.com, I found this loverly looking Tacoma:





Looks like Ryan wasn't the first to do 4x4 flares Is that an exhaust pipe below the license plate? Tricky!

 

Those are some ugly rims. lol

 

They are a little too "fancy" but I do likely that spoiler that can't be found in Hawaii anymore!!

 

I had those when I was doing my retrofit. I absolutely hated them.

 

Maybe it's not what you guys (or I) would do to your truck, but it looks really tastefully done to me. If everyone modded their trucks to look just like yours, that wouldn't be any better, would it?

 

2" belltechs up front and 3" blocks in the back. Rolling on 16x7 Motegi MR-8 with 225/50/16 Hankook Ventus V12's (Tires have awesome lateral grip) (also I wanted 60's as opposed to 50's but I got a good deal on these tires used)

I'm looking to still go maybe about an inch lower. I'm in process of deciding on some better shocks that will bring it down just a bit and giving some good consideration to notching the frame.

I also want to add a sway bar in rear and some better rotor/calipers/pads up front.


Also wondering if anyone ever has a problem when they're turn their steering wheel really fast and hard and it's like the power steering locks up or something? This happened several times during my first autocross a couple of weekends ago.

 

Shocks don't lower your vehicle... you could remove your shocks and in all likelyhood, your truck would still be at the same height because the vehicle's weight is on the springs (leaf/coil). I had Bilstein shocks on my Gen 1 and they seemed OK... marginally better than stock, but probably not radically better.

I had 4" steal blocks in back and no notch, which was just fine when I didn't have any load in the back. Then again, I did have a regular cab, so maybe the extra length and weight of the extended cab might push the axle closer to the frame. If I had to lower that truck again, I would've considered air bags before notching.

I had the Hellwig front and rear swaybars. They must've worked pretty well as my truck cornered very well. It wasn't fast, but it was fun in the corners!

 

I hadn't ever really thought about all the weight sitting on the springs but you're right.

As far as going lower in the back, I still have quite a bit of clearance in the back if I get some low profile bumpstops. I would like to get the chassistech leafs. Everyone talks like they're better than blocks on stock springs.

Definitely gonna do the sway bars. Lowering the truck helped the body roll quite a bit but it still leans a good bit.

Also... I want some nice racing buckets. Corbeaus or something.

 

I'll check it out. Thanks, dude.

 

Over the years, I've spent too much money on various types of brake rotors, so I'll share what I've learned over the years...

Here's what LCE says about their nice looking rotors.

I think what LCE wrote as being benefits of their cross-drilled and slotted rotors is probably only true for people who race their vehicles and is pretty much just marketing hype for the rest of us... and heck, as shown below, many race cars don't have slots or holes in their rotors.

What LCE wrote is correct regarding the kinetic energy being converted to heat. However, brake rotors work like giant heat-sinks to disappate heat. For a heat sink to work, more material is better, not less. When you start taking away mass from the rotor by drilling holes and adding slots, you start taking away the ability of the brakes to disappate heat.

I'm not quite sure about their statement that the holes and slots result in less "failure". If by "failure" they mean gassing-up, maybe that's true if you're racing and you're brakes are red hot. However, if by "failure" they mean less chance of a cracked rotor, then that's a lie as cross-drilling and slotting a rotor significantly weakens it. It's not uncommon to see cracked cross-drilled rotors. High end rotors, like Porsche rotors, are cast with the holes in the rotor to begin with; the holes aren't drilled in later. In addition, holes and slots increase the chance of getting a warped rotor, not decrease it. I owned a set of PowerSlot rotors on my last truck and within a year they were warped. I use a torque wrench all the time, so I couldn't figure-out how they warped. I think what happened was that I must've hit a puddle and the cold water hit the hot rotor on one side and warped it. There went $150 down the drain.

Unless you're buying larger rotors, you're getting less surface area if you go from solid to slotted/drilled rotors. The holes and slots decrease the surface area of the rotor which is just the opposite of what you want. Friction between the brake pad and rotor is what you want, and you need more surface area (not less) to increase the friction.

While it might be true that the holes let gas escape from between the pad and the rotor in racing conditions, few of us get our rotors hot enough under normal driving or during autocrossing. You're basically paying for a feature you'll never use. I've only had rotors get blue-hot on a vehicle one time and I experienced brake fade, which was scary. However, that was after some pretty high speed driving that I haven't done since (and it wasn't my Tacoma).

After having owned all sorts of different rotor styles, I've finally settled on just plain old rotors for my Tacoma with some kind of coating to help prevent them from turning into blobs of rust. They might not impress my friends, but they stop just fine and keep my wallet much happier. Heck, if you do the research, you'll find that most rotors are made by the same company anyway.

While many high end performance cars do have slotted and cross-drilled rotors, not all of them do...



(My guess is that these are ceramic rotors, but still...)

A Tacoma is not a Ferrari or a Porsche, so our braking requirements aren't quite as extreme. If getting slotted and drilled rotors makes you happy and you don't mind spending the extra money to get them, then so be it. But just know that you could probably spend 1/2 as much on rotors and get the same performance.

My 2 cents.

 

True true some get em for the looks over performance

If you ain't speeding and racing everywhere I'd say not needed but if you want better stopping power by all means upgrade better be safe then sorry

 

i have slotted rotors on my cbr 1000 he he he tacoma no more. But i would like to upgrade mny brake system. I feel the stock is kinda crappy i donno. Never been much of a brakes guy so my knowledge on brakes is super limited. I need to get my rears to stop squeaking blaaaaaah

 

I clean mine out from time to time and it helps but it never stops, drives me nuts.

 

Who makes a rear disc brake kit for the 2nd gen base models?? I wouldn't mine just going that as an upgrade get rid of the ugly drum set up

 

Apparently it just causes more problems, a member did it on here a while back if I am not mistaken.

 

Have you tried www.tundraracing.com? They do for the XR.