Big Ole' Brake Upgrade Thread for Third Gens

The Big Ole' Brake Thread for Third Gens

So, I am starting this thread so that third gen Tacoma owners have a place to talk about brake upgrades on our trucks. The stock brakes are decent for their intended purposes, however, my truck is at a point where my suspension upgrades and minor engine upgrades leave me wanting better braking power. I noticed during my trip to VIR that often I would have to give the truck more time than I wanted to to slow down going into corners. I realize that not everyone on here has plans to race their truck at some point, but towing can be done more safely thanks to disc brakes, as well as driving in traffic.

There have been times in traffic that I wished I had a little more brake power, even once or twice where I had to bail on the lane I was in last second because someone in front of me with a vehicle equipped with 4 disc brakes stopped short and I wouldn't have had the brakes to stop shorter. I have a feeling I'm not the only one noticing this, having seen a good number of front end collision tacos going down already.

Over the next week or two I have a huge upgrade planned to include:

Front:
SOS performance big brake kit for 16" wheels
335mm Stoptech aerorotors (they DO have forged aluminum hats @skyking3!)
Stoptech ST60 6 piston Caliper (youre right, these aren't forged aluminum)
Stainless Steel lines

Rear:
SOS Performance rear 4runner disc brake swap
312mm (I think, based on Toyota specs) rotor
Single piston caliper- OEM Toyota 4runner
Stainless steel lines

M/C: Will update with more info after hearing from Wilwood about the best way to skin this cat lol. Need bias adjustability and an increase in pedal feel would be great

The plan is to get my truck into American DIYG sometime at the end of this week or next week depending on when everything shows up and knock everything out in a long day. I will definitely be posting pictures of the before and after as well as important reference points during the job and any tips I have so that anyone else looking to upgrade their brakes has a decent write up for reference.

Who else is considering a big brake upgrade? Who else has installed a big brake upgrade? If you have, feel free to post any tips or tricks! Would be great to turn this into a one stop reference for brake upgrades on TW.

Merry Christmas everybody!

 

Ditch that abs, stop when YOU want. Not when the epileptic computer wants u to stop

 

I was thinking about that, most likely disable abs as well as auto LSD, don't want the computer wasting my brand new rotors and pads squeezing them around every bend either

 

"Break" or "Brake"?

 

I broke my taillight and mirror, sub'd

 

Now w

Damnit I got it everywhere but the title?? You gotta be kidding me fixing now, thanks for the spotting

 

For real in for 4 runner rear swap

 

You got it man, soon as I get the parts I'm putting those bad boys on!! Im stoked as all hell about it

 

Subbed.

 

Well when the brakes dont function optimally, then shit breaks.
So, yes?

 

Gotta break free from the stock brakes before I break something more expensive on my truck than the brakes
here's to not breaking things through brake upgrades!
@inwood customs

 

Steve, I am very surprised you are not going with the Wilwood big brake kit. While both the SOS and Wilwood kits will stop you quicker the big difference that I can tell is that the SOS uses cast iron parts while the Wilwood uses forged aluminum for the rotor hats,calipers and brackets. This will save you between 26 and 27 pounds up front and is like removing over a gallon of water from each wheel. The reduction of unsprung weight will also improve acceleration and handling as well as your stopping power.

 

Great tips for everyone else, I wasn't aware wilwood had a big brake kit available... May frantically look into that right now.
Edit: unfortunately, couldn't run them if I wanted to. 17" wheel minimum great advice for others though

 

Subbed as well

So glad I don't have a truck yet, I can learn from the experiences

 

You are correct that 17 inch wheels are required which is why I upgraded to the 17 inch TRD Sema wheels a few weeks ago. Wilwood just announced their kit at Sema last month and released it for sale about a week ago. Since you are racing you still may want to reconsider as it will make a big difference. BTW, I think that it is really cool you are racing your truck.

 

Do not tell people to disable their abs that is dangerous. You cannot stop your car faster than a computer can without locking your wheels. There’s a reason it’s mandated on all cars

 

Entirely false. A quality threshold braking technique beats abs every single time bro. Abs is 'good' but it makes concessions to stopping power in trade for smoothness of actuation. That reason is because about 1% of average drivers if that could give me a working definition of "threshold braking" today as far as I can tell. Driver's education doesn't do what it should these days

 

Curious what driving school could teach me to drive real good and stuff

 

There are plenty of good ones out there, the best advice I can give you is don't get caught up so much choosing which one, find a quality school at a good track and then just get out and practice! Honestly even attending open track days by yourself is better than all the street driving you could ever do, it's just different when there is nobody there to tell you to slow down!

 

Don't forget to adjust your brake bias on the rear. A lot of people forget that drums actuate with much lower line pressure, and when you make the swap to discs you're going to be throwing your bias all out of wack because there isn't enough pressure in the rear.

And this is the reason I often advise people not to mess with the rear drums- that's a whole new can of worms!