Wicked big brakes for 17" wheels

Also nice for when you add 100+ hp, to keep the brakes up to par on performance.

 

idk, i stand by my statement.... the only thing I can admit here is I do not own a 991, so perhaps there is a 991 tax on parts... OR, perhaps you have PCCB because that would change things here as well admittedly..


my brothers 997.2 gt3 front pads are less than $500 a set (front pads alone) (and yes, pagid)
heck for $500 bucks I get pads and rotors for my 997.1 c4s... (pagid pads)
ill let you know after i do the brakes on my macan gts, but I can assure you my brother spent just about 500 for front pads and rotors on his macan s


i still rather daily my taco though.... the pcar novelty fades after you have more than one in the family...

should get one of those porsche recovery vehicles stickers.. but with my stock tacoma brakes and my 10 ply e load range tires, I dont tow cars...



man I always feel like a dbag after talking about the cars....

 

Front and rear pads....I’m running the Giros on the track and Zimmermans on the street. I’ve got a Macan as well but the wife puts about 2k miles/yr on that....I drive it maybe once a month and give it the “Italian Tune Up” just to let it know it’s a Porsche.

Taco is my daily and I couldn’t be happier for what it is and does. Gets me to work and back and when I go fishing in the Eastern Sierras it does everything right.

Those that tow or are heavily laden need the extra stopping power for sure even if it’s just once in a while....you don’t want to find out F=MA the hard way as you plow into something ahead of you.

 

definitely both toyota and porsche make a great product for the money, at first I was surprised at just how many tacoma owners here on the forum where also porsche owners, but I guess it does make sense as it is the clear obvious choice right ...

i mean honestly who the heck would ever want some american muscle junker and a ferd ranger


i would say its almost as common for porsche owners to also have a tacoma in their driveway as it is for all the subaru wrx drivers to change into a tacoma


i sure do miss my subaru days though, those where simpler times indeed

 

It's a slow weekend, so I'll throw in where my desire for extra awesome brakes comes from. Tracing the origins is fairly easy, I live in a valley, and one of the major routes in here, is this.... absolutely beautiful and a real hoot to drive.


Needless to say, this descent, along with the twisty fun on the opposite side of the ridge, has caused its fair share of carnage, usually when folks run out of talent, or brakes. On the valley floor, the smell of cooked brakes is a fairly common reminder. Here are a few examples of the fun, most within the last 5 years.

This tour bus was lucky, the driver utilized the snow bank and brought the bus with failed brakes to a stop right on the hairpin. Bust a move!



This guy was EXTRA lucky...





Here's the bottom of that drop in the 1970's, and someone that was not lucky.



This guy made it all the way down into town, and on the last corner, before the descent ends, his luck ran out. As he cut the corner, in order to stay on the road, he met another truck.





Be safe! Give your loved ones a hug... and embrace the big brakes!

 

the famous mohawk hairpin!!!

 

Finally received the prototype rotor and hat, and it appears that we may be able to sneak this combo under regular 17" wheels.

Here is the hat...

Small vanes on the inside to cut heat transfer from the rotor into the hat.

Oh yeah, it's gonna stop very well!

Now on to the caliper adapter bracket.

 

Moving along again… caliper change to Akebono 6 piston. These are OEM late model calipers that are readily available new or used and decently priced. Roughly $1k + or - when purchased new for a pair, depends on model and color. Clean low mileage units are all over the place in price, while $400 - $600 is a good general range, a little luck will bring them home for less.

Pretty picture from Akebono Japan.



Bracket design time…. Radial mount makes it so easy.

 

Gonna be some serious nosedive

 

So how did the last ones work out for ya?

 

common upgrade in the Audi/VW world is 345mm front brakes to include Brembo 6-piston aluminum 18Z caliper set
which can be readily had for sub-$200 and dimensionally would be a large upgrade over stock

not to mention cheap 5G T4R 14WA/14WB calipers that directly bolt onto the factory offset spindle ears.



I like how this “upgrade” shows an expensive caliper not connected and on the floor,
Mentions “imaginary” adapters that nobody makes

and does not address brake bias calculations to keep ride level that factories design into vehicles. Sizing front and rear brakes corresponding to each other and proportioning fluid sent to them sometimes with a proportioning valve. Calculators for this are free and online.
Example: putting B6 S4 brakes onto a B6 A4. People do not just swap the front brakes. They also put the bigger rears.
Or when they do other front calipers, they still also upgrade the rear.

there is no performing difference between a new Porsche caliper on a truck like this limited to wheel size and tire grip than a 345mm 18Z 6-piston Brembo, but one set is $1000 while the other is sub-$200.

I am all for upgrading the tiny front brakes. That is why I have brand new 14WB sitting in a box. I am not excited to get new Stoptech rotors when my current ones still have life, in addition to other parts like 4runner backing plates and labor, just to gain a mere 6’ in stopping distance on a truck that will never see a track.

if the front brake is overpowered and locks the tire well before the rear, that means overly front biased and leaving brake gains in the rear left to be had on the table.
In addition to feeling crappy (dive) and unstable shifting weight forward to lift off the back tires resulting in even less tire traction, and less brake force able to be applied in the rear.
Some vehicles even have their brake sizes designed to anti-dive and squat to cause feeling of stability, which only upgrading a front tends to stray farther from.

unless you happen to work as a tech at Porsche or something and got these for free destined to otherwise get tossed in the scrap bin; then it is probably a good one-off cheap upgrade (depending on if the rotors are one piece or floating, and their cost); you may be able to find rotors the same way. You could possibly post dimensions of such a bracket made online for others if you’re inclined.

otherwise at that price point there’s already kits that bolt on.

it does open up the idea (and maybe even necessitates) upgrading the rear brake system from drums, to caliper/disc with e-brake, including potentially better performing caliper: $$$

 

I never ran the Brembo calipers shown in this thread. The truck has been in the garage sloooooowly being built this entire time.

The Z series calipers are something I’m familiar with. I installed some 18Z/350mm in place of the 17Z/330mm on my wife’s Touareg V8 back in 2005. I also have Boxster Brembos on my Corrado, which look to be of the same era and design, but again, radial for easy mounting. The red Brembo calipers above are from the same VW/Porsche/Audi chassis application, and these Akebono calipers have replaced much of the Brembo Z calipers in these same applications in the VW Audi world.

The bracket is being designed drawn out and then to the machine shop.

The rear will also be upgraded with appropriately sized components.

Yes, I am aware of the piston area calcs. The Akebono is a 38/35/35 and has 4.78 compared to the 5.04 of the Taco. Some kits drop piston area as the lever arm increases with the larger diameter rotor… I’ll bet you know that though, since you are in the biz. Calling it a down grade based solely on slightly smaller piston area is a little out there…. but I’m always game to learn more, so fill me in.

 

The 14W calipers use the same tiny pad, the larger rotor is nice, though.

Again, I’m after heat management here… not a single shorter stop. Rotor and pad sizes need to be increased, that’s how it’s done.

Most of the available big brake kits have some compromise or are all together not that much of a true upgrade.

If this proves successful, I may offer the brackets and rotors.

 

I deleted my post after I noticed the larger rotors in a post I’d previously missed.

yes, if we increase the effective radius, we try and decrease our hydraulic surface area by about the same percentage to maintain an appropriate bias…increasingly more important with modern vehicles and the ADAS systems employed.

bigger brakes are cool and all, but I’m not really sure the Tacoma needs ‘em. I regularly fill my Tacoma to the bed rails with rotors and calipers and take it for a 80 mile delivery run…that’s at least 1500lbs….never a braking issue. I also tow a ski boat, about 2800lbs with no trailer brakes….also never an issue. Actually, the Tacoma stops considerably better, almost as if there isn’t a boat behind it, than my 3/4 ton Chevy does with the same boat behind it.

if fade is an issue, there’s always the 4th gen 4 runner rotor/calipers that can be swapped in…more mass, larger OD.

I use my truck like truck and haven’t seen any point to do more than simply upgrade the pads.

the rears are a different story.

I hate hate hate the way toyota did the parking brake on the 2nd/3rd gens. Had the locking up problem on my 2005 x-runner and the 2016 was doing that shit on the boat ramp a couple weeks ago. I don’t think discs are the answer, but I wouldn’t mind having the larger 2004 and earlier drum setup on the newer trucks…

 

IMO/IME, for me, it needs them…. but I can be hard on things and like planning for the worst. My wife is driving a 4-Runner right now, she’s easy on it, but several slow trips up and down the mountain every day = brakes every 12 - 18 months. They never fade for her, but the small pads are used up quickly.

The 1979 Toyota 4x4 has the same drum inner diameter as the 2nd/3rd gen Taco, but the shoes are a little wider, lol! The larger drums that came into use on the PU’s in the mid 80’s and carried through until 2004 are certainly better.

 

3 years on and the brakes are still not on

 

how has he managed not to get in an accident yet without those bigger brakes?

 

quote from Porsche dealer for brakes on our Macan GTS was $4k (rotors, pads all around). I did it for about a grand including new sensors. I think the front pads were anywhere from $100-250 depending what you wanted.

How are you going to mount the Porsche calipers?

 

Custom brackets to adapt them are a fairly simple task.