Brake Pads & Rotors - Suggestions Caldina GTT

[BZG Wagon]

Okay; time for new brake pads on my GTT - what are peoples opinions (bendix, ferodo, EBC, mintex,bosh)?

The caldina's lowered with reasonably grippy Eagle F1's, so it would be nice to have brakes of a similar quality. Although I don't mind spending a little extra if necessary.

Also - someone told me I should be replacing the rotor too? It doesn't vibrate under braking or anything - is there a way to measure them to see if they're still sweet? I was originally planning on just getting them machined.

[Dell'Orto]

If they're still within spec then theres no need to replace them, and Toyota rotors typically only have 1mm tolerance before hitting scrap thickness so not really machinable.
Bendix Ultimates, TRW/Lucas or Ferodo XL's are all a pretty decent pad which will give you a good feel and good stopping power, without eating rotors or setting you back $200+ a set.

[BigDon]

I also wouldn’t bother changing rotors until out of spec. Then just go OEM unless you want some slotted rotors for degassing if you’re going to track it, which I doubt?

I run Mintex 1166’s in my Evo 9 and did run them in my Levin race car until I sold it. Great pads but they mean dirty wheels from ALL the dust.

Make sure you change the fluid and put something decent in, Elf or Penrite Sin 600, stay mineral though. Do a flush of your brakelines with some meths or cheap new fluid before putting the new stuff in.

[sark.inc]

If they're still within spec then theres no need to replace them, and Toyota rotors typically only have 1mm tolerance before hitting scrap thickness so not really machinable.
Bendix Ultimates, TRW/Lucas or Ferodo XL's are all a pretty decent pad which will give you a good feel and good stopping power, without eating rotors or setting you back $200+ a set.

The xl's are average imo, after using them i am going back to lucas, but the dust makes me rage, sigh oh well.

[Miss_S]

I have mintex 1166's on my dino, pulls her up nicely

[Dell'Orto]

If they're still within spec then theres no need to replace them, and Toyota rotors typically only have 1mm tolerance before hitting scrap thickness so not really machinable.
Bendix Ultimates, TRW/Lucas or Ferodo XL's are all a pretty decent pad which will give you a good feel and good stopping power, without eating rotors or setting you back $200+ a set.

The xl's are average imo, after using them i am going back to lucas, but the dust makes me rage, sigh oh well.

Yeah definately not as good as Lucas, but for a road car they're alright.

[BZG Wagon]

So by the sounds of things; decent brakes = a lot of dust?

Might end up regretting the 18-spoke mags...

[Miss_S]

what's a bit of dust, really, if you're going to be safer for having better brakes! the mintex 1166's are pretty noisy, as well.

[Bling]

So by the sounds of things; decent brakes = a lot of dust?

Might end up regretting the 18-spoke mags...

Yes,

Yes,

I too found out the hard way

[strx7]

So by the sounds of things; decent brakes = a lot of dust?

Might end up regretting the 18-spoke mags...

You have to have dust if you have good brakes, think about it, you either need to Eat the disc, or eat the pad, otherwise, you dont have anything biting.

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

1166 would be an overkill for a road car - they ear rotors, make heaps of dust, are a bit noisy and dont work so well when cold -but they area an awesome pad.

ive got genuine pads in the rear and TRD pads in the front of my caldina (same pads as AE111 SS or MR2) - they seem to work really well, only had whale fade a couple of time during retard driving missions, they work pretty well from cold (there is a slight noticible difference that they need to warm up to work best). even the TRD's are dusty

[Miss_S]

1166 would be an overkill for a road car - they ear rotors, make heaps of dust, are a bit noisy and dont work so well when cold -but they area an awesome pad.

I don't think that they're overkill at all to be honest. My Dino struggled to pull up before I put the Mintex on, brakes were soft as and scared me a few times!

[BZG Wagon]

1166 would be an overkill for a road car - they ear rotors, make heaps of dust, are a bit noisy and dont work so well when cold -but they area an awesome pad.

ive got genuine pads in the rear and TRD pads in the front of my caldina (same pads as AE111 SS or MR2) - they seem to work really well, only had whale fade a couple of time during retard driving missions, they work pretty well from cold (there is a slight noticible difference that they need to warm up to work best). even the TRD's are dusty

I was leaning towards that opinion with 1166's from reading up on them.

I was thinking either bendix ultimates or genuine toyota.

Wasn't aware TRD had pads that fitted Caldina's - I couldn't find any reference to them on the net. That could be a good route to go down.

[BigDon]

I’ve had mintex 1166 in a number of my road cars (and my race car). I find that they are as good as standard pads when cold and outstanding when warm.

As for the noise factor, I’ve only had problems with that in my Evo 9, I’ve never had squeal in any of my Toyotas. But I sorted it smartly by putting some of that black bitumen based stuff on the backing plates (you get it from BNT). Squealing is normally caused by the harmonic between the pad and rotor and is often caused because people leave out the backing plates when putting in new pads because they believe it enhances "feel" or the new pads are too thick to fit without removing them and they don’t what to machine them down. Sometimes it just happens because of the mix of the rotors and discs.

In my opinion you won’t regret getting mintex 1166. Speak to Steve at racebrakes in Auckland and he will sort you out. That’s where I get my stuff from and he is very helpful. Do make sure you get good new fluid it is more important than you might think.

Also make sure you follow the bedding in process recommended and don’t bed new pads in on new rotors! If you have to get new rotors and pads at the same time then drive around for a few thousand Kms gently putting the rotors through some heat cycles before bedding in your new pads properly. Racebrakes can explain all this to you.

[Mr Revhead]

1166 would be an overkill for a road car - they ear rotors, make heaps of dust, are a bit noisy and dont work so well when cold -but they area an awesome pad.

I don't think that they're overkill at all to be honest. My Dino struggled to pull up before I put the Mintex on, brakes were soft as and scared me a few times!

sounds like they needed a fluid change and bleed.

[Miss_S]

^^ That was after a fluid change & bleed but I'm happy now

[Mr Revhead]

well something was defnitely very wrong for them to feel like that

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

in my caldina ive never really had any trouble when it had standard brake pads, so id have to agree with Warwick there, and that was with old fluid also

[Miss_S]

who knows... the guy I got it off was asian & didn't know anything about the car lol . the brake pads looked fine, so changed fluid & bled (twice, I think?) anyways I'll stick with the 1166's now

[BZG Wagon]

After cooking my pads at Puke over the weekend I thought I'd look at upgrading to something more suitable for road & a very occasional track day.

The consensus seems to be Mintex 1166's, but at $370 just for the fronts only I've got to ask whether they're definately worth $300-odd dollars over standard pads?

I was recommended EBC Yellow's for the back, although I was told factory pads would probably be sufficient if matched with Mintex fronts.

Thoughts?