The Brakes on your Supra when in proper working order work quite well. However once you start making your car accelerate faster and dive into the corners harder the brakes start to show their weakness usually resulting in brake fade due to an overheated rotor. While it is possible to buy a big brake kit for the MK2 Supra the cost can be well over $1000! The good news is that there is a more affordable solution that may get the job done for you. The stock brake upgrade that I detailed in my previous article will work great on a lightly modified vehicle with just simple bolt-ons. This simple upgrade is the next stage of braking improvement. Please Note! This upgrade will require at least 15" Wheels for proper clearance.

If you have not previously installed a stainless steel brake line kit now is the time to do it. Techna Fit and Goodridge sell DOT approved brake like kits for the Celica Supra. I reccomend shopping at Rabidchimp Performance, they specailze in MK2 Supras and will get you the right parts. Also pick up a stainless steel clutch line while you are at it, it is a very worthwhile part that will imporve the speed and accuracy of the clutch engagement and disengagement.

The first step to this brake upgrade requires a trip to the junkyard, you will need the front calipers with mounts and hubs from an 1987 or 1988 Toyota Cressida Sedan, the wagon models have smaller brakes so avoid those. The calipers and mounts must come off of an 87 or 88 however the hubs may come off any 85-88. The caliper psiton diameter is the same as the Supra so there is no need to change out your proportioning valve or master cylinder. At the junkyards near me these parts are $10 each so it will be $40 for 2 hubs and 2 calipers, some junkyards have special sale days that may allow you to get things even cheaper. You will need to remove the rotors from the hubs at the junkyard otherwise you are likely to be charged for them, I recommend bringing along a hammer and wrench to break loose these bolts. Be sure to keep all of the hardware as you are taking the parts off, they are all the same size as what is on your car but its always nice to have spares. Here are a few pictures of the hubs and calipers cleaned up and painted. Both parts were painted with high temp paints, be careful installing painted parts, brake fluid will turn the paint to mush the instant it comes into contact.

The Cressida uses the same wheel bearings and seals so you have a choice of reusing the ones on your car, using the ones that came in the cressida hubs or starting out new with a fresh set. A good quality set of Timken bearings and seals will cost around $50. Whichecver you choose clean all the parts well and repack the bearings with fresh grease before installation. The calipers may need to be rebuilt if the seals appear to be damaged or leaking. Rebuild seal kits are affordable and easy to install. Alway make sure to apply plenty of moly grease to the caliper slide pins so the calipers wont drag or bind. I really prefer the 2 large floating pins that these Cressida calipers have to the way the Supra calipers are designed it is a simpler and more robust design.

If you have the bigger wheels that this upgrade requires you may also need longer lugs. The tapered lugs that aftermarket wheels use do not thread as far down on the stud as the stock lugs do, so for safety reasons its best to install a longer stud so your lugs will be grabbing with all of their threads. I use Doorman part number 98521 studs which are approximtely 1/4" longer and allow my lugs to fully engage the studs. Use a hammer to pound out your old studs from the hub. Using an M12x1.5 nut and some molly lube you can thread it on and pull the new studs into the hubs. If you rotate the stud while you are tightening the bolt you will be able to feel the ridges in the stud engage the grooves in the hub which whel lined up properly will pull right on with minimal fuss.

For the rotors you will need rotors for the 87 or 88 Cressida sedan. These rotors are 14mm larger in diameter (272mm vs 258mm) and are 2mm thicker (21mm vs 19mm) I prefer to use stock replacement Brembo rotors, they are of the highest quality and very affordable. I purchased my rotors through Auto Parts Warehouse which sells these Brembo rotors for $29 each with Free shipping on orders over $50. Here are some comparison shots of the stock rotors versus the new Cressida rotors.

The last piece to this puzzle are the brake pads. Another benefit of this upgrade is a slightly better pad selection. These pads were used on Toyota trucks well into the 1990's as well as the Cressida which means pads should be readily avaliable well into the future. One option is to use the AXXIS Metal Master pads that I used in my stock brake upgrade. The Metal Master pads have a FF friction rating and will take quite a bit of abuse at triple digit speeds or heavy use on a short road course before fading. Another option which I chose to use are the Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads which Autozone keeps in stock so there is no mailorder mumbo jumbo when it is time for new pads, plus a 3 year warranty is included. These pads have an incredible FG friction rating which is well into the exotic range of braking performance. Read this short article and chart if you would like to learn more about friction ratings and brake pad edge codes. Here are the Performance Friction pads in all their glory, they also include built in shims for a nice neat install.

Thanks to John B of the CelicaSupra forums for discovering this upgrade and providing the original writeup so that I could follow along. Here is the final assembled product, I have been using these brakes for approximately 2 months now and have encountered no problems or negative aspects to this upgrade.

Any questions or comments should be adressed to wjh@ufl.edu