One of the most overlooked parts of vehicle modifications are the brakes. Wether you are trying to slow down at the end of the 1/4 mile, slowing down to make a turn on the racetrack, or just stopping to avoid hitting a child playing in the street the braking system on your MK2 should not be overlooked. Here I will outline a basic brake upgrade and rebuilding that will bring your braking abilities to above stock levels and assure that your Supra will stop as well as it goes.

Its a safe bet that your old rubber hydraulic brake lines are in pretty bad shape after over 20 years of hard use. You could replace them with all new rubber lines, but there is something even better avaliable. Stainless steel brake lines will give you a more positive brake feel and resist ballooning like the rubber lines tend to do. Stainless steel braided Teflon brake lines are manufactured for the second generation Supra by Goodrige and Technafit. I purchased the Technafit 8 line kit as it is readily avaliable from rabidchimp.com , below is a picture of the kit. The kit is fully DOT legal and easy to install. You can help support this website by purchasing these brake lines from RabidChimp using the button below, the price is $180 including fast USPS shipping in the USA.

The next items that were due for an upgrade were the brake rotors. The old rotors were very visibly worn and were probably the originals from the factory. There was even some deep grooves in some parts of the rotors. Brembo makes high quality replacement rotors for the Supra. rabidchimp.com also stocks the Brembo rotors for the Supra, for a very reasonable price. Here are some pictures of the shiny new rotors. Use the buttons below to purchase these rotors from RabidChimp and help keep this website going.

I also decided that I might as well rebuild the brake calipers on the car. Even though they were not leaking any fluid I decided to do this a preventative mantenance while I had everything apart. The brake caliper rebuild kits were sourced at AutoZone the front kits were approximately $5 per caliper, and the rear kits were $13 per caliper.

Here is a brief walkthrough of the caliper rebuild process. First you need to start with a clean dissasembled caliper. To remove the brake pistons use compressed air to force the piston out by blowing into the hole where the brake line attatches to the caliper. Be careful and cover the piston with a rag as it may shoot out of the caliper rather violently as well as spray brake fluid everywhere. Once the piston is out remove all the seals and dust boots. Then scrub the caliper and piston inside and out and let them dry.

Now you have a clean empty caliper that is ready for rebuilding. First lubricate the piston seal in brake fluid and place it into the lower groove of the caliper.

When the seal is fully seated in the groove coat the outside of the piston with brake fluid and press it into the caliper fully.

Once the piston is pressed all the way in slide the dust boot into the upper groove of the caliper like this.

Now place the spring clip in the groove to hold the dust boot in place.

Now slide the dust boot around the upper groove of the piston and you will now have a completed rebuilt piston.

If your kit came with them replace the caliper mounting bolt dust boots, make sure to grease the insides of them up well so the caliper will "float" on the rotor properly.

To finish things off I painted the calipers with a high temp engine enamel from DupliColor. I painted the caliper mounting plates this way as well. The paint will withstand up to 500 degrees and offers a durable and good looking finish for a low price.

Now its time to bolt all the new parts together. I finished off the brake upgrade with a full set of AXXIS Metal Master brake pads. After having these pads installed on my vehicle for several months now I can say that they are a very good pad and are capable of stopping the car without fading even from triple digit speeds. The brake fluid I use is Valvoline Synpower, it has a boiling point of over 500 degrees which is very desireable.