SEBASS

Is there a fairly inexpensive way to upgrade brakes, especially the front on 1990 lex ls400 ? I saw supra tt upgrade but that's $800 worth of upgrades.
What bothers me is single piston caliper and size of caliper. Wish ls had bigger calipers and roters and 4 piston calipers. I feel the stopping power on 90 ls is insufficient for it's weight and size! Even dual piston on 91 was weak i thought. Maybe different pads but i doubt that will help much. Any ideas or anyone actually attempted inexpensive upgrade?

md531e

there is no inexpensive upgrade. just expensive ones.

SEBASS

Is swap to 95 calipers possible? or upgrade to 4 piston calipers?
How would you guys rate ls braking?

JimsGX

You can't go to the 95+ four piston caliper without changing out your lower ball joints to 95+ LBJ's and installing a set of 95+ rims... Your 1990 rims won't clear the four piston calipers.

For my 1991, when I bought the car, I'd give the brakes a rating of 3 out of 10. I'd say they're now a 9.5 out of 10 for what the two piston calipers are capable of. In other words, they won't get any better for me without going to a four caliper setup. I'm running Hawk HPS brake pads in the front and OEM in the rear. I've replaced all the calipers, rotors, rubber bushings on the sliders, as well as the dust caps (which play an integral part in the sliders working properly). I only use 3M silicone paste to lubricate all brake parts, including the sliders. Many lubricants will make the bushings on the sliders swell and not work properly.

If the cost of an upgrade isn't an option for you, maybe try some Hawk HPS pads up front, lubricate your sliders, and do a complete brake fluid flush / bleed with a quality DOT3/4 fluid.

I know what you mean though about the 1st Gen brakes. So does Lexus, which is why they switched to a 4 piston caliper.

williamb82

i thought my 2 psiton brakes on my 93 worked fine for what the car is, a luxury cruiser. now if i compare it to my 84 supra running 12.19in rotors and 4 pistons wilwood calipers at all corners then yeah it sucks, but thats a sports car, this is a cruisor. id say get the 2 piston calipers and matching rotors and some ss braided brake lines, and hawk pads. flush the whole system so it has new fluid throuout and it should be a very good improvement. the calipers and rotors at the local pick and pull yard should be less then $100 total including tax and core charge etc...

Brandicus

iTrader: (6)

your cheapest upgrade for the buck will be switching to 93-94 brakes, they are a little larger than whats found on 91-92 models and a signifigantly larger than the 90 model. I dont believe any extra brackets are needed for the swap either.

source cited:

http://www.lexls.com/info/lsgenerations.html

youll find differences among the years around the middle of the page.

JimsGX

In order of importance, the SS Goodridge brake lines would be on the bottom of the list for me if your current OEM lines are in good condition. I put them on my 91, but the real improvement came from putting in all new fluid.

I also wouldn't buy junkyard two piston calipers unless your going to rebuild them. I'd buy reman from your local Autozone. Hopefully they'll take your single piston calipers as trade on the two piston core charge. Same with the rotors. I don't want someone else's warped rotors on my car. These cars are overly sensitive to run out on the rotors and its critical that the sliders are working right to accomplish this as well. If the sliders aren't right, they'll warp your rotors.

SEBASS

@JimsGX so what gave you increase from 3 to 9.5 since you did not switch to 4 piston calipers? Sorry i'm little confused since you mentioned 4 piston but did not actually swap for them.

@Brandicus I don't see anywhere on that page saying that 93 calipers will work on 90 ls. I see that 93 got upgraded calipers and rotors. Again thanks guys for you help.

Also my friend recommended me Axxis ULT Ceramic brake pads. They seem to be expensive which kinda tells me they're probably good??? What u guys think ?

JimsGX

My rating was based on what I consider the 2 piston set up to be capable of, opposed to where the brakes were at before I started working on them.

Long story short, the PO had a complete brake job done on my car by the Lexus dealer about 7k miles before I bought it. They charged her almost $2500 for the brake job including replacement of a frozen left front caliper with a brand new OEM caliper. By the time I got the car, all the rotors were warped and the stopping power of the brakes were pitiful (my 3 rating). The sliders were all frozen due to the use of the wrong lubricant and the outside pads on both front wheels had worn down 75%, while the inside pad wear was negligible. The rears were no better. So It took some work to figure it all out and now I'd say they're about a 9.5 out of 10 (I'm not perfect!) for what the two piston brakes are truly capable of. I know first hand because I also own an LS430, that going to four piston would be great, but now that the two piston are all straightened out, the performance of the two piston is acceptable to me. BTW, if you do decide to do the work, go with the Hawk HPS pads. They're an improvement over the OEM.

Jim

rwdfreak

iTrader: (1)

Just a quick note to say that the caliper bracket, 2 piston caliper and disc from a N/A Supra MKIV, JDM RZ Supra and SC400/Soarer can be used as well (I was also told Aristo's use the same brakes). That's what I had on my 91 LS400 part car. I'm not the one that did the swap, but he told me he only had a hard time centering the disc on the hub.

As for brake pads there's a buch of brand/compound that work well, but keep in mind that whit bigger piston area the brake bias will go more on the front. By putting more aggresive pad compound you will also lock the front wheel a lot more easely while the rear won't do much. Also depending on your driving style you might want to use a compound that doesn't require warming up. Hawk HPS, PBR/Axxis metal master and EBC Red stuff are all good pads that don't require much warming up don't squeal (PBR does squeal a bit while breaking gently) and can withstand track day.

My 2 cents

JimsGX

In my opinion, stay away from ceramic including the EBC Red's on the two piston setup. I tried running the EBC Red's on the two piston and they weren't well suited to the car at all. The Hawk HPS did the trick...

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

im going to ignore the arguments for not going with a 4piston setup since if you LOOK hard enough you an do it for <$400 incl parts and new pads, and focus on this:

OEM pads were ceramic....not organic or metallic.

JimsGX

PD,

I should have just stated that the EBC Red Ceramic's in my experience were a poor choice for the first gen two piston setup. That's the combination I had experience with and it was a bad one...

What about the cost of new rims, tires, and ball joints if he goes to a four piston set up? How does all that including the rotors and calipers equate to $400?

Kansas

One way to improve braking performance on a gen 1 90-92 LS400 that is on OEM 15" wheels and 205/65-15 tires is to do a "plus zero" tire size change to 225/60-15 tires -- they fit perfectly on the 15" wheels and keep the speedometer accurate. It is a trade-off though. More rubber on the road will improve both braking and stability but at a cost of increased harshness.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

calipers: $125-150/set (wrecker)
rotors: $100/pair (NAPA mid-range)
Pads: Akebono ProACT Ceramic Pads ~$60 (shipped from tirerack)
LBJ: ~$150 OEM new, $90 aftermarket new

Total: $400 w/aftermarket LBJ, $460 w/new OEM LBJ

and if you feel like it, add ~$80 taxed for a pair of caliper rebuild kits...