Car tinkers and modders. Talk to me

[Grannygrinder]

I've done my fare share of mucking about with cars over the years but i'm at a bit of a dead end.
I've got a Lexus IS200 and i love it I've put 18"s on it and am in the process of tweeking the suspension.
But the front brakes are really annoying me. The sliders in the calipers are knackered(get some new sliders i here you cry )and so i want upgrade the calipers to 4 pots.
Late model supra twin turbo calipers and discs bolt straight on but are expensive and hard to find.
In my head Celica GT4 205 calipers shoulld bolt straight on but i'm loathed to blow £150 without having one in my hand to offer up :roll:
Then there are various radial mount Alfa/Brembo calipers that are really easy to make adaptors for :shock:
Has anybody got any experience working on jap stuff?
Help me out folks

 

[jimplops]

When you say expensive, is that new or from a breakers. You might also find they're used on something else, if you ask at the likes of eurocarparts or such like you may find another caliper, also some of these adapters for radial mount calipers can be very poor.

 

[Grannygrinder]

No problem with the suspension, it was just too high
All the Lexus forums are hopeless for anything other than standard repairs or bolting on upgrades that were designated for a particular model anyway(ie supercharging IS200).
If i had the parts in my hands I could figure it out for myself but that involves blowing loads of dosh on random(educated guesses) brake calipers :cry:

Re; Radial calipers, i would fab the adaptors myself so no worries there

*Edit. TT Supra calipers from a breakers are around £300 a pair :shock:

 

[jimo746]

Cleaning/greasing or replacing the sliders (if cost effective) would seem the simplest option.

Generally speaking uprated pads will make the biggest difference to braking power for the least outlay, that's what I've always found.

Unless you regularly take your car on track there's probably no real reason for fitting more powerful brakes. If the Lexus forums don't have much info on it then there may be a very good reason ie. the stock calipers and discs are plenty good enough for 99% of people. Remember the IS200 has been around for a while now, so all the mods have already been tried and tested years ago, the ones that work are well documented in the forums.

I'd try the best brakepads that suit your needs (I'm assuming fast road use?).

And don't forget tyres, no idea what rubber your running, but some decent tyres will give a lot more grip when braking, you'd have to search the forums for what tyres people are using on their IS200's though.

 

[Grannygrinder]

I bit the bullet and bought 4 pot calipers from a Nissan 200 sx.
When they arrive i will give them to the toolroom at work along with a spare hub as reference and they will work there magic