So here is what bothers me about the tC when it comes to the brakes.

1) When there are 3+ people in the car, the brakes just SUCK. They are sooo weak and stopping distance increases like crazy. I think that cause is partially due to reason number 2. - continue:

2) The rear brakes are ridiculously small. I recently did my front brakes and now I am about to do the rears. So I order some rear pads and they are smaller than a limp ...... I can't believe how small they are. Even with quality pads and rotors, there is just no surface area for stopping power on these brakes.

Does anyone feel the same way as me?


(I know, aren't I expresive? :D)

 

i never felt that the brakes suck with 3 or more people in it, i lean more towards the acceleration suffers too much.

rear brakes are smaller than the rear for balance aren't they? also, the front brakes do most of the work anyway.

anyway, the best way to improve your braking performanace actually starts with the tires, not the pads and rotors. if you are still on oem tires, they are what is really underperforming, not your brakes.

the only gripe i had with my oem brakes was that they got so wet that on long drives on the interstate in the rain i would would have almost no braking initially until i dried them off by repeatidly tapping the brake pedal.

 

Uh oh !!!! NO stockies on his car . Him be done got Proxes me thinks

 

looking at his profile mods, he needs the trd sport shock set or some other kind of sportier shocks.

stiffer suspension helps with the weight transfer on a car especially when braking, stiffer suspension will help reduce all that weight sending the front of the car into a noseplow overloading the tires and allow the rear to keep more weight on them which will give them more traction and braking power.

but anyway, weight is always going to work against your braking distance, it is a simple laws of physics surround inertia, and momentum and kinetic energy.

your brakes convert kinetic energy into heat by squeezing the brake pad against the brake rotor. well, the more weight in your car, the more kinetic energy you have that must be converted to heat. but then your brakes get heat soaked faster and you get brake fade.

it is just a fact of life, when driving with a heavier load, you have to allow more room to brake. so either tell your friends to lose some weight, walk, drive their own cars or get on the bus.

 

The size of the brake pads has nothing to do with braking abiality. Torque output does not change with size so in theory, if you could install your fornt pads on the rear, there would be no change in feel. The only thing a larger pad offers is increased heat capacity and pad life. As far as the rear brakes go, they are significantly underutilized from the factory and will probably end up outlasting the fronts...in fact, the BBK we engineered for the tC has significantly less torque output than stock (almost 20%) which eseentially pushes a lot more work to the rear brakes.

 

Hmm, interesting information. I figured that more surface area on the rotor (larger rotors/larger pads/larger calipers) would lead to more effective braking.

In any case, yea, I am on toyo proxes 4 - 225/45-17s. I have trd springs, but the shocks wouldn't do anything for braking distance - i mean, come on. lol Anyway, they are overpriced.

Yea, acceleration definitely suffers too, but with a stick shift, its not as bad. But I have to swap out my brake fluid anyway - I was just waiting to do my brakes first and then flush the system. I must have boiled the fluid a while back because the brake pedal is mushy and catches much too low. If I have to hit em relatively hard, the pedal goes to the floor - NOT safe/good.

I've heard its 70% front and 30% rear. The EBD system must do something here as well. Not sure how that plays a role in this situation.

 

shocks do more than you think, trust me, i put on axxis ultimate pads with powerslot slotted rotors for about a month, got used to how they work, then when i put on full trd suspension, it got even better. far more controlled on hard stops and drastically reduced nose plowing.

your suspension components all work together and compliment eachother. tires, brakes, struts, springs sway bars. they are all links in the chain, and like a chain, they are only as strong as their weakest link.

right now the weakest part of my suspension are the all season tires i'm using, and the stock front sway bar. but soon i'll have hotchkis front and rear.

 

I actually find that with a stock front sway and trd rear sway on race setting, it is an oversteer beast. Unfortunately, I can't throw on any different front sway because it will understeer like crazy. The hotchkis is supposed to be far superior.


Anyway, so i'm the only one who feels like the brakes are just WEAK when you have 3 or 4 in the car? Or do you all just not have a problem putting the pedal to the floor to get it to stop? (i'm afraid of the emergency situation where I need maximum brake force and won't have it when I have a full car).

 

Well, for the most part, front brakes do most of the work on any car because when you brake, weight transfers to the front. That's just how the physics work. A stiffer suspension will reduce "dive," but the weight transfer occurs all the same - the stiffer shocks and springs just keep the chassis from diving/rising.

But I have a feeling you're right. Acceleratino obviously definitley suffers, but I also believe braking does too. The tC feels pretty "clumsy" with too many people in it. For that reason, I truly prefer driving by myself.

Of course, I'm not blaming the tC... I'm sure the same is true for any car of similar size and torque output (at similar RPMs).

 

Weight and speed both play a role in how much braking is needed. Since the brakes sole job is to convert kinetic energy into heat through friction, the more weight you have, the more kinetic energy needs to be dissipated. Weight increase has a linear effect on kinetic energy while vehicle speed has an exponential effect on energy. If you add 2-3 people to the car (400-600 pounds extra) there will definitely be an increase in the amount of brake fore required to stop the car...its just physics at work.

 

hell yes I agree with you!
tC brakes suck!
My friends and I notice that every single day.

 

proof that size doesn't matter.

tC brakes DO suck and ABS is too sensitive.
Best and safest thing to do is change your driving style so that it's not an issue. Know your limits and your car's limits. if you wanted brakes like a sports car, guess what, u're gonna need to buy a sports car.

 

I'm not asking for the brakes to perform like a sports car nor do I drive very aggressively. But when I have people in the car and an emergency happens where I have to slam em, I'm nervous!!!

 

If your brake pedal is going to the floor-- at all, ever-- your braking system needs to be serviced. My sole braking system upgrade is SS lines (I like a firmer initial pedal feel), and I get maybe an inch and a half of pedal travel.

Of course, on the 245s, I can only get into the ABS on dry roads by kicking the middle pedal like a mule. And I drive me + passenger + 2 kids in carseats nearly all the time.

 

I always felt my brakes sucked. If I am on an uneven surface or turning while braking hard I feels like metal on metal. I took it in to the Scion mechanic and he said it is the way the car is and didnt feel any problems. I am also thinking of changing my rotors when I get my brakes serviced. any recommendations for this newbie?

 

www.rotorpros.com

good $ and good quality. If you have more $ though, STOPTECH!

 

airdoza, hit up waterdragon, he's running a group buy on some centric rotors. same rotors that stoptech uses.