paul_h Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 hi all, need to pick your collective brains short version of a long story is i suffer very badly from arthritis in my ankle and driving a auto jpec TT with brakes that are poor to say the least I am finding it very uncomfortable to drive. I know it not the normal thing to do but has anyone any ideas for making the braking a lot less labour intensive, to get my car to stop from spirited driving speeds you really need to put a lot of pressure on the pedal which in turn causes me a lot of pain through my ankle I want to keep the car but at the moment cannot see how as its got to the point where i dont want to drive it, I have never driven one with uk spec brakes so not sure if they are any improvement in pedal pressure, so any ideas? uprated servo, larger discs? help paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 UK brakes won't make much difference on the same pad compound, they are very progressive brakes on the Supra, no "on / off" like you get in a lot of modern cars. UK brakes and pads with a bit more "grab" might help in combination with the usual suspects like braided hoses and decent fluid to make sure all the pressure your ankle provides is actually pushing a piston rather than making a rubber hose expand but I can't see it transforming the car. My pads take a bit of warming up before they really bit hard but it's still progressive. I'll bow out now before I give you any advice that will stop the brakes working at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodilx6 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 (edited) I seem to remember some writing by CW about pedal pressure. If you change brakes to larger ones or more specifically more total piston surface area, you will need less pressure to apply the same braking force as you would with a smaller piston area. You will need to research a bit to get properly dimensioned rear breakes as well, since large fronts will result in no/too little break force applied in the back with resulting deterioration in overall breaking. But hey, you might be the first to actually have a perfectly valid reason to strap some huge 8 piston front brakes on your supra - just make sure to measure the "forward protrusion" of you wheels to make sure the brakes fit, or you might need new wheels as well. Maybe you can put all this on a healt insurance? That would be SO cool (on another note, wouldn't it in some way be possible to enhance the force from the brake booster? Might be cheaper) Forward protrusion: http://www.imagewheels.co.uk/images/tech_spec.jpg Edited November 11, 2009 by bodilx6 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedrosixfour Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Left foot braking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_h Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 Left foot braking? unfortunately i suffer with both ankles going to hospital next month for an operation to dremmel the bones down a bit see if that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedrosixfour Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 How about a hand/lever operated braking system, kinda like the hydraulic handbrake systems on drift cars etc but more sophisticated, progressive and servicing all the wheels, not just the rears. It'd be something to do with your left hand seeing as you drive an auto! Don't ask me how this might effect the MOT testing or even the classification of your car afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_jekyll Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 How about a hand/lever operated braking system, kinda like the hydraulic handbrake systems on drift cars etc but more sophisticated, progressive and servicing all the wheels, not just the rears. It'd be something to do with your left hand seeing as you drive an auto! Don't ask me how this might effect the MOT testing or even the classification of your car afterwards. shouldt be a problem with the mot s disability cars have hand operation for the throttle and the brake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 There are a few members on here who have adapted their cars to hand controls, so it is a good solution allowing you to still enjoy the car. They would probably be the best to ask. http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=187700&highlight=hand+controls http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=145199&highlight=hand+controls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Very high Mu pads will help, but may well be noisy. They'll also be expensive. Having perfect discs and calipers and sliders in perfect shape will help, too. Beyond that it gets expensive, like a bigger servo (may not fit without a totally one off pedal box set up and a remote pair of servos somewhere) or you MAY get away with a smaller bore MC and a longer pedal travel. Anything's possible, but obviously brakes need to be done carefully and safely. I haven't tried this, but you might find an electric or engine driven vacuum pump pulling more depression in the STOCK servo than the engine itself can manage would work. I could ask a brake development engineer I know if you were interested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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