— Brakes —

important Brakes are your lifeline, they make your car stop. If you are not confident that you can maintain your brakes yourself, let a professional do so. Remember that often after replacing major parts like discs, pads, lines, fluids, etc. the braking quality of your car gets worse until the parts wear in. Don’t change to new brake parts an hour before going out to the track. Drive around with them for a few hunderd kilometers before asking maximum performance from them!

Q: What brake pads should I use and where can I get them?
A: This is a difficult one to answer, a number of companies make brake pads for the Hachi Roku. For normal street use most brands suit very well. A lot of members on this board that also run on the track swear by Mintex pads.
note if people pm me part numbers from suppliers will make a nice list of part numbers here
Read more about the subject: Brake pads for the ae86
Check our stores thread for places to buy brakepads from: Online store list

Q: I want steel brake lines, then I will brake better, where can I get them?
A: First off, steel brake lines look nice, but they don’t make you brake better by default. Most if not all rubber lines these days are steel breaded inside. Often great improvement is experienced switching to steel breaded lines but most of the time this is due to the old lines having warn out or because bad quality normal lines where used. Also one must keep in mind that after changing the lines, you often put new brake fluid in. Many people forget that brake fluid is a fluid that should be replaced regurly just like your oils as moisture builds up in the fluid and make your car brake worse. The improvent in braking after installing steel lines often has little to do by the lines being steel breaded.
None the less, it’s a worthy upgrade. Keep an eye on the sell forum as group buys often popup where steel lines are being sold at a discount.

Q: I want bigger brakes! What do I do?
A: Well you have a number of options here but you have to realize that the stock brake system on the Hachi Roku together with some good quality brake pads will serve even track use perfectly. Getting bigger brakes does not have to mean that your car will stop quicker. Tires and suspention setup will often cause grip loss well before your brakes loose their effectiveness. Still a bigger better brake setup can definately help when you are asking alot of your little car. When you’ve uprated your suspention and get better gripping tires upgrading the brake system may even be required to make your car stop as fast as it can. Put your money in those first before you start looking at the brake system.
A better brake booster would be the first thing to look at when you get to this point.
Other interesting upgrades are a bigger brake kit, many people have fitted the excelent 4pot RX7-FC calipers which are an almost perfect fit. There are however complete kits available for the Hachi Roku. Expect to paid many $$$ for these.
Some members on the forum are looking into fitting Volvo brakes and fabricating the parts needed for this. This looks promesing aswell.
Read more about the subject: *will post later*

Q: I need to replace my disc brakes and/or pads, what do I do?
We have some writeups that are related to this. It is really easy to do yourself even on your driveway and could save you a bit of costs at the local garage. Don’t forget its always a good idea to regularly bleed your brake lines aswell and don’t forget to get your brake fluid replaced at regular intervals!
Read about changing the rear discs and pads here: Rear brake rotors and pad replacement
Read about bleeding the complete system here: Brake system bleed after master brake replacement/upgrade