PowerBrake Upgrade Thread

Hey All, Its been a minute since I've posted as the shop has been slammed, but I am super stoked to announce that I have just become a Powerbrake Distributor.

The interest in these its has been insane and since becoming a dealer we already have orders going in. I haven't seen a thread regarding Powerbrake on here as they are a higher end upgrade, But I figured, why not!

I will be installing my Big Brake Kit in the next week or two when I get some time and will be happy to answer any install questions you may have.

I can also get you taken care of if you plan to purchase a set as well.

If you have been contemplating a brake upgrade and think a rear disc brake conversion is necessary, I promise you that upgrading to this big brake kit will eliminate that need.

Here are a couple images for those of you who haven't seen these kits before.

 

Will the stage 1 kit fit on a TRD 16” wheel?

 

CORRECTION:
Will Not Fit With 16” wheels.

If your interested, shoot me a message and I can get you taken care of

 

bigger caliper with more piston surface area.... how is brake pedal feel after upgrade, id imagine a bit more spongy yet more touchy brakes due to no master cylinder change.

 

Bigger surface area, Plus extremely high quality pads and rotors. The pedal is a bit more touchy but ultimately it just stops better. Part of the reason I wanted to pick up Powerbrake as a dealer Vs someone else was because of the attention to detail and the R&D that goes into each brake kit for each specific vehicle. For the longest time I had been searching for the perfect rear disk brake upgrade for these trucks but after finding Power brake there is no need.

 

How much is it?

 

Just shy of 3k. Around 2600.00 Bucks

 

Cayenne and Touareg both came with big 6 pistons in front, and discs in the rear, as do most other vehicles
drum brakes are cheaper to manufacture

rear discs let you add an additional caliper and drift brake handle to help initiate a turn on loose surfaces, in a primarily RWD truck that is actually taken to those places

vehicle brake systems are designed from scratch.
-how heavy is the vehicle, where does the weight shift. How soft is the suspension to compress and shift the weight
-how balanced is the vehicle, where does the weight tend to go
-what is the surface area and friction coefficient of the pads, area of the pistons, fluid power of the master cyl
-possibly a proportioning valve

when engineers calculate this, they choose the rear discs, size, caliper size, pad size

you have some cars that send a bit more braking force to the rear, to combat the stupid feeling of tilting forward, and keep the car more level to handle and perform better
rather than launch into the front, taking all the weight off the back tires causing loss of control

in the Audi world, it is common and widely considered dumb
that people will take an A4 that came with 321mm brakes, then slap on the most gigantic calipers to the front they can find while increasing engine power, leaving the rear stock. And not upgrading the rear as well to match the ratio of front to rear so it's balanced

I don't think a single person is a fan of Tacoma rear drum brakes, including how much of a pain they are to work on

If someone is spending $3k on front brakes, I don't see why they'd spend $0 on rear brakes

last modern vehicle I saw with rear drums was electric because it was cheaper to produce, more fuel efficient, and releasing throttle allowed (possibly regenerative) electric motors to the bulk of the decel

if I was spending money, I'd absolutely put a Ken Block handle in the truck
if one day I make more money and keep the truck that long, I probably will



I'm not sure if an auxiliary parking brake caliper is strong enough
(better to rely on mechanical cable than fluid pressure which can bleed off)


or if the second caliper has to be bigger
bigger = more unsprung weight, but maybe it's not a big deal given A/T tires are already heavy, and aluminum caliper may still be lighter than factory drum brake


drum brakes harder to inspect and adjust
I know a former Toyota tech who says after that, he refuses to work on Tacoma rear drum brakes ever again

 

You literally stated in your post above why to NOT do a disc brake upgrade in the rear of these trucks. When designed from scratch they were not designed for it and honestly, disc brakes or drum brakes, if the rear is only doing 20% of the stopping it would almost not be barely noticeable. The Front Brakes on these trucks doing around 80% of the vehicles braking. thats why the upgrade is so crucial when weight has been added like bigger tires, campers, etc.

These kits have been engineered around the factory braking hydraulics and they have calculated flow, weight etc. I mean they literally have heat indicators to determine how much friction is being created to determine which pads suit the vehicle best.

Sure a disc brake conversion is great, but unless you completely change the braking system to change the pressure and braking more from front to rear, a disc brake conversion is simply just going to make a brake job easier.

The rear brakes on these trucks hardly get touched for replacement as it is.

 

I thought Power Brake kits only worked with 17” wheels?

 

Yes this wall not fit with a wheel smaller than 17”

i don’t know what i was doing when i previously answered in the thread above.

Also,
For those looking for a huge brake upgrade but not the whole kit, PowerBrake now has a pad and rotor replacement that is significantly cheaper but offers insane stopping power.

 

Do you have a link to the PowerBrake pad/rotor upgrade kit?

 

here ya go.

same pads, and same rotor technology.

this upgrade is well worth it.

we like to say
Good=OEM Toyota Brake
Better=D-Line
Best=Big Brake Kit

https://overlandwarehouseonline.com/products/powerbrake-d-line-rotor-pad-kit

 

Thanks for the link. Just ordered the D-line. Lead times? Do you currently have them in stock?

 

Appreciate the support! These are in stock, we will get this going for you!

 

Hey, what’s up man? I had a question about the brake lines. I’m going to be installing JD Fabrications +2-1/4” long travel kit. The kit comes with extended brake lines which have stock ends I believe. Do you know if the connections on the power brake caliper are different? Am I going to need to make custom lines to run this kit? And if so can I order them from you?

 

Hey man, thanks for reaching out. Typically when we order a kit, we let Powerbrake know which long travel kit you are running and they will supply us with the correct brake lines

 

I'm thinking about getting the D-line set but I just replaced my OEM brake pads and want to get some use out of them before tossing them. Would running OEM pads with the D-line rotors also show some improvements?

 

Hey man! I’m sorry for the delay!
Normally I would call and ask but I really feel like powerbrake is going to tell me not to.

I probably wouldn’t, as the rotors and pad components and what they are made of are meant to work together.

 

I'm looking to upgrade OEM brakes on a Gen 3 Tacoma that's fully loaded at GVRW. Wondering if the D-Line option would be adequate or if the X-Line is necessary at that vehicle weight. Would prefer to keep the install simple but want to have adequate power. I'm planning to stick with the stock drum brakes in rear- not sure if that would matter when choosing between them. Thanks all.