How good are G3 Brakes?

As well as EBC pads I find the best way to keep braking at its optimum is to strip the calipers regularly and ensure that the sliders and piston are absolutely clean and free. Any sign of woodeness is a sure sign of something starting to seize. You may hardly notice the deterioration but afterwards the improvement is very obvious.

As been said above a regular service of the brakes, like lube on the caliper sliders is a good idea. Also to change rear drum brake pads regularly. I change mine before every MOT every other year.
My jimny has the vitara calipers and jimny diesel rotors. I had trouble with my original non vented brake disc got warped so my car was shaking when braking at speed. I feel a significant improved stopping power at speed and apart from one pad failing the brakes have been awesome. Vitara calipers has an increased piston size from 48 to 52mm I think.
So pleased with the brakes now, recommended mod if you plan on servicing rotors or calipers anyways. Bracket also need changing.

Ah by the way, I noticed my SJ413 jimny gen 2 drums is a bit wider than the jimny gen 3. Been wanting to see if the are a direct swap.

I tried a full push stop from 55mph in my Gen.4 and noticed the following. Initially the braking was fast and smooth but at about 30mph it tailed off slightly. It was still good but not as good. I put this down to the ABS kicking in. There was no chatter or juddering, just smooth braking. Road was dry and flat.

Has anyone seen road test figures for braking performance?

Roger

wrote:

You could change the rear drum brakes for discs, that would give you a bit more braking force, but possibly not in the wet?

This is not something for the "inexperienced" to play with - braking force needs to be "balanced" front & rear, adding more braking at the back without a corresponding increase in front increases the risk of the rear brakes locking and the vehicle swapping ends, unless the vehicle is equipped with ABS or LSPV, (early gen3s had LSPV, later ones had ABS) in which case the rear brake force is going to be limited by the system and you're back exactly where you were before.

The real advantage of rear discs over drums is for folks who are out in gloopy liquid mud - once that gets trapped inside the drums, the drum/lining wear rate increases significantly.

I agree with the basics of fordem's comments. during heavy braking, most of the effort, probably 80%, comes from the front, so adding discs is a waste of money. If you are going to fill the drums with muck on a regular basis, then there is a call for discs, but only if you go to the extent of a conversion to a fully floating hub design. The standard design of a single ball race allows the half shaft a degree of end movement that can push the caliper piston further into the housing than is necessary. This causes a disconcerting amount of free play in the brake pedal. Not nice! This end movement does not affect drum brakes as the shoes can move across the machined surface of the drum.
So yes, disc brakes are better for off-road use in muck, but you will still need to check them on a regular basis as most calipers these days use a single piston design with a sliding body and water/muck on the pins will create problems.

Roger