While I was painting the brake callipers a few months ago, I noticed that the rear disks were close to the minimum thickness and would soon need replacing. The only aftermarket disks I found are from Black Diamond and DBA (but only in the DBA Australian catalogue). The Tarox disks I have on the front are excellent but Tarox don’t do disks for the rear.
The DBA disks that will fit are not shown in the UK catalogue so it’s difficult to get a price, though a friend who works at Co-ordsport has priced them for me – big thanks to them for that. I was told that some Black Diamond disks have warped so the decision was an easy one.
The dimensions for my rear disks are shown below - taken from the DBA catalogue and confirmed by my own measurements.
| Description | Dimension in mm | |
| A | Diameter | 266 |
| B | Original Height | 37 |
| C | Original Thickness | 9 |
| Minimum Thickness | 8 | |
| Centre Hole | 55 | |
| Number of bolt holes | 4 |
The DBA Longlife Gold (drilled and slotted) disks cost £164 each + VAT + carriage so that’s very nearly £400 for a pair of rear disks …… mmm ……. that’s a bit rich for me especially as I don’t want gold coloured disks on my silver car. The DBA Longlife slotted disks are grey and cost £94 each (+ VAT + carriage), much cheaper than the drilled and slotted so I’ve gone for a pair of those instead.
With that sorted, I needed to choose some new rear pads. Blueprint, Toyota, Black Diamond, EBC and Ferodo are the ones that I found. I decided on the Blueprint pads as I remember a Toyota technician telling me that many Toyota parts are re-branded Blueprint parts, particularly where brakes were concerned.
The Corolla was with Kevin in Droitwich having the supercharger belt idler changed when the disks arrived, so the disks and pads were sent directly to him for fitting – it saves me getting the tools out. However, that means that I don’t have pictures of the disks before they were fitted. I bedded them in on the drive to Rotorstock at Santa Pod – a round trip of about 350 miles.
When I get the opportunity I will give the centres of the disks a couple of coats of black paint to prevent the inevitable rust build up.
UPDATE - The disks have now been wire brushed to remove the surface corrosion and have been brush painted with smooth black Hammerite.