'99 Es300 Handling/braking Questions...

[Pete Zaria]

The story:

I wanted very much to buy an IS300 or older Supra, but can't afford the insurance on one. So, after lots of patient searching (while driving my gas-guzzling '97 Ford Exploder), I found a '99 ES300 coach edition with the 3.0L vvti v6, with just a tad over 60k miles on it for roughly $11k, in great shape, one owner, always garaged, nice leather, clean maintenance record and carfax, etc....

I've put 7k or so on it since then. I did a 60k mile service with new injectors/plugs/wires, flushed all the fluids, and new brake pads (though the rotors are a bit warped, which is indicated by a slight tremor under hard braking). I also added silverstar headlights, a Garmin on-dash GPS, and a passport 8500/ZR3 laser shifter kit (still legal in my state....). Besides that, the car is 100% stock. I love this car as a daily driver (the sound system and heated seats, and zippy v6 make it pretty fun) but I am dissapointed with it's handling and breaking. I want to do some minor performance upgrades (ram air intake, slightly bigger, more free-flowing [but not rice-rocket loud] exhaust, injectors, chip, etc...) but I want to make sure it can handle the added power first.

My question:

What are the easiest and most cost-effective upgrades I can do to improve handling and braking? I'm thinking of going to slightly bigger/wider tires, stiffer (perhaps a teeny bit lower) springs, and bigger front brakes. I'd like to keep the whole project under $3k if possible.

Thanks a ton for any input, guys.

Peace,

Pete Zaria.