Replacement Brake Pads and Rotors

CowboyTaco

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
Thread revival.

I think I'm in the market for a brake upgrade. Currently running the AutoZone OE replacements and their Max pads. They were great out of the gate, but I'm noticing what seems like an increased stopping distance. I don't drive the truck near like I used to, but I took a little road trip on Friday and noticed that my stopping distance sucked.

I'm at about 180k miles and 13 years, so I'm thinking I'll replace the front lines with steel braided ones, do the rotors and pads with a performance upgrade and flush the fluid.

FWIW, I'm still running the OEM rear drums. I may consider doing a replacement there too, but IIRC the front does about 80% of the braking and they aren't making any noise.

@Silverback , how are those PowerStops holding up? they working good for the 5 miles you put on the taco annually?[/Sarcasm]

I'm kind of thinking I want to go with either the same PowerStop kit (k137-36) or the R1 Concepts equivalent kit. Others I should consider? Should I rule either of those out for any reason?[/S]
 
Anathollo

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
CowboyTaco said:
Thread revival.

I think I'm in the market for a brake upgrade. Currently running the AutoZone OE replacements and their Max pads. They were great out of the gate, but I'm noticing what seems like an increased stopping distance. I don't drive the truck near like I used to, but I took a little road trip on Friday and noticed that my stopping distance sucked.

I'm at about 180k miles and 13 years, so I'm thinking I'll replace the front lines with steel braided ones, do the rotors and pads with a performance upgrade and flush the fluid.

FWIW, I'm still running the OEM rear drums. I may consider doing a replacement there too, but IIRC the front does about 80% of the braking and they aren't making any noise.

@Silverback , how are those PowerStops holding up? they working good for the 5 miles you put on the taco annually?[/Sarcasm]

I'm kind of thinking I want to go with either the same PowerStop kit (k137-36) or the R1 Concepts equivalent kit. Others I should consider? Should I rule either of those out for any reason?[/S]
Click to expand...
Do you still have 17" rims? If so, you could do the 4Runner caliper and rotor upgrade. Look at the first page of my build thread for the specifics on those parts.

I've ran the Powerstops & EBC's and the best combo I've found to be is OEM rotors and EBC Greenstuff pads (the greenstuff pads do shed a lot of brake material FYI).

For your rear drums, only replace with OEM parts. The parts you get from vatozone or rockauto are junk and don't last (I found that out the hard way).
Also, the rear drums may only do "20%" of the stopping but having driven around without rear brakes on my Tacoma, I can tell you that the "20%" is not a linear curve line. They help you stop way more than what you would think "20%" is.
 
CowboyTaco

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
I do have 17s and have considered doing that in the past, but didn't really want to mess with changing the calipers also. I'm not against doing it necessarily, just looking at cost and complexity. I'd need to replace the dust shield and would rather not do that until the hub/bearing assembly needs to be replaced again.

I was kind of half considering this Powerstop kit that includes front and rear brakes.

More Information for POWER STOP K15231DK36

www.rockauto.com

Looks like Jegs may have it for a few $ cheaper.
 
Anathollo

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
CowboyTaco said:
I do have 17s and have considered doing that in the past, but didn't really want to mess with changing the calipers also. I'm not against doing it necessarily, just looking at cost and complexity. I'd need to replace the dust shield and would rather not do that until the hub/bearing assembly needs to be replaced again.

I was kind of half considering this Powerstop kit that includes front and rear brakes.

More Information for POWER STOP K15231DK36

www.rockauto.com

Looks like Jegs may have it for a few $ cheaper.
Click to expand...
Slotted & drilled are cool & all for racing and instagram but you'll find OEM rotors are better for daily driving because they have more mass to resist warping and last longer. I helped my brother change his rotors and pads on his 2008 Tundra with 110k miles and the OEM rotors were still thicker than the new Powerstop rotors he was replacing them with.

Just trying to keep you from getting sucked into all that like I did along time ago lol
 
tx_shooter

tx_shooter

It is not a war crime the first time.
Staff member
When I was using my Tacoma for a heavy use DD and towing with it the EBC pads w/ stock rotors were the best combo. I did notice enough brake dust that it annoyed me some but not enough to wash it.
 
CowboyTaco

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
Also, worth noting, I don't want to run cost up, but I don't want to cheap out either. I'll spend what needs to be spent.

My OEM rotors were replaced somewhere around either 114k or 127k...I can't remember. I should have left them alone as they had plenty of life, but it was "time" to do them based on mileage.

I'm intrigued by the drilled/slotted rotors, as I've never owned them. I've always been a "more surface area" kind of guy and I remember reading years ago that the cross drilled were more likely to fracture/crack due to the drilling process.
 
Anathollo

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
CowboyTaco said:
Also, worth noting, I don't want to run cost up, but I don't want to cheap out either. I'll spend what needs to be spent.

My OEM rotors were replaced somewhere around either 114k or 127k...I can't remember. I should have left them alone as they had plenty of life, but it was "time" to do them based on mileage.

I'm intrigued by the drilled/slotted rotors, as I've never owned them. I've always been a "more surface area" kind of guy and I remember reading years ago that the cross drilled were more likely to fracture/crack due to the drilling process.
Click to expand...
I never reused a rotor set of drilled & slotted as they were always heavily scored and warped.
 
CowboyTaco

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
I think I'm going to start with lines and fluid, as I know the fluid is LONG overdue. The stoptech front lines are on Amazon for $43 right now. https://www.amazon.com/Centric-950-44007-Brake-Line-Kit/dp/B004HEFCSU

I'm also contemplating doing the rears as they have never been done, and you are right....20% is considerable. Do I just get the shoes, or do I need to replace the drum too? I'll be going to YT University for the install job, as I've never done rear drums before. Have a guy who is local who said I can come to him for assistance.

That should give me a little more time to decide on the fronts. The more I think about it, the more I lean toward getting the dust shield and caliper off a junkyard 5th gen 4runner. Then getting OEM 4runner rotors and pads.

...though it would make more sense to do the fronts and the bed-in procedure before replacing the fluid.
 
Silverback

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
I bought Goodrich lines before.. had one explode. Thank God it was unhooking a trailer and I was only going about 1 MPH. I won't skimp on brake lines.
 
Anathollo

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
CowboyTaco said:
I think I'm going to start with lines and fluid, as I know the fluid is LONG overdue. The stoptech front lines are on Amazon for $43 right now. https://www.amazon.com/Centric-950-44007-Brake-Line-Kit/dp/B004HEFCSU

I'm also contemplating doing the rears as they have never been done, and you are right....20% is considerable. Do I just get the shoes, or do I need to replace the drum too? I'll be going to YT University for the install job, as I've never done rear drums before. Have a guy who is local who said I can come to him for assistance.

That should give me a little more time to decide on the fronts. The more I think about it, the more I lean toward getting the dust shield and caliper off a junkyard 5th gen 4runner. Then getting OEM 4runner rotors and pads.

...though it would make more sense to do the fronts and the bed-in procedure before replacing the fluid.
Click to expand...
CowboyTaco said:
I watched a video on the rear drums earlier today. Doesn't look too bad.

Shoes and drums or just shoes?
Click to expand...
It gets bad if your drum brakes are seized onto a rusted drum lol

If I were you, I wouldn't order any drum brake parts. I would take one drum off and look at the pad condition to see if they actually NEED to be replaced. If they have plenty of pad left, then you can just put the drum back on and re-tighten the spool. This way it could save you money in the long run because if you already bought the parts, you'll be tempted to go ahead and swap out the pads & drums when you don't need to.

Also, ONLY use OEM springs and clips on the drums. The springs & clips that come with shitty aftermarket kits are straight garbage and are way thinner than the OEM springs. I'm still running the OEM springs & clips at ~230k miles and I've changed the drums once & the pads twice (the cheap pads I bought from vatozone broke in half so I was forced to replace them).

Also, return those stoptech brake lines and buys the Crowns. This isn't something to cheap out on. Like @Silverback, I had a toytec (IIRC) stainless brake line rupture and I blew through a red light. I got so lucky that it was an empty intersection.
 
Silverback

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
I have Crown airlines for my F&R lockers. I had the one going to the front lay on my exhaust and melt the shit out of it. It still held air. I replaced it anyhow, and also tied it back away from the exhaust. But I trust them.
 
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