Brake shuddering and squealing

I have a 2002 Toyota Tundra V8 4WD. Purchased this truck from a dealership a year ago, recently started experiencing 2 issues:
1) brakes on the right side of the truck squeal specifically when I reverse. Occasionally the brakes squeal when I’m inching forward on a downhill driveway (e.g. getting ready to turn out of a grocery parking lot driveway). I believe the sound is coming from my right front brakes. Ever since the issue started, I checked the brake pads myself and also had an auto shop check. There is plenty of brake pad remaining on front brakes and rear drums seem to be in good shape. Auto shop has not been helpful in at least diagnosing the issue, and I’m having trouble diagnosing on my own
2) truck shudders when I brake from higher speeds to lower speeds (e.g. going 45 and then slowing to 15 miles per hour for a red light at an intersection). There is no squealing when this happens, just shuddering

I replaced brakes about 10,000 miles ago, including new calipers and rotors. When I replaced them I used a larger caliper, 13WL casting instead of SL3WE. Also had to snip 1/4" from the backplate to be able to fit the larger caliper on. I did this to hopefully address the shuddering (squealing was not happening at the time). A lot of online research confirmed other 1st gen tundra owners have found success with this. Any insight on this situation?

 

Quick answers:

1) The squeal you are experiencing is not uncommon and there is no definitive fix for it either, unfortunately.

2) Could be front rotors or rear drums out of round. Many aftermarket drums and rotors are not true even when new or become unbalanced very quickly. OEM parts are most likely to provide shutter free braking but they can be pricey.

 

A stupid as it sounds, the first thing I'd be looking at is your rear brakes. They have a ton of impact on how your vehicle drives, driveline vibrations, braking effectiveness, etc.

In theory, they should auto-adjust if you firmly set the parking brake fully and release it 3-4 times, but this is assuming everything is freely working as it should and the drums are in-round, which often isn't the case with people living in areas where road salt is prevalent, and also folks using non-OEM drums, if you've replaced.

Have you just been focusing on the front, has the rear been dealt with at all to confirm adjustment, etc.?

 

This^^^

I have both issues on my truck, although I only get the squeal on the first few seconds of braking after sitting overnight, after that it doesn't happen again during that driving session.

Slight shudder is from aftermarket rear drums. Next time I have nothing better to do, I'll take them to a shop and have them machined round as it only costs $50

 

What brand brake parts did you use?

 

Yeah I tried setting the parking brake multiple times to readjust the rear brakes but still experiencing the squealing and shuddering. I haven’t explored the rear brakes as thoroughly, I’m less familiar with them than I am with front brake setups, going to have to do some research

 

at this point I don’t remember but they definitely were not OEM

 

This is where my money's at ^

 

Rear brakes need to be independently adjusted manually to the proper setting. The ol’ parking brake adjustment is lackluster with these, especially if you have the old style starwheel and they haven’t been maintained and lubricated. Once the rears are adjusted properly, shift your focus to the front. If the right front is the focus, check for sticking caliper, which is either slide pins with corrosion or improperly greased or the pistons themselves getting stuck in the bore due to corrosion. Replace / repair as needed to remedy the sticking. Sounds like the pulsing has already started and you’ll likely need to start over with new rotors and pads though. Then finally, a thorough flush of the brake fluid in the system per the FSM including the LSPV in the rear. Honorable mention to corroded hard lines and fittings or old rubber soft lines that have deteriorated and don’t hold good pressure anymore, replace with new hard lines and SS jacketed soft lines if needed.

 

We've had a crapton of people who went with non-OEM drums on here and found they were warped, right out of the box. I edited my last reply to indicate as much.

While this seems silly as hell to me, it's legit info. This is just one of a half dozen or more posts saying the same: https://www.tundras.com/threads/shaking-when-braking.45942/

 

To this excellent point, I'd point you (@speeddemoncowgirl) over to @NomadicFrog's thread over here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/brake-pulsing-hot-spots-or-out-of-round-rear-drum.109339/

Sort of a good example of a deep dive on brakes

 

I'd replace the drums and rotors with OEM. If you go through the Toyota online program they're not much more than aftermarket. Brake pads and shoes aren't as finicky. Lots of folks have had good luck with powerstop, akebono or advics.

If you are doing the work yourself I'd start with rotors, drums and new pads. The rear brake shoes can be a bit of a pain if you haven't done them before. If you're going to a shop, then have them do it all at once.

I bought my truck with basically brand new aftermarket drums and they shuddered after about 10k miles. Replaced the drums with OEM and no issues for 3 years.

 

I had a bad shudder when braking for a while, was a stuck piston on the front right caliper, it was dragging pretty badly too, which could make it squeal (I didn’t have one though)
One thing you could do as an easy check, after a drive check each rotor with a laser thermometer and see if he is significantly hotter than the other.
might help narrow it down some.
My brakes had fully been done not that many miles before so that’s not always a good indicator.

 

Regarding that initial brake squeal, I had the exact same symptoms as @Aerindel for several years. I replaced the front rotors, installed Akebono premium pads, used generous portions of brake anti-squeal paste on all the mating surfaces, guide pins, etc. (except for the pad to rotor contact obviously) and that eliminated the noise completely and so far exactly 1 year later it hasn't returned.

 

You guys have me all paranoid now.

Periodically if I'm driving with the windows down, if there's buildings on either side of me to reflect sound, and I'm doing under 20mph, I'll hear a super-faint high pitch 'screeeeee' that's almost like a I'm reaching the squealer. If I let off the brakes, it stops. But the truck has done this in all the years I've had it, and only has 75k miles of salt-free years on it, so I just ignore it.

I think everyone has the 'reverse-out in the morning and hear a squeal' issue. Especially if you parked the truck wet, rotors rust overnight.

 

Turn up the stereo!

 

What?

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Contrary to what the parts guys try to tell us, the newer ceramic pads squeal more and bite less than the old semi-mettalics. They make less dust too, so win some lose some.

 

I'm frankly not even sure wtf is loaded up in my calipers. But I can tell they're fairly new, there's a good 3/8" - 1/2" of material on the plates.

I just know I don't get a crapload of dust on my wheels, so whatever's on there is lower-dust than organic or semi-metallic, for sure. Quite possibly ceramic.