Brake fade after 15k miles?

I have ~15k miles on my 2020 CM TRD Sport.

On a road trip this past week I noticed some vibration coming from the front upon light braking.

This is my first Tundra but I had brake issues on my 3rd and 4th gen T4Rs too.

Maybe I just ride the brake? I feel like I drive like a grandma but maybe not.

 

Normal, felt mine start vibrating since about that same mileage. It may not even be your driving style. Could be roads, could be uphill/downhill, could be wet rotors, so many factors.

 

Well, I must really drive like a grandpa then, I have about 23k on my rig and brakes a very smooth yet.
I will say, I have always given myself more distance between cars on the road then on previous vehicles, I don’t feel like the factory brakes are very strong

 

I may need to increase the follow distance. I use the radar cruise control mostly and that gives decent distance but maybe could use more.

When they get real bad I will research some aftermarket options. I had run Brembo rotors on my 3rd Gen T4R and they worked great.

 

Ya, I have heard some aftermarket brakes improved breaking substantially. I have not experienced that with other vehicles I have owned, replacements gave similar breaking but either lasted longer or shorter depending on the quality.

 

I’m coming up on 27k miles, and my truck’s braking is just like new.

I try to drive in a way that doesn’t require lots of braking. Braking while cruising at speed is just wasting the energy that was built up during acceleration. I’m not quite a hyper miler, but my driving style is pretty close to it. I tend to start coasting the rest of the way when my off-ramp is coming up or just coast as much as possible in general. My wife does not, lol. She is a last minute braker.

 

Brake shudder is usually caused by the build up of pad deposits on the rotor. Centric put out a pretty good white paper on it a few years ago. From what I gather, most people working in the industry agree with the paper, especially for road going vehicles.

The factory pads on the Tundra are not great, but this issue is not unique to Toyota or the Tundra. A friend had pad deposit issues on his Kia Stinger within a year of purchasing it. There are a few ways to help fight this, one is the bedding procedure linked below. This can be tried to clean off deposits, it doesn't always work once a shudder is present, but can be worth a shot.

The other is to be mindful of how you use the brakes. The worst thing you can do is get the brakes hot and then hold the truck still for a few minutes with the brakes. Obviously this is hard to avoid in some cases, but you can mitigate it. I am pretty hard on the brakes, but I also adjust to conditions to make sure I am not letting a ton of heat build up before coming to a stop and using minimal brake pressure once stopped. That said, it is also important to really use the brakes time to time, as this helps with maintaining a transfer layer and "cleaning" the pad and rotor face. Driving like a grandma can also cause shudder issues.

Brake Shudder:
https://centricparts.com/getmedia/b..._Whitepaper_B1-Warped-Brake-Disc-8-2018_1.pdf

Pad Bedding:
https://centricparts.com/getmedia/b...ical_Whitepaper_C2-Bed-In-Theory-8-2018_1.pdf


Yes, I have nerded out a lot over brakes in the past and find them to quiet fascinating.

 

I know I've read before on this site that a fair amount of guys on here have replaced their rotors pretty early on for the same reason and it resolved the issue. Whether it is driving style or the fact that the factory rotors aren't that great, or even a bit of both, tough to say.

 

My brakes had the shaking at less than 15k. I replaced them with powerstop, which were awful. Now I have stoptech cryo slotted rotors and ebc yellow pads and it’s the best brakes I’ve ever used.

Stock pads still had a lot left when I took them off but the shaking was annoying me.

 

Replacing (or resurfacing) the rotors will always address the issue as it eliminates the deposits.

Personally I think the factory rotors are fine, Advics makes them and they are as good or better than most of the aftermarket ones people switch to. Rotors are just hunks of iron with some machining, there isn't a whole lot of difference between them. Its kind of like engine oil, buy from a reputable source and you will be fine, barring any installation errors.

The confounding variable here is those with shudder issues usually switch to different rotors and pads. I don't have any shudder so far at 15k miles, but whenever I need brakes, I will try new factory rotors and aftermarket pads to see how things go.

 

Same

Same for my wife also

 

Good tips on the aftermarket options, thank you!

I think my problem is I live in the Baltimore / D.C. region and a lot of my driving is stop and go. Almost impossible to not use the brakes a lot in those conditions.