Brakes & Rotors

Hello Everyone. I have a question. I have a 17 Tundra Crew Platinum 4x4. In the past 14 or so months, I have had to have new rotors, new pads, which is no real big deal, but in that same time frame, I have had to get pads a second time and have the rotors turned. This is all in about a 12k miles stretch. I went 60k+ on the original rotors and pads.

What I am looking for is a recommendation for rotors and pads that aren't made so poorly.

 

@reywcms, you want to take this one? Lol.


One word. Alcon.

https://alconkits.com/products/heavy-duty-truck-brake


Rey shamed my into trying a set, and holy shit they’re amazing. Hurt the pocketbook way more than you’d think brakes should, but they’re on a whole other level.


Your experience sounds terrible though! I got close to 90K on my OEM brakes before we simply put fresh pads in the fronts. In my defense, a solid 75% of my miles are highway with little to no braking. I commute 19 miles of quiet rural highway, so my brakes last forever. Shoot, I just changed oil in my daughter’s 2010 Prius. 249,000 miles on the original brakes. We bought the car new and know it’s history…. Lots of tires and oil changes, but zero brakes.

 

I'm of the opinion that rotors get warped because of severe over tightening by the person who put the tires on. That in turn causes pads to wear unevenly and faster. And causing a dealer to recommend a very costly, and profitable (for them), "turning". Which the unknowing then agree to. Makes a ton of money for dealers.

I had an '08 once that I tried to rotate the tires on my own. With a breaker bar, and a pipe on it, with me standing on the end of it, and bouncing on it, I could not break the nuts loose. WAYYYY overtightened. Common problem from dealers.

Changing disc brakes, including rotors, is pretty easy. Not as easy as changing oil, but still pretty easy. Watch some YouTubes on how to do it, and you'll figure it out quickly. You can get a new set of rotors for the price of a "turning" from a dealer!

Granted you need some good safe hardware to be able to safely lift your truck enough to do this, and a proper torque wrench to not over tighten your lug nuts. However you buy that once, unlike a forever "turning" cycle from a dealer.

If you don't have the time or means to do it yourself, find yourself a local trusted mechanic.

Or, if you have the $$$, you can go for the "big brake" kit that Chad D recommends. I may do this someday if I have the $$$ available.


EDIT: I'm assuming based on your verbiage that you took your truck to a dealer.

 

Did you replace with OEM or aftermarket?

 

Haha this is the answer

 

I think it’s also worth noting the importance of correctly breaking in your new brakes. Especially the rotors!

You need to carefully run the new rotors in and get some pad material embedded on the surface. Several heat cycles and braking exercises are needed to adequately make this happen, and you can screw it up if done incorrectly.

Not saying rotors don’t get warped, but it’s also common to abuse the rotors by not running them in correctly when new and getting a built up clump of pad material. Feels like warping, and fixable.

I was fortunately able to find a route that allowed me to break my new pads/rotors in without ever coming to a complete stop for about 30 miles. Several heat cycles and pad material is definitely transferred onto the new rotors.

 

Since the Tundra's are under 10582lb then you only need the front kit? That is some serious coin for brakes

 

Likely, but I figured that it would be nicer to do both ends. I had a tough time wrapping my head around the idea of big baller front brakes, while leaving little Barbie brakes on the rear.

Plus, I tow a pretty good amount of heavy-ish trailers. Go big, right?

 

My driving is pretty much around town, run to grab mail, go to Costco, appointments, etc. Occasional road trip, so my braking habits are pretty mellow meaning I am not bouncing all over the place. I would say 60% are highway miles. For having this truck since Dec 2016 and being under 80k miles, I really don't abuse the truck. I don't mind paying more for a top end product if I know I am not going to have to worry about it going forward for a long time.

 

And I was thinking this was the “expensive” option.
https://dirtydeedsindustries.com/st...7-21-frozen-rotors-ebc-yellowstuff-brake-pads

 

No first hand experience, but I’ve heard the EBC pads make a ton of dust. Curious if others have experienced this?

 

I’ve got EBC yellows in mine currently and yes they make a shit ton of dust and noise. Lol the initial bite is actually better feeling than the Alcons but obviously not anywhere close to the power of them.

 

My EBC oranges put out a good amount of dust, but it doesn't bother me. Definitely a fan of them though.

 

@TRDFerguson can confirm. I only posted them with the pads because they are cheaper to buy them with those pads than without any.





I run the OEM TRD pads.

 

Can confirm, the yellows are dusty AF but stop well. Went back to OEM pads, though, because gray front wheels didn't look quite right.