Brake rotors/pad job

I am about to do a rotor & pad job on my 22 limited. As many others have reported, I also have symptoms of warped rotors and would just rather do this myself instead of dealing with the dealers. Getting R1 concept slotted/drilled rotors and dynamic friction pads.

I haven't done brakes on the 3rd gen before (but have on other vehicles). Any tricks or gotchas specific to the truck I need to know about before I start other than to just disengage the electronic parking brake? Thanks in advance.

 

How many miles? Do you use adaptive cruise control often?

 

Brake job would be same as usual- Tundras benefit from cryo treated rotors most definitely. Other than that, dont try and save a couple bucks, use good components and pads and bed the brakes after install.

 

Very rarely. Maybe once or twice a year on long distance trips over the past 2 years. 25k miles

 

Do you have recommendations? I've heard many good things about R1's on other vehicles and they are available on rockauto which is why I was planning on those. But I am open to other suggestions as well.

 

On previous Toyotas I have I used Centric pads and rotors with pretty good results.
Just about everything these days are ceramic pads. Sadly the selection for the aftermarket stuff on the Tundra is still a little dry.
Its gotten better but not as good a other slightly older models.

I had a problem with my wifes car. We bought it used and first thing I did was a complete brake job on all four corners. Rotors and pads with new slides. Broke in the brakes and smooth as silk.

A few months later I drive the van, the steering shook like drive through a coblestone road at speed when it hit the brakes. WTF.
She blamed the vehicle and brakes. Me? I brought up records i have from previous cars.... (Altima, Odyssey etc)
They all seemed to have the same problem when braking. (even after I serviced the vehicle)
So I said I will do this brake job one more time. After that you need to bring it to the dealership.
The threat of bring the car to the dealer (and a $1000+ bill) for service forced her to stop driving like an animal with hard braking etc.
Well so far its been a year and the brakes on the van are great.

We are creatures of habit, some bad some good. At least we should be smart enough to realize those bad habits and correct them.
I chewed through brakes in my younger days... Then in a moment of reflection I realized it was shitty driving habits that cause premature wear and I rather not being pissing away money and time on changing brakes.

 

One thing to consider... many of these so-called instances of warped rotors are not that at all. What happens a lot is that if you do a hard stop where the brakes get very hot and then sit with the brakes clamped down brake pad material gets deposited on the rotor in that spot. Do that a few times and the brakes will pulse as the rotors turn and the pads encounter various levels of friction. You can avoid this by paying attention... and if you do have to stay stopped after a very hard stop, esp with trailer, ease off the brakes a bit and roll a few feet a few times. Or engage the parking brake and let off the pedal. Even pads better than OEM will do this.

 

Oh there are many variables that can cause the rotors to not be true.
I've had brand new ones from Rock and Amazon that were warped from factory or had a rough time in shipping.
When I do the brakes I make sure to get any and all rust out from behind the old rotor etc.
Any material in between the rotor and hub is never good.

As for the Tundra, is there a procedure to unlocking the rear brakes when powered off?
I miss the simple times when you had the left emergency brake pedal or the handle in the middle of the two seats.
Everything has to be electronic with sensors, switches and actuators. ugh.

 

Another tip is to make sure all your lug nuts are torqued to spec. I started rotating the tires myself 15+ years ago after finding significant deviation after having the dealer perform rotations. No problems with warped rotors ever since.

 

Tip # 2:

Check your washer fluid and top it off. A dirty windshield could cause visibility issues, making it tough to see what's coming and therefore braking too late and too hard.

Let me know if there's any other tips you need and I can make up some more.

 

Tip#3:

Make sure your tires have air in them....you get really bad gas mileage and go through tires really quick if you don't have any air in your tires. Also makes it harder to stop.

There I made up another @ArticTundra....am I doing it right?

 

While in Park hold brake pedal and push Parkiing brake button for 3 seconds and the dash will show you electronic parking brake disengaged. Do it again to reengage.