Warped Rotors / Drums

I'm gonna throw this out there, I've argued it before. Warped rotors is not because you tow. It happens on little cars too. Stop standing on your brakes at stoplights. That's what causes it. You heat them up when you come up a stop....then they cool while you're standing on them....this warps them.

Keep a light foot on the brake when stopped....let the car roll a few inches occasionally. I have NEVER had warped rotors. It has nothing to do with the vehicle and everything to do with your driving style.


I'm gonna add its probably more common on Tacoma because of the surge when the a.c. kicks in. Naturally you want to step on the brake harder to prevent it from rolling.

 

As far as brakes (rotors/pads/drums) I don't think there's a difference between OR or Sport. I know the OR has a better booster/a-trac. I've had both models, I didn't notice a difference in braking.

For those who has less than 36K miles, take it back to the dealer and get it replaced. That's what factory warranty is for.

 

Agreed, but not riding the brakes helps them stay cool as well. I pulse or pump my brakes, something I learned from day one driving bigger vehicles.

No, factory warranty will not cover wear and tear items like brake pads. That's NOT what it's for sorry.

 

I didn't realize there was a difference between the OR brakes and the Sports. What is the difference? And is just the SR5 different also? I just assumed brakes where all the same on all Tacomas.

 

Killed my rotors on my 11' at 10k. Honestly it was lazy driving on my part...the hills in Austin are super steep but short compared to Colo. I was super cognizant of the hills and downshifting in Colorado, yet brake heavy here.

 

Yes and no. Depends on the condition, state to state warranty, etc... I would say brakes going out at around 20k miles as others have stated and replaced under regular use isn't normal. Keyword is "normal".

What's not covered under the 3yr/36K warranty per Toyota:

Normal Wear and Tear​

Noise, vibration, cosmetic conditions and
other deterioration caused by normal wear​

and tear.

We all know there have been a bunch of people of people that had driveline vibes, windshield whistle, fading/flaking paint etc... that's been covered by Toyota.

 

Toyota must have bought Chevy rotors to install. My fathers Silverado has the same problem.

 

Torque the lugs. That is one thing that I learned long ago. It seems no one does this anymore, and it has cured any warping issues I've ever had.

 

I don't completely agree with the neutral thing either, but that's driving style for me. I prefer down shifting to control speed. Maybe I'm trolling but I firmly believe that warped rotors are the fault of the driver. The only excuse is if you drive down pikes peak every day lol.

 

Ah ok I misread. Right on then

 

Replace your stock front rotors with cross drilled / slotted rotors. They brake better and very rarely warp.

 

For what reasons? Mud, corrosion etc?

 

Why does this hurt off road performance?

 

I think there are 2 causes for warped rotors, bad design and cheap metal. You should not have to go through some complicated procedure to bed in your brakes. Your brake rotors should not warp because you rode your brakes down a big hill or you towed something a little heavy. Car companies are in business to make money. If you save $1.00 on a brake rotor and you sell 1 million cars someone high up gets to keep 2 million in their pocket. Just my opinion so do not confuse with fact.

 

I have a slight shudder in my Taco when braking. Had it 4 months, put 7k mikes on it and I'm light on the brakes. Took it Toyota and they blamed everything on my lift and tires. So that was pretty nice of them.

The brakes on the OR and the Sport are the same. The difference is the Sport is a vacuum assisted master cyl and the OR is a electric pump assisted master cyl.

 

In the quote about yours Hugh is a 3rd, and VERY common problem, and that is incorrectly torqued lug nuts. I will also throw in the mix that some wheel can cause problems with heat dissipation as well.

I would like to add some things to this discussion. I was working for Cadillac from 1998-2003 we had a HUGE problem with warped rotors. The TSBs finally came out that talked about the proper torque spec, and appropriate wheels. The wording in the TSB said that depending on the style of the hub on the wheel, that the wheel was not able to evenly clamp down onto the rotor. This created "hot spots" in the hub area that would quickly cause uneven temperatures of the rotors, thus warping them. It got so bad at one point that any warranty claim for warped rotors required a photo attachment of the wheels, and if they were not Cadillac approved wheels, they would deny the claim.

Now yes, I know we are not driving Cadillacs here, but to be honest, the same thing applies. If the wheels do not have an even hub area, (Most prominent in steel wheels, but lots of aluminum wheels have designs that have little mounting surface area) then they will not clamp down evenly on the rotor mounting area. Also those holes in the rim? They are there for more than just looks. They improve airflow to the rotors to help cool them as well. So there are a lot of different things that can cause warping of a rotor. My experience has shown me that the largest common denominators are lugnuts improperly torqued, excessive use of brakes when towing (yeah, it's kinda unavoidable, but you should always have a brake controller for towing anything that is more than 30% the weight of your truck) and the last most common denominator I have seen is driving into water when the brakes are hot.

 

Out of curiosity.... what brakes are on each channel for the 3 channel?

 

Thanks for that info

 

You are correct on both counts. My parts catalog list them as having the same part number, regardless of OR or non-OR.

 

38K on the original brakes I tow a full size camper and live in the mountains no shaking going on here.