Rotor warping yet again

So I got new brakes and stoptech rotors about a year ago. But now I'm finding that my stoptech rotors are warped. I think it's been 15k miles. What long lasting options are available? So 2PC rotors or something?

 

Cryo rotors

 

Like @whatstcp said,

I would check the calipers, pads and the pins.
Maybe something is causing a pad to stick?

Against most people’s advice, I am running AdvancedAuto Rotors (CarQuest?)
I bought the better (aka- more expensive ones)
Also bought all new brake hardware.
I’m coming up on 70k miles on them with ceramic pads.
So far, so good. I have no complaints yet.

Are running larger tires or towing a lot?

 

It could either be a sticking caliper or your driving habits causing this. Rotors don’t “warp”
The warped feeling comes from excessive pad build up on the rotor surface. This happens when your pads and rotors get hot from hard braking and then you stay on the brakes where the rotor cools faster than the pad except for where you’re holding the hot pad against the rotor. The spot with the pad stays hot heating one spot of the rotor and it transfers pad material to the rotor.
Once cooled, that pad material continues to build up on the rotor creating that pulsing feeling.

It could be a bad caliper that’s causing the pad to have too much contact with the rotor. Or it could be your driving habits.

If it’s the latter - and easy way to avoid this is after slowing down to a crawl - stop - then drag the brakes for a foot or two so the rotor has a chance to cool more evenly.

Since your rotors are already pulsating or “warped” it’d be best to replace them or have them resurfaced. If slotted and or drilled you’ll need to call a shop that can offer a “pro-cut” which is specific to slotted and or drilled rotors.

Hopefully this helps! Good luck

Cryo rotors are bad ass! But they’re not more resilient against “warping”. They’re hardened so they don’t wear as quickly making them last longer.

 

-check for uneven pad wear side to side, you may have a sticking caliper piston thats constantly clamping down.

- make sure the rear brake shoes are properly adjusted so the fronts getting overworked

-be careful of cheapish rotors. Centric is pretty good (the "black box" ones, part number usually starts with 120. XXX).

OEM is not a terrible choice, Toyota can't have brand new trucks coming back with brake pulsations right after they leave the lot.

Good luck

Edit: and also.. material transferring from the pad to the rotor is common.. but warping of the metal does actually exist too. Cheap rotors are often made out of metal that doesn't have the same uniform density all the way around. For example, looking at a rotor, at 12 o'clock the metal is dense but down at 6 o'clock the metal is softer. After a few weeks of heat/use the two sides of the rotor are no longer perfectly parallel. The resulting runout is felt as a pulsation through the brake pedal and steering wheel

 

It is my understanding that OEM rotors are generally made of better material than parts store replacements. So if you can get your stock rotors turned, even if it costs as much as new replacements, you're better off.

 

always always use a torque wrench to tighten your wheels...always

 

After you conform the calipers are not hanging up and you have always torqued the lugs correctly, time to jack it up and check rotating to see/feel/hear what's going on and check the wheel bearings for wear then also. I run the Power Stop drilled/slotted and z36 pads and great wear and performance and I tow a boat around . Something else is not right up front.

 

STOPTECH sucks

 

Make sure you or someone else isn't using an impact to tighten the lug nuts. Having them too tight and or a large variance in torque between them can cause warping. Torque them snuggly only.....then use a torque wrench set to 83 ft lbs for the final torque.

I don't feel like the OEM rotors are anything special. I replaced mine 2 years ago. These particular aftermarket ones I went with have been way smoother than my OEs ever were. And expensive rotors aren't necessarily any better.

 

I removed car quest rotors and pads after 5k mike due to vibrations and went back to oem, but I also did not embed the pads properly the first time around.

Make sure you go thru the process. I think it was go for a drive and get up to 60mph and slow down to 10mph without stopping 10 times. I’m sure the exact procedure is here on TacomaWorld somewhere.

Edit to add: Also make sure to clean any rust and corrosion off the hubs when changing rotors it can/does change the lateral run out of the rotor just like unevenly torqued lugnuts which in turn causes uneven pad transfer.

 

these are the Toyota OEM rotors made by ADVICS https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/advics,A6F057,rotor,1896

 

Wow there is a lot of mixed info on here. My pads are fine. Which make me think the calipers are fine. There are no strange wear on inner or outer pads. Just rotor issues. Makes me think it's a heat problem. I'm not heavy footed when it comes to brakes. So I'm surprised this happened a second time, in a short period. I don't have brake fade or other issues so I see no reason to upgrade. I have a wrx and delt with bad oem rotors. But this is just strange to have this as a common issue without a clear fix to the problem.

 

On TW there is misinformation in every single thread.

You definitely have a heavy brake foot OR sticking calipers.

You do have "other issues" - rotors warping. Rotors warping on Tacomas is not a common issue and it appears to be only common to you since it's a repeating issue for you.

 

FWIW - I've put ~170-180k miles over my two 2nd gen Tacomas and never once "warped" a set of rotors.

I've run OEM, EBC, and StopTech brakes. So there has been some variety there.

 

Make sure your rear brakes are properly adjusted helping the overall braking process. They contribute more than you think.

 

I rarely hit the brake hard enough to have the nose dip. So no I don't brake heavy and i dont tend to tow with my truck. So this is rather interesting that i have this problem. My brakes last a long time on my vehicles. Yet the rotors on this one are a problem. It's not like I'm in my wrx performance driving and braking. So don't go off calling me a liar.

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2015/11/30/why-do-brake-rotors-warp/

 

my oem rotors shake with like 30k on them but I drive my truck like im at the track all the time so whatever but saying oem rotors are the best is horseshit lol.

 

Do you have a reference on this claim?