Brake Upgrade: StopTech Rotors + TRD Performance Pads

Vegetarian tacos are a 3rd gen thing, figured we all know what's what here in the 2nd gen forum .

 

We can still do fish taco's here can't we? Those seem to be lean.

 

@Toy4me ..... you see what you started?

 

Hola @crashnburn80! How are your stoptech perform so far? Why did you choose the 6 piston caliper over the 4 piston one?
Why you choose also Stoptech over Wilwood?
I have a 2018 TRD pro that I want to upgrade with 17” wheels and BBK and any info will be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Mat

 

More pistons provide more uniform braking pressure across the pad. Depending on the kit you may also get a little more volume to provide better clamping power. If looking at StopTech the ST60 (6 piston) runs a larger pad than the ST40 (4 piston). Larger pads will run cooler and will be more resistant to fade and should last longer and the cost difference is minimal. I was horribly disappointed with the Street pads, I highly recommend going with the Sport, though they are dustier. The powder coat durability on the calipers sucks, little bit of brake fluid takes it right off which is a challenge with the double bleed values.

I went with StopTech over Wilwood as the StopTech rotors are larger, 13.4" vs 12.9", with more mass, a simple design and the parts seem more readily available. Wilwoods are lighter with directionalized cooling, like the StopTech Aero rotors. Either one will be a great upgrade as long as you chose the right pad.

 

The more I read the more I'm confused.

As listed in the OP, do the Stoptech rotors and TRD pads fit 16" wheels on a base model truck?

 

Yes, the rotors and pads are stock sized for the 6 lug trucks, they will fit 16” wheels like stock. Unsure if 5 lug trucks have different front brakes. Not to be confused with the big brake kits which are oversized and most will not fit a 16” wheel.

 

thank you.

 

I've been using the TRD pads with the OEM rotors on my 2012 Tacoma TRD Sport. Been working well and much better than the stock pads did when I have the weight of 2 motorcycles in the bed. It's time to change the brakes and I want to use the TRD pads again but this time I need to do the rotors also. So I figured might as well try the StopTechs instead of the stock disks this time.
I was thinking of the "premium cryo-treated" ones (120.44129CRY) They look the same as the ones referenced in OP except solid instead of slotted. Does anybody know if they are actually the same in every other way? If so, I like the idea of solid rotors. Plus they are a couple of dollars less.

 

It looks like they are the same other than the slots.

SOLID:


SLOTTED:

 

The Premium series line is the standard OEM rotor design, they are not reengineered for better performance over stock like the Sport series line.

 

sorry, they are "Ultra-Premium" if it makes a difference. Do you know if those are reengineered

sometimes manufacturers make things so confusing. Why can't they just say good, gooder, and goodest

 

I have had Cryo PowerSlots (now Stoptech) on 3 different vehicles and they are fantastic...

I just did the TRD pads on my 2015 and if I could get them before before waiting 6 weeks I would have done it again...

Ended up doing Ultra Premium NAPA rotors and with the TRD pads with break in... Good to go... I mean STOP

 

What's the verdict on whether to go cryo or non-cryo? Seems like OP isn't so sure the cryo rotors actually held up significantly better.

 

This was the initial thoughts of the OP... IMHO...I can fully attest to the resistance to warping (reasons why I put them on a Honda minivan and a Mazda CX-9 due to warping OEM rotors) as well as the wear resistance of the rotors.

Definitely my choice... PowerSlot Cryo Slotted...

 

OP later posted this, which is what got me wondering.

 

I went with DBA T2 rotors with TRD pads. Although I've never run StopTech rotors on my Tacoma to compare exactly to this post the DBA/TRD combo is definitely an upgrade over the stock setup for many of the same basic reasons (cooling plus rotor mass.)

 

I'm using the slotted cryogenic rotors with the TRD pads and I HIGHLY recommend them. Even in pouring rain they work fantastic.
I installed front SS brake lines from @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc at the same time and the brakes are solid as a rock. All the spongy feeling and slack is gone. Only on my old race car did the brakes feel this tight and solid.

 

When I installed them on my Avalanche I also did the stainless steel brake line upgrade and that's exactly the same I felt no more sponginess at all

 

Only the Sports are redesigned. The others are just a quality OEM replacement.

If going with a OEM replacement blank rotor, Cryo could be worthwhile. On the reengineered performance Sport rotors though, it is very challenging to find somewhere to resurface a non-blank rotor. Meaning service life will likely be cut short due to irregular wear far sooner than the longer life benefit of the cryo treatment.