Spongy Brakes 2009 Taco.

Does anyone else have a 2009 2wd 4 cylinder Access cab model with spongy brakes?? I don't know if these questionable brakes are unique only to my model or not but today, after about 600 miles I had a scary stop at the neighborhood stop sign...it almost came to a complete stop (as I am getting used to this strange pedal pressure) when it "released" or something that caused me to suddenly inch beyond the white stop line. Thank heavens no one was walking in front of me even though it did stop the second time. So many things that I have never experienced before in such a short time, I can't remember all the details except NO STOP. I called Toyota and said they can squeeze me in on Monday next week, but that if there's no code number sent then there's nothing they could do.

Any similar stories to sooth my spongy brakes worries??

 

Get them to bleed the system. How many miles on the truck, brake pads do have a "break in" period.

 

Welcome to the TW. My breaks were really soft for the first two weeks (600ish miles) that I drove the truck. They're alot better now.... not as firm as in my old vehicle, but I am used to them now. They definitely shouldn't be releasing like that though.

 

My new DC has the same issue. The brakes seem to use a lot of pedal to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. I am used to a lot firmer pedal myself. I am hoping that after a few hundred miles the pedal tightens up. It does feel like the brakes need to be bled. But the truck was so well prepped by the dealer (I would have expected them to have fixed this if it was not normal) that I am hoping this will cure itself in time with the pads seating themselves.

 

I have the same truck and the first thing I noticed was the brake feel seemed soft. Now that I have about 5K on the truck I think they have improved greatly or maybe I've just got used to the feel.
Pete

 

Air in the lines.
From the factory.
WTF?
My wife's RAV4 had it and had dealer bleed them...big difference.
Same on my 2006 Taco.
I can't believe these cars come with air in the lines.
Oh well....

 

I have an 09 DC TRD off road V6 and my brakes were very spongy and took a great deal of peddle pressure early on. It took about 700-900 miles before they began to grab cleaner and stop easier. I thought it might just be that I was getting used to it, but my wife even noticed the improvement. Not sure why they may do this - but I have no issues with mine now.

 

Thanks for the encouraging or enlightening comments. I took my new 2009 in with the information I posted here and they said there was no air in the lines (He said it with such emphasis that I feared mentioning it again!) but that the rear brake shoes were in need of adjustment. After this adjustment, I confess the pedal engage sooner than before and so I go forth with optimism. Are there any mods out there that replace the rear shoes with disk brakes on this model Taco?? Seems that would help the situation.

 

I'll tell you a quick way to test for air.
push down on the pedal hard, make a mental note re how far and firm (soft) the pedal was.
then pump the brakes...mine gets firmer the more I pump it.
That is compressing the brake fluid.
I can tell you FOR SURE my RAV4 had air in the lines.

 

I have a 2009 4WD V6 with spongy brakes. Glad to hear it's not just me and seems temporary.

 

I have a brand new 2009 Double Cab 4x4. I had a similar feeling with "spongy" brakes and after reading responses in this forum, I took it back to the dealer after about a week. They did bleed the brake lines and adjusted the back brakes. They also checked the tolerances against other 2008 Tacoma's on the lot. The feeling was improved after the service. After driving it for a month, I'm used to pressing down on the brake pedal a little more and it is a much less anxious feeling than when I first drove the truck.

 

Rear brakes don't do much of the stopping. Thats why they are drums. If you switch them to disks I doubt you'd see much difference.

 

Wow! I have the same thing on my '09 Access. It now has 3500 miles and the pedal is getting stiffer, but I can still "Pump up the brakes." I may take it to the dealer and have them bleed the lines.

 

My brakes felt a lot better after I upgraded to stainless steel lines.

 

Bones, where did you get the SS lines? I tried a couple places and they have to send your order off to the mfg to make 'em. Takes like a month. I suspect some of the sponginess is just the design and will have to live with it but I want to try the SS lines along with a bleed to get the brakes as firm as I can.

 

Has anyone considered retrofitting a larger diameter master cylinder? That should give you less pedal travel. Maybe one from a Tundra or Land Cruiser may fit?

 

+1

...and "a lot" is an understatement, IMO. It's like having a whole new braking system.

 

Look for Goodridge G-stop lines. They make them for our trucks in different lengths even.

Also, Wheelers has SS lines for tacos...and I'm pretty sure Toytec does too.

I got mine from Performance Products way back when they were the only company carrying them.

 

Oh yes you will...

There is a reason why high performance cars have 4 wheel disc..
My previous truck had them and it was WAY better than the tacomas rear drums..

 

The rear brakes (albeit drum or disc) are going to be sized for the vehicle. The ideal braking force at any wheel is going to be a function of weight distribution, suspension geometry, tire size, brake pad/shoe size, rotor/drum diameter, etc. If you changed the rear end to disc, you would have to size the discs and caliper piston(s) according to the things mentioned above.

However, for safety reasons, regulations dictate that the front brakes must be designed to lock-up before the rear. So inherently, they are always sized to do a little less work than they ideally should be doing.

PS. The reason high performance cars have rear disc is for better cooling...not to mention the cars dynamic characteristics are much different than a truck.