New England B.S. Thread

Happy Friday all

So I have to replace the rear rotors/pads in my daily driver and pads in the Tacoma. Was wondering what you guys do for sourcing parts. Do you stick with OEM, go to Pep Boys or Autozone, or find something from the interwebs? I'm probably overthinking this, just figured I'd see what other do.

 

My current brakes, and I tow a whole bunch, are at 130k miles. They are just barely starting to squeak. I don't care what kind of aftermarket pads and rotors are out there, I will inisist on factory OEM no matter what. My mechanic told me that for brakes it's usually not much more money at all to stick with OEM, maybe 15% or so. Plus I love how they feel, I don't want to change anything from factory.

 

@Noelie84 remember I said I've never had a cavity? About that...

Noticed a tooth was hurting last night and I looked and the back of the very last tooth on one side doesn't look good. Hard to see, but I can tell it's discolored. I'm hoping he just wants to pull that one. I suspect it happened because a gum is almost right against that part of the tooth so I've probably never been able to brush it properly.

I'm pretty worried about what else he'll find. I've had what feel like cracks in a couple other teeth for years, but they've never bothered me so I never cared. Starting to think now that maybe that isn't a good thing.

 

I swapped my OEMs at about 80k. They had a good amount of life left, but the rotors were very slightly warped so I did everything.

Worth noting there are 2 (or 3, I think if you count the TRD branded ones) different OEM pads. I got the cheaper ones to replace them with and they're still very good, but they are wearing a little quicker than the originals. I have about 45k on them and probably only have 20-30 left.

 

So how do I determine which pads I have? Will the stealership be able to tell me? I want the exact same braking performance as I am used to.

 

There are two different part numbers. One is semi-metallic, one is ceramic. The ceramics are the cheaper ones. I believe the ones on it from the factory are the semi-metallic ones, and I think it's part

$85 04465-04070 Genuine Toyota Front Disc Brake Pad Kit

04465-04070, but double-check that.

There are also TRD "performance" pads, but those wouldn't have come factory.

 

Just did mine too at 66K. Same thing, pads had meat on them still but the rotors were warped.

 

I've been using RockAuto a lot. I like their PowerStop disc/pad combos and the price is fair.

 

The OEM pads are not much more than aftermarket. That being said I'm running vatozone gold pads on my FJ. I'd recommend against ceramic pads. They can get pretty noisy.

I did the wife's t4r last summer with OE pads/ rotors from Camelback and it was actually less than vatozone.

 

Good morning folks,

I've had really good luck, and happy with the performance of Autozone's Duralast Gold semi-metallic pads. They wear good, not too dusty and warranted for life, no questions asked.

BTW, I'm hauling processed gravel to 125 Guest st in Brighton. It's right across from New Balance and the Bruins training facility. I must've counted 14-15 Tacos in the job site parking lot. Pretty much every configuration and generation covered. Holy crap. Anyone on here??

 

Wow, that seems like a lot of mileage on one set. Iv'e seen a lot of people insist on factory OEM, it just seems to be priced more than 15%. My garage, not a dealer, quoted me at $500 for rear rotors and pads installed. The part breakdown seemed high, especially after looking around online.

I was looking at those. Their part prices are so low it almost seemed like something was wrong, seemed to good to be true.

 

Rear drum and shoes should be around $200 in parts if I remember right, and no mechanic I know (including myself) likes doing them. I've done them twice and hate doing them with a passion

 

Toyota's seem picky on brakes from what I've seen changing them on customer cars. Either the rotors warp with aftermarket pads or any ceramic pad seems to be a little harsh on the rotors wearing them down as the pads are worn out. Non PEN ceramic pads are too thick and some times don't fit as well as the stock stuff causing squeals or noise from friction. The stock brakes are nice I love them, the hydraulic booster on the TRD is my price is @cost +15%

 

https://www.theverge.com/transporta...18/bollinger-b1-electric-sport-truck-outdoors

Kinda cool. Not for that price tag/range combo IMO, but interesting tech.

 

I ran with OEM in the rear only because I didn't want to risk with aftermarket for the drum brakes. Its not something I would want to do twice over... The front brakes though I had no problem going with aftermarket pads - went with something that had a bit more bite and performance over OEM. Hawk HPS pads are what I ran on the WRX and my other daily cars and it was a nice improvement over stock. I also went with braided steel lines too so the trucks brakes feel a whole lot better than they did before.

There are two types of aftermarket ranges in my opinion - there's the stuff that's "OEM Equivalent" and then theres the performance upgrade level stuff. I'm wary on running the knock-off oem stuff as we see failures at the shop for a lot of rock-auto bought parts or have fitment issues when customers bring their "not-oem" but oem "spec'd" stuff. The same risks run with the upgrade stuff however it seems much less fitment issues and a lot less failures - although with upgraded brakes you lose longevity.

 

I have Wagner ThermoQuiet pads on my truck, no noise or other issues.

 

Thanks everyone for the input. Now that I had a chance to sit and compare prices I know what I'm going to do. For the rear of the Scion (daily) I'm going to get the Duralast gold rotors with the Max pads, I might have it for maybe one more year. For the front pads on the Tacoma I'm going to look into a better upgrade like the Hawk HPS. I didn't get much out of the ProStops from PepBoys I put on a few years ago, 20 maybe 30K. The garage said there is probably 2K left on them, they won't last till the next rotation.

 

Random question, but anyone with a 17 Tacoma can tell me how high the SXM channels go in it?

 

Wouldn't that depend on what package you have though? Meaning, the channels would only go as high as your package "allows".

 

I have a 16 and can tell you I didn't get the 300s like my wife's Jeep does. I know it's not a 17 but I doubt they've changed the package.