Brake Upgrade: StopTech Rotors + TRD Performance Pads

The Akebono Ceramics are terrible, basically stock. I ended up on EBC Red LT pads. So far they stop better than the TRD pads but just a little bit of noise. StopTech pads will be my next set as I know they have made some of the OEM TRD pads in the past.

 

Updating this for what it's worth.

About 3 months ago I took the truck to Big Brand Tire off Raintree in Scottsdale to have the brakes done. The truck had about 60k miles and was due for front pads. The rear drums were also squeaking a low speed stops (parking lot stops), which was an indication that the sides of the shoes were likely rubbing on the contact points of the backing plate. The drums were also due for a good cleaning.

Big Brand ordered new oem pads and rotors from the local dealer and the parts arrived for install a couple days later.

Well, $1000 bucks later I had new oem rotors, new oem front pads and the rear drums were cleaned and lubed. Or so I was told. I took the truck back within a short time frame (maybe a couple weeks) and told them the drums were worse and squealing horribly.

They put the truck on the rack and cleaned up the drums again. They pointed out one of the drums had a groove worn in it from something and that was likely the culprit of the sound.

I left dissatisfied knowing the tech was dumbass and I was ripped off.

Fast forward a few months to yesterday afternoon and I took the truck to Yota Pros in Tempe, AZ for new drums, new shoes and the new pads I ordered in the previous post.

As it turns out, the oem pads Big Brand installed were the good oem version and not the cheaper A200 alternatives I suspected. However, the rotors showed indication that they were much older than 5000 miles. Additionally, the rotors were too small causing the new front pads to over hang on the rotor and wear the edge of the pad goofy.

Furthermore, the rear drums were adjusted incorrectly along with the parking brake causing the shoes to wear irregularly at the top and the bottom of the shoe. So, Big Brand completely trashed my rear drum shoes in 5k miles and either the dealer where the rotors came from or big brand lied about new rotors.

Great!

Yota Pros in Tempe ordered new Akebono rotors, lightly scuffed the new pads and installed the new drums and shoes I bought at Toyota's last big sale.

$800 later not including the cost of the drums and shoes and the truck is squeal free and and braking as it should. All in all I think I've blown about $2000 getting oem brakes done and about 12 hours waiting on 3 separate trips.

Tomorrow morning I'm going over to Big Brand Tire off Raintree in Scottsdale to inquire about a refund/reimbursement for their incompetence.

I mailed the performance pads back Automotive Brake Solutions, but I'm out the cost of return shipping and a 25% restocking fee. Wonderful.

I've attached a few pictures of the old drums, worn drum shoes and the supposedly "new" rotors with only 5k miles.





I smell a lawsuit.

 

I went with the Stoptech and trd pad set up and love it. I am curious what non Tacoma brand and pad would come close to the TRD pads so that I can recreate that experience on other vehicles.

 

StopTech Sports were the supplier for the TRD pads. I ran both in different setups on the same vehicle (stock size and BBK) and characteristics were nearly identical. I’m not sure if that has changed over the last 5-6 years or so with the changes at StopTech.

 

2013 TRD Sport 2wd with almost 200k.

Ok gents. I want to start off by saying I typically do the majority of my repairs with the exception of the past few years my hands have gotten to where I cannot turn wrenches accordingly. So I have been using a mechanic that I trust and who is fair on pricing.

I didn't the cryostop brakes, new calipers, TRD pads and I went with new Stoptech lines in the front. Rears I went with powder coated PowerStop drum kit. all new parts all over because my intention is top let my teenage daughter drive the truck around when she turns 16.

the shop did a slew of things with takeoff OEM suspension, some other items here and there etc... But they bled the brakes multiple times and that first push of the pedal is almost to the floor with no stopping power. It was slightly like this before but no where near this bad. So im just wondering where the culprit could be in the system. Im trying to take a road trip Friday and would like to at least have an idea where to look in the system as far as possibilities. to my knowledge there's no leaks in the new parts or system. Big ass air bubble? brake booster? master cylinder? is there a better way to bleed the whole system that im unaware of?

 

To properly bleed the system, you need to connect to TechStream, and there is a whole process, where it activates and bleeds parts of the anti-lock brake system. I had similar problem, after letting the dealer work on my truck, and found that this (painful) process improved the pedal travel. It still was not to what I expected (or remembered previously) so I kept digging, and found that the E-Brake cables were seized or dragging, and replacing the E-Brake cables, and verifying all the rear brake adjustment hardware was proper, followed by using the E-brake pedal repeatedly, pressing hard, and releasing with a snap; apparently adjusted the rear brakes and brought the pedal up to where it feels good, with decent initial grab.

Within this process I also replaced the rubber brake lines and the front brakes, rotors and calipers, but these did not seem to make any difference to the pedal travel.

I also experienced a bit of excessive pedal travel, when a rear wheel seal had allowed oil soaked brake shoes on one side. Not exactly logical, but it seemed that fixing that soaked brake shoe problem improved the pedal feel also.

Hope this helps.

 

I did call a local bike shop thats been around forever and he goes, "my money is on the rear brakes needing adjusting" so im going to drop it off to them after I get it out of the stereo shop next. So we will see what the culprit might be

 

Great idea, but be warned, adjusting the rears on mine only made a slight difference, then replaced the cables for the parking brake (that were seized or partly seized), and that made all the difference. If you don't already know, when everything is working properly, using your parking brake, adjusts your rear brakes. the action of setting the parking brake works a lever that adjusts the rear brakes. If you never use your parking brake (or it is not working properly) then your rear brakes will go out of adjustment from wear.

 

I've used the cryo stop tech rotors and trd pads for a while now, but any luck finding a pad that's comparable as the trd ones are no longer in the market?

 

Sounds like the primary reason everyone should do their own brake work. Brakes are not difficult (snap a picture with your phone before dissembling drum brakes), and frankly I just don't trust anyone else working on my brakes because of what you just experienced. Outside of a dealer, you never know what parts they installed or if they even corrected the issue.

 

https://a.co/d/aYcT6Vc These are pretty comparable. They even have the same part number.

 

Not everybody has the time or the space to do the work.

 

I normally do my brakes in the driveway, on a Saturday.