15' Taco w/20k miles brakes blow

It's your driving Style Toyota brakes require that you drive with a certain style LOL

 

I'll check that, honestly I didn't know that could cause it. It's interesting though, it was doing it a bit before my 5k service, after they rotated my tires it went away for a bit but now it's back. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Another question, is there any recommended rotors anyone has should I want to replace them?

 

I think in the owners manual it says "don't drive like a retarded pissed off teenager and the brakes will last about 80,000 miles."

 

EBC, Loving mine so far.

 

2015 doublecab off road with 22,000 miles. Brakes are fine although I am an old man and drive like one. Love the fact when I let off the accelerator the engine brakes the vehicle for me and requires little brakes if I time the lights right.

My friend had trouble with his drums warping and they took it to the dealer several times and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. One day seen his wife racing to the light then hitting the brakes at every light, it was pretty clear why the drums were warping.

We had some heavy rain here in central Florida recently, when driving home 2 nights ago there was plenty of rain that must have washed a lot of pad material off the rotors cause now the brakes work better than I can remember now.

 

I had the EBC Stage 4 on my previous truck and loved it. Coupled with SS brake lines, mashing the brakes would almost send me through the windshield if I wasn't buckled up.

 

I'm sorry but I find it hard to believe you "drive like an old man". Most people who say that don't actually drive as carefully as they think. Either your driving cinditions are nearly all heavy traffic highway or city OR you are overly aggressive in your driving methods.

It takes a lot if abuse to damage rotors. A lot. So if your rotors are damaged you have to be abusing the truck. If it's just the pads then it speaks more to the type of driving you do. Lots of city driving will mean faster brake replacement.

This is a cheap issue to fix yourself.

 

someone posted a couple of the good articles on the actual reason disk brakes start pulsating, which is commonly called 'warped rotors' but in fact isn't. #1 cause is making a hard full stop from highway speed, then holding your foot firmly on the brake, this bakes the brake pad composition into one spot on the rotors, which changes that spots frictional characteristics and from them on when the rotors get warm stopping your 5000 lb truck, the brakes will 'pulse', often rather violently. If you have to hard brake from high speed, I try and slow the car down early so I can slide up to the end of the stop, then I keep my foot as ligthly on the pedal as it takes to keep the car from rolling. proper brake break-in procedures with new pads will greatly help in preventing this, the goal is to bake all the volatiles out of the pads by getting everything really hot WITHOUT full stopping, and then let them cool down, and then do this a couple more times to heat....

ah HAH!, here it is...

btw, a lot of ordinary mechanics seem quite uninformed on this, its something RACE mechanics know, as their brakes get used a LOT harder than road car brakes.


here's the basic break-in procedure I follow...
http://brakeperformance.com/bedding-in-rotors.php

 

72K on my original brakes. Down to 3mm on fronts, so they'll be replaced at 75K. I don't baby my truck either. Hard braking here & there and never a wobble.

 

I love how everyone on here immediately blames those who have had the issues on there driving. Most of the guys that have the issue seem like they are 12-up trucks and those who have had flawless brakes have an 11-and older Tacoma. No one thinks Toyota has changed the supplier and now we have an inferior rotor compared to the older trucks? 2012 had a TSB for the rear drums, that called for replacement of the drums and shoes to new part #'s. Obviously there was a change with the rear that didn't work out well. I have 4 vehicles, the Tacoma and my wifes car get the lightest duty and I don't even wheel the taco. I have a 14' Silverado I bought for my work truck and a 1988 v8 s10 and they get driven HARD, the taco is the only one of the 4 I have had any issues with regarding brakes.

 

I have a 2012 and no issues. I drive it every day. :|

 

2014 with 28k miles, brakes feel pretty good.

 

Jesus, tough crowd.

55k ish on my 15' DCSB (30k with 32" tires, tow a trailer with 2-3 dirt bikes pretty often- but it's flat here) Just noticed in a drive through the other day what sounds like my wear indicators squeaking in front when I brake... No shimmy, brakes are strong. Disappointed a little as my dads 2005 V8 4Runner went >100k before needing pads and he tows a bass boat.

 

Sitting at 50k miles here, work perfectly.

 

While having the dealer do my 20k oil change this week, I mentioned the brake vibration issue to the "advisor". She told me that her Avalon does it too.... nice lady, but WTF? I also asked a question about reprogramming the remote control and she told me to go read my user manual. I'll shred them in the survey....Acton Toyota (MA)

 

My 06 RC 4x4 is at >98,000 miles and still on original pads and rotors. Probably only have ~10k left on them though. No vibrations or pulsating. I have the 5 speed and never downshift when coming to a stop either. Maybe there is something to the theory that pre-2012 trucks have more robust brakes. My wife's 08 Honda Fit has 129,000 miles and still on original pads and rotors too ... by far the longest I've ever seen.