2020 Warped roters

I have a 2020 Tacoma manual trans still stock. At 30,000 miles the steering wheel started wobbling on long downhill runs when breaking before turns. I also use engine breaking cause I can due to it being a manual. Yesterday I thought the truck was going to explode breaking at 50 MPH. Absolute trash for brakes I gotta say. Any others experiencing this?

 

Not very common on Tacoma. Usually happens from over heating or from sitting hot and the pads embedding into the rotor.

Either way you need rotors. They are not heavy duty so they tend to reject abuse.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Welcome to TW

 

This Taco has the worst brakes of any vehicle any of my family has owned in the last 20 years. I can't imagine that the sort of problems everyone reports with them, is acceptable to the safety outfits........ The truck is fun - but it has some faults for sure.

 

Nope. But it happens as they are consumables.

 

But it is acceptable, because with the millions sold there aren’t that many problems…..

 

Must be common - every one I've ever driven has shakey brakes......... try driving yours down a mountain road in traffic sometime.

 

I made it 17,000 before the rotors warped. The brakes on these trucks work great if you stay stock or close to and don't tow. Add any amount of weight to the back and some mountainous terrain and your breaks are f'ed. Last trip coming down the mountain from Sequoia NF I had to stop every mile or two to allow the brakes cool while towing our 2500# trailer. As soon as I need to replace my brakes I'm going to upgrade to 4Runner rotor and calipers.

 

It's pretty hard to heat a slab of cast iron enough to warp.

I'd be willing to bet a good surface cleaning of both sides of the rotor, matched with a new set of pads would stop the shake.

Of course if the new pads are not properly bedded, the shake will eventually resume.

 

This is very common. Replace rotors and try not to ride the brakes.

 

I’m on my 4th Tacoma no brake issues with any of them.

 

I have had rotors warped with heavy ex vehicles driven by heavy footed ex wives.

I switched to cryo rotors (I think cop cars use them ) from www.frozenrotors.com. I never had problems with those vehicles again. I then switched wives as an added precaution .

 

The rotors don’t warp. With heat, brake pad material builds up on the rotor, causing the surface of the rotor to be uneven.

 

I think that's what I said. Just with more subtlety.

Warped rotors fall in the same bucket of confusion as 3k OCIs, not changing to syn oil after miles of dino, Tacomas have struts and rear drum brakes are evil.

Hence my comment to clean the rotors on both sides and bed in new pads.

 

Toyota says thats normal.

 

No, you can do things to minimize the chances of it happening. I’d share some tips. But the last time I did, I was accused of criticizing someone’s driving.

In short. You need rotors.
You also need to try to keep them and pads cool(er).

 

I tow in the mountains all the time. Rough estimation from vacation logs, there's nearly 40k miles on my trailer. The (younger) Tacoma isn't too far ahead, it's about to roll 50k.

Never once have cooked my brakes. Last time I pulled my pads at 40k, they still had 7mm remaining. I temperature gun my wheels at every fuel stop. Never have I gotten a hot read. (knock on wood )

Keep it in a gear and at a speed where it'll hold, even if it means 15mph below the limit. Generally you should be cresting the summit well below the limit anyway; the top of the hill is not the place to be flying. Also, over-boost the trailer brakes in the hills. Make them do their share of the work.

Hate to say it, but the old school of thought was that if you're cooking your brakes, it's a driving issue, not an equipment issue.

 

Downshift and stop using your brakes so much then and up the trailer brake gain to get more work out of those. I tow in mountains often and haven't had any problems with my brakes on my old second gen or current third gen.

 

80 k on my 2019 OR. Original brakes. No problems.