New Rotors?

this was a good price for the kit. Says it’s out of stock now. Think it was like 480 or so for the whole setup.

 

Go with OEM. You can find them on rockauto under Advics since they make the Toyota pads and rotors without paying the Toyota price.

 

Most shops do not have an expensive brake lathe.

Manufacturer specifications for brake rotor thickness are often small. The thinner the rotor, the less metal there is to absorb heat, in an already undersized rotor on the Tacoma.
It is not cryogenically treated either.

His undersized OEM's are warping (common problem) so to "fix" that you're recommending putting another identical OEM on it

Nice

 

I have the Powerstop drilled/slotted rotors with z36 pads and stops great. The z36 are the heavy duty/towing pads. Don't know your mileage. No rotor warping. After 55k I replaced the Powerstop complete front stuff could have gone up to maybe 70k but when I pulled it apart to rebuild the calipers that were starting to stick (bought the OEM seal kit and pulled them apart now much better but I have over 180k). Have stainless brake lines too. Did the rears at 125k new pads and drums too but those don't do much braking but parking brake in mts is used (cable adjustment under the center console). In the mts downshift (or if towing tap the trailer brakes) to take some load/heat buildup off the Tacoma brakes. I have towed a trailer and a boat.

As a note you can open the caliper bleed screws one at a time and let gravity dump most of the old brake fluid out of the master but DO NOT run dry or the ABS will require a dealer trip. Hard to suck it out of the master from the fill cap. If still clear don't bother.

Brake kits from Amazon (if you have prime) or Autoanything are usually lowest price for the Powerstops.

Many posts on brake combos on site so good hunting and lots of opinions out there and also depends on your budget.

 

I didn't have any luck with Stoptech rotors. On my 3rd gen 4 runner, which are notorious for eating front brakes, I was going to Colorado last summer and I wanted to upgrade to have the best braking power that I could get out of the stock system without doing the Tundra caliper upgrade. I got the Stoptechs and new Akebono pads from Rockauto ( it took 3 attempts to get the right rotors sent to me). I bed in the pads per Stoptechs instructions and the brake only felt about the same as the stock rotors. 2 weeks later I'm driving 1800 miles to Colorado. I spend my time on the highways to get to the trail heads and I got brake fade multiple times. I drove around Colorado for 9 days before driving back home. At the end of the trip in CO my brakes were so bad I thought about changing them out again before hitting the interstate. Bottom line for me the Stoptechs were a complete waste of money, they didn't improve the brake performance at all, they actually ran hotter ( I kept checking rotor temps with an inferred temp gun) then the "Stock" napa premium rotors that I had on previously. I realize that pad choice is a big factor but I chose a really good quality pad. They were 1/2 gone just from the week in the mountains.

When I changed the brakes out last month, the stoptech rotors were toasted. Blue colors throughout the braking surface and visible cracks around the drilled portions. Keep in mind that the drill holes and slots are taking AWAY braking surface, so unless you are increasing the diameter of the rotors for more braking surface, silly drilled holes and slots aren't doing you any favors.

FWIW, on my '15 Taco I had to replace the front brakes for it to pass the state inspection 2 years ago. I used Napa premium rotors and Akebono pads. I have 35K on it since then and the rotors need attention again. Pulsation during braking is bad. I don't haul anything "big" with the truck, the occasional few sheets of drywall or plywood in the bed is it. My mountain bike in the bed, occasional load of tree branches to go to the land fill, things like that. The truck is my DD. I don't drive it like a sports car ( because with the 2.7 under the hood, it isn't fast!) So I don't think that you're alone with crappy brakes on a Taco.

 

Going back to the OP.....what about some kind of brake cooling ducts? Unless you want to go with the aftermarket big brake kits.....

 

I’ve always had the original oem rotors resurfaced at least once so long as they have the minimum thickness, and they all have. From my experience, resurfaced rotors last as long, or longer, than the original oem rotors. Im coming up to 80K on my resurfaced oem rotors. They are starting to vibrate a little on hard braking, but they are not that bad yet. The original rotors lasted about 60K. (From 60K to about 120K, I had EBC rotors.)