Rotor Question(s)

Greetings,
Looking at getting new rotors and brakes soon maybe calibers too. I’ve been reading and researching a little. Currently I look to have have stock, original equipment. Truck is new to me, only owned for a couple of weeks. My opinion at this time is that the “slotted and drilled” rotors may hold contaminates and debris that could damage brakes and rotors over time. I’m looking for great stopping, longevity and reliability, if those can be combined. I do not do much off roading unless it floods in S.E. Texas. Any opinions. Does anybody have rotor/brake/caliber combinations they think may fit my criteria?

Appreciate your time.

Regards,

Kevin

 

I'd stick with the oem pads and for rotors any decent coated rotor would be fine. Centric is a good rotor. Texas is flat so unless you plan on driving to mountains or heavy towing you shouldn't need any additional braking performance beyond stock.

 

Napa has really good stuff. My father in law mechanic always uses Napa when he does brakes. I would get the top grade or second to top grade rotors from them, and Napa or OEM pads.

 

Who told you Texas was flat? Boy were they wrong. Ok @Kbstall I've seen EBC green stuff pads n rotors work great for these trucks. You can also get oem rotors with TRD pads to work great as well.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/brake-upgrade-stoptech-rotors-trd-performance-pads.523829/

 

I think the key in rotors is mass. You need mass to dissipate the heat generated from braking. With that in mind, I'm probably on the fence with slotted rotors, but there is no way I would buy "cheap" drilled rotors. Why you might ask? Because drilled rotors will develop cracks between the drilled holes after multiple "heat cycles" of heavy braking. The only way to avoid that is to buy "high end" rotors like you find on Porsches, but those are far more expensive than OEM.

Generally speaking, I recommend going with OEM rotors. OEM or TRD pads are also good. You can play around with different pads, but do your research first on noise, dust, etc. There are great pads out there from companies like Hawk and EBC that are just as good or better than OEM. If you go with a set of pads like those, make sure you do NOT buy "track pads." Those may need heat before getting up to normal operating temperatures, so you might have an accident if you have to slam on the brakes before they warm up. Street and track are OK.

If you need new calipers, then buy a set of rebuilt calipers. You can get those at your local auto parts store.

If you're going to do your brakes, I recommend you also invest in a Motive pressurized brake bleeding system. It's less than $100, and will pay for itself many times over.

Remember brakes are easy to change/upgrade. Just follow the steps and properly torque the caliper bolts when you reattach them.

Have fun and enjoy this job! I do ALL of my brake work on every vehicle. I never let anyone else touch my brakes.

 

I had drilled and slotted on my Dakota when I turned the truck over to my youngest son. He managed to crack one of the rotors and I was told that drilled rotors have a tendency to do that when driving a hot rotor through water. I could see him doing that just for fun. Looking at both rotors, you could see cracks coming from each of the drilled holes. Maybe they've changed the way they're drilled or manufactered now, but because of that I bought a set of Stop Tech rotors and Power Stop pads. I went with slotted and extreme pads because when I'm loaded up with camping gear pulling a trailer with dirt bikes and driving over the hills and mountains here in TEXAS, I wanted to make sure I have good brakes.

For those of you who think Texas is flat, everyone wears a cowboy hat and rides a horse. Yes, Texas has hills and mountains. We have, the Davis Mountains 5,000 to 6,000 feet, Guadalupe Mountains 8,700 ft, Big Bend National and State Park 1,800 to 7,800 ft. Then Central Texas, East Texas (rolliing hils) and of course The "Texas Hill Country." Oh, we also have the second largest canyon in the US, the first being the Grand Canyon.