Slotted rotors

On my 12 the brakes seem to be very good with just the truck itself.

I have been using my trailer for a few loads lately hauling about 5000 lbs.

And occasionally the brakes seems a little weak.

I guess my question is are slotted rotors going to make the brakes more heavy duty for this type of stopping? Do they help with the fading? I have never driven a vehicle with slotted rotors.

 

had a corvette w/ slotted rotors. supposed to keep them cooler for performance driving. not sure how slotted rotors would assist in tow braking.

 

I do have trailer brakes with about the best controller made for them and its a new trailer. They did work very, very good yesterday when a stupid bus driver pulled in front of me. I had the duratracs grabbing the asphalt very well.

But it is hilly in my area and I have overheated the brakes a few times. Last month I was at about 12,000 lbs and had a small amount of fading.

I am really just thinking ahead for when I need a brake change to possibly go with some slotted rotors.

 

Slotted brakes will give you less braking effectiveness.

Less surface area = less friction = cooler brakes = lower effectiveness = longer stopping distance.

The Tacoma already has the shortest stopping distance of all midsized trucks by a great amount.

 

Slotted brakes increase braking. They allow gas to escape from between the pad and rotor. This allows the pads to grip the rotor better.

Yes there may be less surface. But stronger contact with that surface.

 

I was thinking a slotted/drilled rotor would give it the best cooling? And better cooling would = better braking.

Does someone make a better vaned rotor for tacomas?

 

Have you considered SS lines? They seem to be a well liked braking improvement. I'm running blanks and better pads and they grab better than the stock setup. I felt the stock brakes weren't the greatest and am happy with my current setup although I don't tow overly heavy for any real distance either.

 

It looks like Axxis does not make those for Tacomas.

Hawk makes these. Anyone try these on their Tacomas?


SD (SUPERDUTY) - SEVERE-DUTY TRUCK BRAKE COMPOUND

Extreme Braking for Extreme Payloads

SD - Hawk’s SuperDuty Ferro-Carbon material is engineered for severe-duty professional truck fleets and trucks and SUVs towing heavy loads. This material offers unmatched braking performance under high inertia and/or repetitive braking applications.

To drive safely with heavy payloads it is critical to have brakes that operate properly. Heavy fleet trucks and light trucks and SUVs carrying heavy tow loads experience high braking temperatures. Higher temperatures contribute to premature brake pad and rotor wear. Hawk Performance’s SuperDuty product is a sophisticated material that has an extremely high coefficient of friction designed to provide maximum truck and SUV stopping power with excellent high temperature heat dissipation.

Upgrade your fleet or tow vehicle’s braking performance with Hawk Performance’s SuperDuty, Sever-Duty compound!

SuperDuty Ferro-Carbon Compound Features:

Extremely high coefficient of friction
Extremely high fade resistance

Recommended for professional fleets (greater than 1 ton) and light trucks towing excessive payloads.

Note:
Hawk Performance burnishes its SD brake pads as a final step in the factory, but all brake pads have to be bedded-in with the rotors (new or used) that they will be used against. Properly bedding-in new brake pads results in a transfer film being generated at the pad and rotor interface to maximize brake performance.



I guess I have never really heard of this? I have always slapped on new pads and back to normal driving. How does one bed a pad?

 

I would read that as "These pads will chew up your rotors very quickly"

Most shops recommend swapping or turning the rotors at the same time you get new pads. There might be a disclaimer like that on several types of brake pads, I've never paid attention. I've swapped pads without rotors also.

 

Under regular driving I would say the brakes on the 12 are the best brakes I have ever had on a vehicle.

And for a quick stop with a loaded trailer it does excellent.

Its only with a load and heavy trailer and it is hilly that they start to fade a little bit.

I think I will try the Hawk SD pads and see how that works.

 

Temperature is everything. The best way is to find out what temperature your brakes and rotors are operating at and then buy appriopiate items. You can buy Genesis Technologies Brake Temperature Paint or other. Run a test for a week or so under your normal driving habits. Find out what your brakes are operating at. We do this for our racing cars and trucks and it work well.

Example,
Towing will cause more heat so you would want the rotors and bakes to be able to handle the higher heat without fading. Like wise high temperature rotors and brakes will not operate optimally if the temp is not high enough.

I do not tow or carry heavy loads as well as I do not abuse the brakes so the running temp of my brakes and rotors are low. Hawke HD brakes need more heat to function properly so I went with standard Brembo blanks and Hawk LTS.

I would change to SS lines.

Just my .02

 

12,000 pounds? I hope that's GCW and not just the trailer by itself.

If your truck brakes are overheating when pulling a heavy trailer, you should consider increasing the braking on the trailer itself rather than looking at the truck.

Presumably, being over 3500 pounds, its a tandem axle trailer. Are there brakes on both axles? Or on just one? If only on one, you should consider adding to the second. If they both have brakes, you should look into getting some bigger brakes for it.

Also, disk brakes are more effective than drum brakes. If your trailer has drum brakes, you should consider upgrading to vented disk brakes.

My personal preference for trailer brakes are surge brakes rather than electric brakes. The problem with electric brakes is in their adaptation to rate of braking, especially when it comes to load variation. With surge brakes, the harder the towing vehicle stops, the harder the trailer will brake, and the braking force of the trailer is always perfectly balanced so that it exerts very little force forward on the tow vehicle, only enough to pressurize the brake lines.

Electric brake controllers are a lot less accurate. Time-delay electric brake controllers will just ramp up the braking force over a variable amount of time once the brake lights go on. If you need to stop instantly with full braking power, this kind of controller can't help you. On the other hand, proportional brake controllers use an accelerometer to determine how fast you're trying to slow down, which is subject, of course, to your ability to slow down to begin with.

 

Ok, that's not too far out... be aware though, that 12,000 is 900 pounds OVER your GCWR. That include you too? If not, you'll be looking clearly more than 1000 pounds over.

I don't care about controller settings. The controller can't go more than the brakes are capable of.

60" D5? Its rated 5200 pounds max. It also looks like it could easily be upgraded to tandem, since tandem is an option on that model of trailer. You would need one axle (you could use a 3500 pound axle), a tandem hanger kit, a couple of springs, a tandem fender, and a couple of wheels. Plus brakes, of course.

It was actually an option on your trailer from the manufacturer, but certainly an upgrade that you could install. Local trailer shops should be able to help you out on ALL of this.

It really doesn't matter how "good" it is, there are limitations to electric brakes as I've outlined. Time delay takes time to start braking. Proportional can't read your mind, still needs you to slow down first before it can read that you're slowing down.


Edit: How the hell are you getting to 12000 pounds?
Your GCWR is 11,100, your truck is GVWR 5450, difference is 5650, which is 450 pounds over your trailer's GVWR. Your trailer's TOTAL weight limit is 5200 pounds, that includes the weight of the trailer itself. You can't put 5200 pounds of cargo in it.

More: truck payload cap 1260 - tongue weight 600 = 660 remaining
truck curb weight 4190 + 660 = 4850 on the truck wheels.
4850+5200=10050.

That's just about 1950 pounds LESS than what you reported your weigh in at.
Curious that the trailer weighs 1900 pounds.

Sounds like you're overloading the trailer by close to 2000 pounds!!! No wonder the brakes aren't cutting it!!!

 

^ This.

 

You show a clear misunderstanding over how hydraulic brakes work, since they, in fact, do NOT need you to slow down before they engage. They only need the tow vehicle to PUSH BACK.

There are two types of electric brake controllers; time delay, and propotional. I described BOTH of them.

Incorrect. For reasons I've already explained, hydraulic brakes would definitely work better than electric, no matter how "good" or "properly functioning" those electric brakes happen to be.... and no matter how good of marketing they happen to have to convince you otherwise.

 

Go back and read my last response to Utard, especially the part I edited in. You might notice that I have uncovered evidence that he has overloaded the trailer by approximately 2000 pounds.

 

And if you'd bother reading this thread in order, at the point where I explained about the different kinds of electric brakes controllers, OP had NOT YET DISCLOSED what kind of brake controller he had. It was therefore NECESSARY information given that OP could have had EITHER type. Further, in discussing the performance of trailer brakes, it is ABSOLUTELY valid information to compare the various options.

Electric brakes can operate in reverse, and can be engaged manually without having to engage braking on the tow vehicle.

Hydraulic brakes balance perfectly and instantly to the rate at which the tow vehicle is stopping, can be submerged, and can withstand a complete electrical failure on the tow vehicle.

I mentioned hydraulic brakes ONCE as a matter of comparison, YOU keep on bringing them up.

 

Ok, I agree and appreciate it.
And also, sorry for pushing back so hard.

 

He doesn't like aliens.