Spongy Brakes 2009 Taco.

If you REALLY want to get rid of the spongy brakes once and for all, change out your rotors, pads and SS brake lines.

Get some SP Performance slotted rotors, some Hawk Ceramic pads and some of the SS lines mentioned earlier in this thread.

You will not believe the difference this will make.

 

One thing that I noticed right after getting my 08 is somewhere along the line Toyota has redesigned the angle of the brake pedal linkage.

This only happens when I am wearing my work boots but the first couple times before I was aware of what was happening it scared the shit out of me because no matter how hard I pressed on the brakes the truck was barely slowing down.

What happens is if my heal is a little further forward and then when I rotate my foot to apply the brakes the tip of my boot presses on the brake pedal arm as well as the pedal, this gives far less leverage and you really have to press hard to get anymore then a light braking effect.

My 3 previous Toyota's never gave me that problem when wearing work boots and neither do any of the 9 different makes and models of trucks that I drive at work on a daily basis so it is specific to my Tacoma, it has never happened while wearing my tennis shoes so must have something to do with the length of the heal on my Danners

 

I will respectfully disagree with the posts here suggesting that a change to SS lines is necessary to improve/fix the braking feel.
i have prepped a number of cars for SCCA racing and have never needed to replace brake lines to get a firm pedal.
I absolutely disagree with the statement that rubber lines 'can't handle the pressure'.
you would bend the brake pedal before causing any significant swelling in the stock lines.
What people here fail to recognize is that you bleed the brakes when installing the lines, therefore, fudging the variables in the process.
I did this on my wifes' RAV4, bled the brakes and the difference was dramatic WITH STOCK BRAKE LINES.

I've said my piece...enjoy giving your money to the marketers of custom brake lines.

 

That's your opinion and your entitled to it. SS lines are absolutely not a necessity and really, it depends on the vehicle, application and the situation. I have autocrossed and road raced my Honda and a built up Mustang GT A LOT and guess what, no SS lines. However, I have also put SS lines on older cars and bikes as the rubber lines age and there is a difference in pedal feel on every application even freshly bled brakes.

What we are all saying here is that the Tacoma brakes have a spongy feel and the SS lines are one thing you can do to improve the FEEL, not the performance. The sponginess may also be caused by air in the lines or the actual design of the brake system, brake booster, proportioning valve, rear drums, etc. etc.

Bottom line is SS lines certainly could not hurt the situation.

 

My 2009 Access Cab 4x4, 4 cyl, manual transmission, has very spongy brakes. At slow speeds the pedal seems to hit the floor. They can be pumped up which usually means air in the lines or drum brakes.

I took it to the dealer and they said all is normal. They got another truck from the lot for comparison and it too was spongy. That doesn't make it right. I plan to bleed the brakes myself and adjust the back brakes. These two fixes make the most sense to me. The dealer could have done it for customer satisfaction.

After 280 miles it is unsettling. The lower the speed the spongier the brakes are, higher speed stops are more certain but there is not the traditional solid feel to the break pedal.

 

I have about 5k on my truck now and the brakes are feeling normal now. I am guessing the spongy feeling disappears when they get fully bedded in.

 

Whitebread, do you use your parking brake much? Most drum brakes are automatically adjusted when the parking brake is set. Do you think over time the back brake adjustment is corrected? It still feels like air to me. Its just weird.

They did add a brake bias system in 2009 but there seems to be stories of this issue predating 2009.

 

I do use the parking break every time I park.

I do completely agree that it feels like air. That is how my truck felt for quite a while. I no longer have to bottom out the pedal in an urgent stop. Very strange.

 

Love your truck color. Eye popping.

 

That is just a photoshop of the Porsche GT3-RS green color. The truck is really silver streak mica.

 

Reply: I have a 2010, 2wd 4cylinder, Auto, Access cab, SR5 pkg and it also has the spongy brake syndrome. No "release" hiccup yet, but I do not trust these brakes at all. The ABS on slippery surfaces really INCREASES the stopping distance and that is unacceptably normal for all ABS equipped vehicles. There are two warnings about this in the Tacoma Owners manual under "CAUTION"

Air in the lines seems to be a real possibility, especially with the latest Honda recall

The March recall of 400,000 Honda Odysseys and Elements casts another light on soft brakes. Apparently the vehicle stability assist modulator, part of ABS, gradually sucks in a bit of air with every self check on start-up, eventually causing soft brakes. Maybe Tacoma sources their modulators from the same supplier.

Hope this helps.

 

I have a new 2011 AC Prerrunner and I have this issue as well. I almost ran into someone the other day. At first i put my foot down far enough that i thought i would stop, then i thought to myself "shit! im not stopping fast enough!" so i stood on it and then just as i was letting off the brake, the tires locked and then chirped. Its almost as if there is a delayed response in the brakes.
Also when at a stop light i find the truck sliding forward sometimes because the brake must be held too far down to keep the truck stopped, and if the ac kicks on it will lurch forward. I love my truck, but the brakes do suck.

 

Your description of the delay and unpredictable braking action may be a clue as to what is happening in the Tacoma braking systems.

I can imagine that the microprocessor(s) involved are storing interrupts. Depending on their priorities and and the order received, the braking action could be delayed and, worse, won't always be the same. Seems like a cause for concern to me.

 

I bought my 2011 dbl cab taco in January. It seemed fine for a couple months. Then, i started to experience the same issues (soft braking, and once at a complete stop, it required even more pressure to stay stopped). After reading this thread, I took it to dealership and they swore up and down that it was braking fine.

I took it back in to get tint on the front windows and told them I wanted them to look at the brakes again. The said (again) it seems fine to them. So I asked if they could have another Taco ready to do a comparison. When I got there, we drove the other Taco and I told him it felt great. Nothing like mine. Then we drove mine and I showed him how far my foot had to travel before braking. Then I showed him the additional preasure it required to stay stopped. I had him drive them both while I watched and he said, "Something is definitly not right".

They gave me a loaner Taco last week. They still have not told me what they think it is but they promised to start replacing parts until they figured it out. WTF! They are being great about it but I had to press them to recognize it was a problem. I would encourage any of you to do the same. Once they give me my truck back, I will update you all.

 

I too have a number of concerns about Tacoma brakes. This thread has a several references to bleeding the brakes as a cure for spongy brakes . Has your dealer tried that?

(My brakes have been annoyingly spongy for 28,000 kilometes now but lately they do seem to be lower to the floor so I am considering bleeding the brakes. ABS performance on slippery surfaces is my other concern.)

Good luck.

 

Alright, got my truck back from the dealer. They are working great now (again). It started happening after about 2000 miles on the truck. Im at 4100 now. I will post if it returns but i dont think it will.

The work order shows the following comments:

REPLACE ORDERED MASTER CYL. CONDITION STILL REMAINS. ADJUST REAR BRKS: PEDAL HIGHER, CONTINUES TO SINK. BLEED BRKS COMPLETELY INCLUDING BLEED ACTUATOR. PEDAL FEELS SOME BETTER, CONTINUES TO SINK. CALL TAS, SPOKE WITH MIKE XXX-XXX-XXXX SAID TO REPLACE ABS ACTUATOR. ORDER AND INSTALLED ACTUATOR. BLED BRKS AGAIN, INC ACTUATOR. TD: BREAKS ARE GOOD. ACTUATOR TIME 1.30, Z-TIME FOR MASTER CYLINER, BRK ADJUST, BLEED: 2.70.

I dont know if that will help anyone else but it fixed my spongy breaks.

 

This is great news. A dealer that was open to the problem and determined to solve it!
I hope your cure is permanent. Please keep us posted.
Thanks

 

elykTacos (Kyle), Hi saw your post and i have been having the exact same problem with my 2010 DC Sport 4x4. I was wondering if you would provide me some information i could use to refer to my local toyota dealer to show what they have done to your tacoma, a service order number or something like that, i have taken mine in several times with no luck to permanent fix. Thanks.

Rex

 

Rockiemtnlvr, I will help any way I can. I have attached a scan of my work order (redacted to protect the innocent )

It has the contact information for my dealer and the exact parts they replaced. ALL UNDER WARRANTY.

I was back to have my 5k service done and they said they haven't seen the issue with any other Tacos. They were as baffled as me.

So far, brakes are still great. Running at about 8k miles with out an issue.

Karl Malone Toyota service department has been above excellent so far.

 

I'm at 60,000 miles. After reading about how so many people have spongy brakes I figured I would see if bleeding the brakes will help. An it did! There was more air in there than I thought there would be. They feel a lot better but not a 100% fix. I went ahead an changed out all the fluid too. While I was down there I noticed my pads still have a little life left in them but will change tomorrow. That should make a differance I would think.