TRD, EBC or Hawk brakes?

What rotors?
Hawk hps and brembo blanks didn't last me long at all... I tried two sets, both crapped out fast.

 

Just some cheap napa blanks.

 

Ordered 2 disk today
StopTech 125.44129 Premium High-Carbon Rotor

Centric 125.44129 Centric- Premium High-Carbon Rotor - TOY 0LWG3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003K3GNKU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I have the TRD pads on order
PTR09-89111 TRD Brake Pad

$135 Toyota Brake Pad - PTR09-89111

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005580ENU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Running hawk LTS pads and brembo blank rotors. Been good , no issues

 

akebono has always been good to me. 4runner, solara, now sequoia

 

OEM rotors from Camelback toyota (vendor on here). Gary gives amazing prices! I ordered rotors, pads, springs, shim kit, pins and clips, among other things too and it all shipped free too!

 

I'm not sure if the "high carbon" is just a marketing scheme to get extra money out of me for otherwise regular rotors!

 

@STEVON can you report back here once you've installed and got some miles on them? I'm curious if they end up "grabbing" better than the stock pads. I'm looking for more initial BITE when the pads contact the rotors.

 

ItalynStylion

Have been using Pep boys "premium Ceramic" pads until now. The OEM pads were incredibly dusty/dirty and required cleaning the rims once a month! Now care less about my wheel looks and more about saving my life!

I will do a before and after brake test comparison on the same day and update this posting

 

Ceramics will dust less but also fade quicker. I prefer stopping over shiny wheels lol.

 

Maybe I'm odd but my OEM pads and rotors don't dust AT ALL. Now, my Golf R on the other hand....

 

As a generalization, semi-metallic pads will offer better initial bite than ceramic pads. However they are noisier, dustier and harder on the rotor, so there are trade offs which is why OEMs use ceramic.

 

crashnburn80,

From the day I installed the ceramic pads I have been dissapointed and spent almost a $1000 dollars for other new parts. I'm hoping the Toyota TRD pads with new rotors will be my solution and the light at the end of this long and expensive tunnel!
On another note cleaning, I do have this expensive caustic cleaner designed for BMW painted wheels. its so strong it melts vinyl gloves! Stings and burns the eyes and skin if you aren't extra careful! Have to brush it on, spray bottles disintegrate because of the viscosity and chemical action eating the pump. It claims to be "acid free" but doesn't claim to be "alkaline free" it reacts to the break dust (dust is acidic I believe) and really works! no scrubbing required, just hose it off!

https://www.walmart.com/ip/SONAX-23...MI4v647pjt3QIVSo1-Ch2LRw7eEAQYBCABEgL-dPD_BwE

 

Rotors help with thermal capacity and cooling, aka how much energy can be put into the rotor as heat and how quickly the rotor can shed it before coming saturated to resist brake fade. Rotors will not help the initial bite you are looking for, that is solely up to the brake pad. The TRD pads are an improvement over stock, but they still have ceramic pad characteristics. If you are looking for a more significant difference than you will want to use a semi-metallic pad which has a wider operating temperature, including higher friction and better cold friction ("bite"), but comes with the drawbacks I mentioned earlier, plus shorter pad life.

 

What would you recommend? I'm honestly not concerned about fade given my driving characteristics. I'm more concerned with sudden stops and reduced braking performance due to weight and 34" tires. I have to use a lot of pedal force to get significant bite on the rotors. And yes, they are freshly resurfaced about 2000 miles ago so we're good there. And I'll put up with dust since my truck is typically dirty anyway. I just need to stop!

 

ItalynStylion,

I think that crashnburn80 is correct stating that using OEM semi-metalic pads is your best use of stock rotors for braking. Other than that, a kit with bigger rotors would be needed to overcome the stock design limitations. Weight seems to be the highest priority for Toyota, not extra braking capacity. With the stock size rims/tires and DOT acceptance they are off the hook!
I'm just trying to get back to the original capability with a slightly smaller overall wheel diameter! I looked into bigger rotor/caliper kit but don't have a grand+ to spend on one so I am working with the stock limited/adequate? design.
I wish some BAHA racers would chime in, they exceed stock limitations every race! what are they using?

 

I've been running the StopTech cryo treated rotors and TRD pads since January 2018. No noise, good braking performance but a fair amount of dusting.

 

You might consider addressing the cause of the issue and look at running a lighter weight wheel and tire setup, which would have benefits to braking, power, mpgs and more. It doesn't have to mean running a smaller tire, but weight is something you should pay close attention to when going to larger tires. OR trucks with ATRAC also have an advantage with their electronically boosted brakes.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...eel-tire-combo-trd-rock-warriors-ko2s.381030/

As for recommendations, I haven't tried any semi-metallic on the Tacoma since I've stuck with ceramics thus far. But you will want to look for a street performance/sport pad, you want to stay away from anything that is track/race based. Anything designed for track use/race are going to focus performance on higher operating temperatures which will not be helpful in a Tacoma for daily driving. I'd also focus on name brands. You might consider Stop Tech's Sport pads which advertise strong initial bite (I have no experience with these): http://www.stoptech.com/products/stoptech-brake-pads

The OEM pads are ceramic. Ceramics are quieter, smoother, lower dust, longer service life, lower wear on the rotor, all things an OEM would want. Semi-metallics are the opposite of those attributes, which doesn't make it very appealing to most drivers.

Baja racers would likely use a racing pad, which will be designed to work best in very high heat, meaning they will not work well when cold. So your brakes will work excellent when they are scorching hot from keeping the gas pedal pegged to the floor followed by braking hard in rapid succession, but daily driving when your brakes are cool they will work exceptionally poorly.

 

crashnburn80,

Lighter wheels and tires? you might as well do the big rotor brake kit. It would probably be cheaper than a new set of light rims and new rubber!

I would love a kit that uses the stock calipers, moves them out and comes with larger rotors included. But as far as I could find no one makes such a beast, at least not for a Tacoma...

 

Yes, a big brake kit would likely be cheaper and help improve the braking. But maybe the tires are near replacement anyway. A big brake kit only band-aids the cause of the problem though. If you can shed 100lbs of rotational weight (which is easier than you would think in some larger tire sizes, I've helped others pencil it out) you are going to have significant performance benefits across the board, not just braking, with the end result being the vehicle drives much better overall. Better fuel economy, better power, better acceleration, better handling, better ride, and better braking. You could then later still add a big brake kit for even further improved braking if desired. By spending a bunch of money to try and correct one negative effect of heavy tires with the big brake kit, you are not addressing the cause of the problem and ignoring the other negative effects they are causing, whether or not that is a priority to the driver. Very often people pay little to no attention at weights when adding larger tires and end up with some extremely heavy setups, when a little attention to detail and some basic math would help minimize the problem.