Brakes ?

I'm a big believer in OEM parts for maintenance/mechanical stuff but have a question. I have been seeing a lot of ads and talk about aftermarket brakes, pads and rotors. Slotted/ drilled or not. Has anyone had any experience with them compared to OEM?

 

I have the Power Stop Z36 kit which includes four rotors and pads all around. The rotors are drilled and slotted.

I bought the kit because my OEM pads were getting towards the end of their life, and I figured I'd try something new.

After install I notice absolutely no difference. Sound, dust, braking power, etc. All exactly like OEM. They look cool behind the wheel I suppose.

I'd say if you are looking for an upgrade, or more braking power, aftermarket pads and rotors aren't really where it's at. Having said that I never felt the OEM stuff was insufficient at all.

 

If you're going to off road at all then you may want to stay away from cross drilled and/or slotted & cross drilled rotors as they can load up with mud and affect your braking. If you don't off road then they would be fine. I've used aftermarket rotors and Akebono Ceramic pads and never had any problems.

 

I’m replacing the pads and rotors on my 19. I priced the most expensive pads and rotors at Auto Zone and O’reilly’s following the if it’s more expensive it has to be better thinking. I decided to order everything from Toyota including shipping for less than it would have cost at Auto Zone and O’reilly’s.

I also never had a concern with the performance of the oem brakes.

I have an older car that I put upgraded suspension and brakes on. I ordered the brakes through the same shop that the suspension came from. I talked with the owner when deciding which brakes to go with. He said that for brakes to perform their best you have to be able to dissipate the heat. The more mass you have the better heat is dissipated. Solid rotors (oem) have more mass than drilled and slotted. He ran solid rotors on all of his race cars.

 

+1 to this.

Also, I went with Powerstop pads. But, I don't know if they made a significant difference.

 

The experts are saying that there are no gains in getting new aftermarket breaks. However, some of the looks and designs are very sleek I must say. Materials are very nice and the finish and contouring of these rotors and calipers look pretty cool. I almost went for the PowerBreaks system but too expensive and decided not to mess with it. I think I wait and see what others say.

 

True. Motorcycles use drilled. Less weight, less rotating mass?

 

Only substantial upgrade that’ll make a real difference would be upgrading to the tundra brake system in my opinion.

 

OEM is best. I've played with brake combos and nothing was like OEM.

 

Oem, ....when i do get to any brake maintenance. The oem set up is great imho for such a large, heavy rig. Almost like the yota engineers put some thought to it.

 

Hi All.
It's time to do my brakes as well.
I used the Z36 on the BMW in the past and the only difference I saw was cost savings , but I think I'll probably stick with OEM on the 4Runner.
Do anyone of you know what the spec is for the rotors? If I can just change the pads I'll do that, but if I'm close in minimum thickness on the rotors, I'll change the rotors as well.
I have a 2015 Trail with 100,000 miles and I'm on the original brakes.
Thanks!

 

Buy anything you want, but once a year, spring time, completely disassembly and clean all brakes. Rust seeping into supports and pistons stuck. Special soap based grease pink Toyota need to grease pistons. This grease only compatible with brake fluid.

 

I did all four corners last October, and dug deep to find out that Advics was used from the factory. So, I sourced those pads and rotors out and used them after about 80k of original use.
Next time around 165k, I will be using Silent Stop parts from my local Federated parts store. I've used them many times on my, and other vehicles, and they are flawless. The parts counter people always semi-apologize for the rotor prices, but having used Autozone/Advance parts in the past, I don't mind paying more for quality. Always true rotors, pads always fit perfectly. The only thing I don't use is the hardware that comes with those pads. I always use factory pins/shims/clips.

Whatever you use, do the job correctly. Clean your hubs and calipers with a wire brush, grease the glide pins, grease the backs of the pads and the slide areas, clean the inside of your wheels where they mate up, and please, PLEASE......use a torque wrench to tighten up everything, including your lug nuts.

 

This is exactly true.

 

toyotapartsdirect.ca wants 731.89 CAD for front and rear rotors and pads. 90.33 of it is shipping.

 

No need to spend that much, ever. I think I was at around $600 grand total here in the states and that included shipping.

 

I agree!

 

Isnt 732 CAD pretty much the same 600 US?

 

It's about 840 cad for 600 USD right now.

 

dang, should we be ordering brake parts from Canada then?

 

I just ordered complete brakes for all four corners from McGeorge including new shims, clips, pins, etc. $550 shipped. Shipping was $100.

 

Take some pictures if you can of the before and after. I have been wanting to do this as well.