With towing season on approach I decided to take another look at the brakes on our tundra. The shoes and pads wee only 1/4 to 1/3 worn, but the rear has never been satisfactory with the wagner thermoquiet shoes and the front not much better - my family's old '57 chevy required less pedal pressure to stop.
The front had akebono pads and raybestos rotors. The rear had oem drum with wagner thermoquiet shoes.
Pad slapped the front with hawk LTS pads. I believe these are semi metallics. when cold, the hawks probably provide ~20% greater break force for a given pedal pressure than the akebonos. When warm, I am pleased to say they are maybe ~50% more, a significant increase.
I drove to the yota dealer for a set of shoes. Toyota wants a mint for the shoes. MSRP is $122. They worked with me since I found an online toyota dealer who will sell them for $72. We met halfway. To compare, wagner wanted like $30. These are expensive shoes. They had a set, with FF printed on the material.
Replacing the rear, the parking brake is easily twice as effective as it was. I noted that the wagners did not show consistent wear across the surface of the shoe. They also had a lot of wear on them, down to ~60% remaining at the ends (I had adjusted the load valve to allow more pressure to the rear in hopes of getting some brake force back), so the shoes were definitely getting used. (I can now return the load valve back to oem).
I feel like this is probably as good as it gets unless I swap over sequoia rear disc assemblies. It is significantly better than what it was before. Bottom line, while akebonos are my go-to pad, hawk beats them in this application. And drum shoes, which get no love in the market any more, are probably best left to oem.
-m
The front had akebono pads and raybestos rotors. The rear had oem drum with wagner thermoquiet shoes.
Pad slapped the front with hawk LTS pads. I believe these are semi metallics. when cold, the hawks probably provide ~20% greater break force for a given pedal pressure than the akebonos. When warm, I am pleased to say they are maybe ~50% more, a significant increase.
I drove to the yota dealer for a set of shoes. Toyota wants a mint for the shoes. MSRP is $122. They worked with me since I found an online toyota dealer who will sell them for $72. We met halfway. To compare, wagner wanted like $30. These are expensive shoes. They had a set, with FF printed on the material.
Replacing the rear, the parking brake is easily twice as effective as it was. I noted that the wagners did not show consistent wear across the surface of the shoe. They also had a lot of wear on them, down to ~60% remaining at the ends (I had adjusted the load valve to allow more pressure to the rear in hopes of getting some brake force back), so the shoes were definitely getting used. (I can now return the load valve back to oem).
I feel like this is probably as good as it gets unless I swap over sequoia rear disc assemblies. It is significantly better than what it was before. Bottom line, while akebonos are my go-to pad, hawk beats them in this application. And drum shoes, which get no love in the market any more, are probably best left to oem.
-m
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