Toyota ... warped rotors

[PWMDMD]

I have never owned a Toyota product, from 1996 until now, that didn't frequently have wrapped rotors between brake jobs. My Tundra developed warped rotors after 10k miles, had brakes done at 50k miles, and now 60k miles the problem is back. My wife's RX350 has had warped rotors 3x now every time with 5K miles of new brakes. I have never had an issue with any other brand consistently.

I do 90% around town driving, not stop and go city, long stretches of open road at 45mph with some stop signs and lights. I drive the Tundra and my wife the RX 350 and we don't drive aggressively or fast. We aren't frequently slamming on the brakes are doing hard stops. No really long hills requiring you to really ride the brakes. I rotate the tires and I use a torque wrench every time so it's not due to over tightening the lug nuts.

Just a gripe session because I'll likely have to live with high speed braking-induced steering wheel shake for another 40k miles.

 

[CKN]

Toyotas are not the creators answer to ultimate transportation device despite what others may say....

Ask me how I know.....

 

[PWMDMD]

Toyota's are not the creators answer to ultimate transportation device despite what others may say....

Ask me how I know.....

Cool...I just hate their brakes.

 

[mrsilv04]

wrapped = warped?

 

[supton]

Not really had problems with them, but eh, I go 100k at least on pads if not more. Even when I had a VW.

If they are cheap to replace, well, such is life I guess.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

What kind of pads and rotors are you using? Try EBC Ultimax2 (Blackstuff) pads. They might help with this

Pair them with any Geomet coated rotors.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I have owned exactly 1 Toyota. Its in my signature - 6 years, only 46K miles, most of it my wife's commute. The brakes are still silky smooth.

Maybe its all that driving on the shoulder during rush hour you Bostonites find acceptable. Do they still allow that?

 

[SC Maintenance]

wrapped = warped?

Boston Accent - North shore?

 

[edyvw]

I have never owned a Toyota product, from 1996 until now, that didn't frequently have wrapped rotors between brake jobs. My Tundra developed wrapped rotors after 10k miles, had brakes done at 50k miles, and now 60k miles the problem is back. My wife's RX350 has had wrapped rotors 3x now every time with 5K miles of new brakes. I have never had an issue with any other brand consistently.

I do 90% around town driving, not stop and go city, long stretches of open road at 45mph with some stop signs and lights. I drive the Tundra and my wife the RX 350 and we don't drive aggressively or fast. We aren't frequently slamming on the brakes are doing hard stops. No really long hills requiring you to really ride the brakes. I rotate the tires and I use a torque wrench every time so it's not due to over tightening the lug nuts.

Just a gripe session because I'll likely have to live with high speed braking-induced steering wheel shake for another 40k miles.

Junk brakes.
EBC Premium rotors solve that problem. Maybe Hawk (did not try).
I got Sequoia in Indiana with 64k, and a Honda dealership that sold me a car, put brand new front rotors and pads, and new pads in the back.
The car is currently at 78,700 km and, to my surprise, still has no vibrations. Now, Sequoia brakes with the engine much better than Sienna did. But then, I had this issue on Prado in Europe, and that is diesel, engine braking is also good.
I already purchased Pagid pads, and if the vibration issue develops, EBC rotors are going on. I am not buying that Toyota or Advics junk.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Recently switched to Bosch Quietcast rotors ad pads on my Camry. 6k and no problems.

 

[ripcord]

No problems with the Toyota brakes in my extended family. Jeep brakes, yes. GM brakes, yes. Toyota, not so much.

 

[Chris142]

No issues with our FJ. Rears are on their 3rd set of pads and the fronts are getting ready for a 3rd set,/. Driver error?

 

[clinebarger]

You're not alone especially on the Tundra/Sequoia. There are circumstances that require truing new rotors up with a "on the car lathe" using the proper procedures.

 

[qjohn]

I had recurring pulsating brakes / 'warped front rotors' in our 2004 Toyota Sienna. That was the main annoyance of the car -- the rest of it was pretty great.

 

[edyvw]

No issues with our FJ. Rears are on their 3rd set of pads and the fronts are getting ready for a 3rd set,/. Driver error?

It is not an error. They are made for grocery shopping/kids ' drop-offs. Pushing them harder (not riding them) results in this.
Better rotors (I always used EBC on Toyotas) resolve the problem.
Will see how my Sequoia does, but I downshift all the time, even in city traffic. So, who knows? V8 is pretty good at slowing down a vehicle.

 

[ecotourist]

Rather than warped rotors I suspect you may have a pad deposition problem. Which you can avoid by not sitting with your foot on the brakes after a hard stop.

I've had 2 Toyotas ('81 Celica and '00 Solara) and had no problem with "warped rotors". But then both had manual transmissions so there was never a need to sit with my foot on the brake. I would typically use the emergency brake for holding a position. And I routinely let off the brake just before a stop so the pads disengage.

So buy your Toyotas with a manual transmission - as if!

 

[MurkyAsparagus]

125k miles on OEM pads and rotors, about 50% life remaining, smooth as silk.

 

[Chris142]

It is not an error. They are made for grocery shopping/kids ' drop-offs. Pushing them harder (not riding them) results in this.
Better rotors (I always used EBC on Toyotas) resolve the problem.
Will see how my Sequoia does, but I downshift all the time, even in city traffic. So, who knows? V8 is pretty good at slowing down a vehicle.

Well it's not a racecar. My wife is the typical female that slams on the brakes right before the stop light. Never any issues even with her driving.

 

[edyvw]

Well it's not a racecar. My wife is the typical female that slams on the brakes right before the stop light. Never any issues even with her driving.

It is not. I drive it to what it was designed.
If it is too much, they should put better brakes. Simple.

 

[AKhan87]

I have never owned a vehicle that I got warped rotors on.

My 1st vehicle was a 2000 Honda Civic and I drove it while completely abusing it, still no warped rotors, and sold it with 300k miles. I myself never did any maintenance.

Then after the 2000 Honda Civic, all my vehicles have been Toyotas/Lexus and I did brake jobs on every single one of them (100+? or something), again never ever had warped rotors. sounds like either user error or whoever is doing our brakes has no idea how to do brakes and is using poor quality parts.

All my current Lexus have their OEM rotors in use, I got them resurfaced for $10 per rotor in LA, CA - I measured the resurfaced rotors thickness using a micrometer, and they were all within 27.6-27.7 mm, I was so impressed with these readings that I bought used OEM rotors from some Camrys (they use the same rotor and part #s) and after resurfacing, they have had the same result. I have three sets of used OEM rotors on hand to be used whenever I do my brakes next.

Toyota/Lexus rotor thickness:
Min = 25.0 mm
Max = 28.0 mm

from my experience, I haven't found any rotors that are as good quality as OEM Toyota/Lexus rotors for my Toyota/Lexus vehicles, I could easily get 3-4 resurfacing or maybe out of the OEM rotors.

Note: the guy that I found who is resurfacing rotors for $10 per rotor, also mentioned the same thing, that original factory rotors are some of the highest quality rotors and he can easily tell by the way they can be resurfaced (something regarding the metallurgy). A lot of people take rotors to him for resurfacing because of how cheap he is, nothing wrong with the quality of his work.

My experience is completely opposite of OP and I have easily driven more then ~1.3 million miles on Toyota/Lexus vehicles.