Toyota ... warped rotors

[goblin]

Given how it's two vehicles living in the same location and likely serviced by the same dealer, I'd look into what exactly parts the dealer installed. I wouldn't put it beyond them to have used some econocrap line from who knows where.

Also ditto on the holding the pedal after a stop. What I do on all my cars (all automatics) is get to a stop then let the car advance another foot or two then stop again.

 

[PWMDMD]

Given how it's two vehicles living in the same location and likely serviced by the same dealer, I'd look into what exactly parts the dealer installed. I wouldn't put it beyond them to have used some econocrap line from who knows where.

Also ditto on the holding the pedal after a stop. What I do on all my cars (all automatics) is get to a stop then let the car advance another foot or two then stop again.

One was a Toyota dealership and the other a Lexus. They aren't owned by the same group and the same thing happened to factory rotors.

 

[KrisZ]

I can honestly say I haven't had a single hard stop in 10k miles on these brakes. I'm really gentle on the brakes and do mostly country road driving.
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Sounds like you’re too gentle on the brakes. You live in the rust belt so rust spots can form and may not be fully removed if you’re being gentle on the brakes.

 

[AKhan87]

Only OEM parts and done by the dealership - they are actually cheaper than the Indy shops around me.

They are most likely resurfacing rotors (cheaper then new OEM rotors) and putting on AZ pads, the carcarenut keeps mentioning issues with the AZ pads.

If would either do your own brake job or take new OEM parts to someone who will install your parts following this guide that @The Critic posted Toyota Brake Job Best Practices or follow the brake job guide that the carcarenut has put up on YouTube.

 

[ecotourist]

Sounds like you’re too gentle on the brakes. You live in the rust belt so rust spots can form and may not be fully removed if you’re being gentle on the brakes.

The other possibility is that by being very gentle on the brakes you're not getting the discs bedded in properly. Bedding means getting an even coating of brake pad material all over the brake discs which somehow seems to prevent or minimize later pad build up.

You do that with a series of hard stops which really heats up the discs and deposits pad material all over them.

I'm not particularly gentle on brakes so I've never had to think about having to bed in the brakes on new cars (or even on new brakes), so I'll let someone with expertise in the matter chime in on how to do it properly.

 

[goblin]

They are most likely resurfacing rotors (cheaper then new OEM rotors) and putting on AZ pads, the carcarenut keeps mentioning issues with the AZ pads.

If would either do your own brake job or take new OEM parts to someone who will install your parts following this guide that @The Critic posted Toyota Brake Job Best Practices or follow the brake job guide that the carcarenut has put up on YouTube.

This ^^^
We used to have a Mitsubishi Diamante, was going through rotors every 12k miles (known issue, undersized rotors). Always dealer - maintained. Not a single time did "replacing rotors" come to be mentioned. It was always resurface, resurface, resurface. T'was 20 years ago, but I'm quire sure some things don't change.

 

[AKhan87]

Can you bed in brake discs once there has been pad deposition? I didn't think that was possible.

So I have tried this only once because I had read about it countless times online, and the vehicle that I bought had warped rotors.

I followed the brake job guide that the Carcarenut posted on You tube, and installed new Duralast Gold brake pads that came with vehicle that I had just purchased.

after following the brake "break-in" procedure that PowerStop had listed online for their brakes, those rotors never had brake pulsation again, I was impressed but I had no intention of trying that again because I felt kind of lucky that it worked, I put on 20k miles on those brakes before I sold the car to family member.

 

[PWMDMD]

They are most likely resurfacing rotors (cheaper then new OEM rotors) and putting on AZ pads, the carcarenut keeps mentioning issues with the AZ pads.

If would either do your own brake job or take new OEM parts to someone who will install your parts following this guide that @The Critic posted Toyota Brake Job Best Practices or follow the brake job guide that the carcarenut has put up on YouTube.

I believe these are all Lexus/Toyota parts numbers. Again, the exact same thing happened with OEM factory brakes for both vehicles.

 

[ecotourist]

If you're having to replace pads and rotors because of "warping" [which I suspect is really uneven brake pad deposits] then you'd be better off to stop being gentle and "use them brakes". It might actually cost less.

The big take away is not sitting with the brakes engaged after a hard stop or a long downhill run. Holding brake pads against hot rotors would directly lead to localized pad deposits, which would cause pulsating brakes, often thought to be warped rotors.

I use the emergency brake to hold my position, if required, in those situations. The Tesla has a "hold" function when you're just sitting which doesn't appear to involve the brakes.

 

[maduroman]

They are either under thickness specifications, the rotors or there is some very hard and heavy stopping going on

 

[PWMDMD]

They are either under thickness specifications, the rotors or there is some very hard and heavy stopping going on

So in this thread we’ve established my wife and I, who rarely ever drive each other’s vehicle, both stop too hard and not hard enough.

Got it!

 

[AKhan87]

I believe these are all Lexus/Toyota parts numbers. Again, the exact same thing happened with OEM factory brakes for both vehicles.

View attachment 289308View attachment 289309

the Part numbers "look" to be the original factory part numbers, I suspect that they just drove to see if things were working, and probably did not follow a pad "break-in/bed-in" procedure.

I have been doing this since 2020 when I tried my 1st set of PowerStop brake pads, and haven't had issues by following this procedure, I have done with OEM Toyota factory pads, as well as Duralast Elite pads, I suspect it helps as I have never had issues before or after doing this.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I don't think brake rotor "warping" is a function of using the brakes. Personally I think its caused more by lateral run-out on the bearing, which over time causes the thickness around the diameter of the disk to be uneven. You could prove or disprove this with a dial meter.

 

[PWMDMD]

I don't think brake rotor "warping" is a function of using the brakes. Personally I think its caused more by lateral run-out on the bearing, which over time causes the thickness around the diameter of the disk to be uneven. You could prove or disprove this with a dial meter.

At 10,000 miles for the Tundra and 5,000 miles for the RX 350? That was the first time I noticed this issue. Then again at 60K miles (10k miles after the brakes were replaced on the Tundra) and 35k miles (5k miles after the brakes were replaced on the RX 350). Just had the brakes replaced again at 65K miles on RX 350 and so will try the bedding in procedure.

 

[jtwrace]

I just replaced my '22 Toyota Tacoma rotors and pads as they were warped really badly. They started at 30k miles (purchased truck new) and I couldn't go any further than 44k miles as it drove me nuts.

 

[meep]

Toyotas are unfortunately known in my circles for having recurring brake warp issues. I had a gen 1 tundra that I simply could never solve this with. Some say it’s because they use smaller rotors to reduce unsprung weight to the benefit of vehicle NVH. I know of several sedans, both Toyota and Lexus, whose owners complain that every 30k they have recurring pulsation issues and return to the dealer.

I never sorted it out with the tundra - but found that constant re-bedding helped, though at a ridiculous amount. I also walked towards aftermarket parts and had continued pulsation issues. In hindsight, my next step would have been to try the element3 raybestos pads, which are rather hard on rotors, hoping to utilize the more abrasive compound to continually support re-bedding and grinding properties into the rotor surface (wild theory, no fact behind this, but they were fabulous on my next truck and did consume rotor material).

Higher line centric rotors helped on the Lexus we owned.

We have two newer Toyotas now - up to 15k on my wife’s and she’s had zero issues so far. Fingers crossed.

 

[SC Maintenance]

At 10,000 miles for the Tundra and 5,000 miles for the RX 350? That was the first time I noticed this issue. Then again at 60K miles (10k miles after the brakes were replaced on the Tundra) and 35k miles (5k miles after the brakes were replaced on the RX 350). Just had the brakes replaced again at 65K miles on RX 350 and so will try the bedding in procedure.

The timing sort of lines up with lateral run out, to me anyway.

 

[maduroman]

So in this thread we’ve established my wife and I, who rarely ever drive each other’s vehicle, both stop too hard and not hard enough.

Got it!

Believe what you want people have told you what causes this , live with it or spend money to fix
Under spec rotors and hard and often braking are causes of brake vibration , and it takes alot to get warped rotors

 

[AKhan87]

I don't think brake rotor "warping" is a function of using the brakes. Personally I think its caused more by lateral run-out on the bearing, which over time causes the thickness around the diameter of the disk to be uneven. You could prove or disprove this with a dial meter.

I forgot to mention, you have to clean up wheel hub, from rusty land, we tend to get a lot of buildup.

I completely forgot about this, now that you mention this.

I had a vehicle where removing the rotors was significantly more difficult then normal and it didn't have OEM rotors on it, some aftermarket ones without the Toyota bolt holes to remove the rotor, so I hammered and kept turning the old rotors until after 15 minutes of sold hammering removed the rotors, I had to do this for both sides.

The hub was a lot of rust and dirty buildup, I cleaned it to the best of my ability using a wire brush, and when I installed the new rotors, they actually got warped within a 4k mile road trip. So I did some research and got myself an electric angle grinder, and put different wire wheels and cleaned up more of that buildup until I could get it as clean as possible, I wasn't grinding things away, just cleaning up extra buildup.

After thoroughly cleaning up the hub, the new rotors and pads never ever had issues, I put on 15k miles before the vehicle was totaled due to a driver doing an U-turn without looking from a parking spot.

Long story shorts, I now cleanup the hub more then I did before and make sure there isn't any rust/dirty build up before I install my rotors.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Can you bed in brake discs once there has been pad deposition? I didn't think that was possible.

It basically restarts the bedding process on the rotor surface. Gets the pad and rotor hot enough it basically burns off the accumulated pad material. Have to let pads and rotors cool down for at least 10 minutes of gentle driving without stopping after or you’ll have done it all for naught.

I’ve done it a handful of times on cars I know had plenty of pad material left and no grooves in the rotors.