I highly doubt OP has warped rotors and it’s quite rare in most cases, everyone just uses this term very loosely whenever they experience brake pedal pulsation.
There are many other causes of brake pedal pulsation besides actually warped rotors.
Toyota ... warped rotors
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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There are many other causes of brake pedal pulsation besides actually warped rotors.
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One thing I forgot to mention is Asian and American (and now German) have a routine habit of pad slapping a brake job. When this is done, the lips grow ever so larger. Pad slapping is a mostly sensible trade off but it isn’t the same as pads and rotors together.
I’m of the camp rotors don’t warp. They become unsmooth. But that’s a never ending debate in itself…ymmv
I’m of the camp rotors don’t warp. They become unsmooth. But that’s a never ending debate in itself…ymmv
I only mentioned it as a possibility because you emphasized being gentle on the brakes. And we can only guess and offer suggestions since nobody can physically inspect your brakes.
Rust can definitely cause brake pedal pulsation because I have personally experienced it. One of the front rotors had a dime sized rust spot on the inner surface near the inner edge, so impossible to see without taking the rotor off. No re-bedding helped and it only got worse with time.
That’s just one possibility of many.
I don’t buy the various “Operator error” theories being espoused. But, I will say that my cars, which frequently see salt water (Ocean water) in the street, don’t like sitting. Driven every day and they are happy.
I do my own brakes, and the Tundra has been great since I went to the EBC (as previously mentioned).
I have to wonder if the common factor is the dealership brake jobs. The Tundra is designed for a “pad slap” - the pads can be replaced without removing calipers. A couple of pad slaps and you might have worn/bad rotors under there, when a proper brake jobs would include new rotors, new hardware and new pads.
dnewton3
Staff member
I most certainly have an issue with poor quality rotors on my 2023 ES350. They are OEM and now have 36k miles on them. They started the misbehaving around 10k miles ago. It's annoying. Definitely warping under heat loads (not abusive stops; just normal). Especially prominent if I have to get on the brakes a bit hard from highway speeds (say some moron pulls out and causes a bunch of vehicles to apply brakes hard in a daisy-chain event ...)
I have upgraded to severe service pads/rotors in previous vehicles (of note, my 2018 Taurus had the same issue). The severe service upgrade (taxi/police type) always did the trick; it seriously transformed the Taurus and made it much better. It was especially helpful when driving from IN to AZ; the mountain roads are much harder on brakes than in the Midwest. Unfortunately for me, there exists no option (at least yet) for my current generation of the ES350 platform. However, my wife's 2013 ES350 does have those as an option, so some day soon I'll convert it over.
I don't think warped rotors are unique to any brand; I've had that experience in many vehicles over the years.
I have upgraded to severe service pads/rotors in previous vehicles (of note, my 2018 Taurus had the same issue). The severe service upgrade (taxi/police type) always did the trick; it seriously transformed the Taurus and made it much better. It was especially helpful when driving from IN to AZ; the mountain roads are much harder on brakes than in the Midwest. Unfortunately for me, there exists no option (at least yet) for my current generation of the ES350 platform. However, my wife's 2013 ES350 does have those as an option, so some day soon I'll convert it over.
I don't think warped rotors are unique to any brand; I've had that experience in many vehicles over the years.
If you noticed issue and in the typical 1yr/12,000 mile parts/labor warranty on dealership maintenance take it back. They fix or replace as needed. The premium price service at dealer includes this.
By gentle, I just mean that it's pretty easy driving - miles of open road between stops and I'm not driving the Tundra like I stole it. That said, I'm not not using the brakes as needed, and do some highway driving so will have the occasional idiot who pulls out in front of me or traffic ahead requiring me to get on the brakes. I do tend to engine brake in the Tundra down long slopes out of habit. Less so in the RX 350 because there isn't much engine braking to be had in that powertrain.
I want to point out, for the Tundra, make sure to take the pins out like yearly--if you get this so it doesn't warp "often" you might find yourself needing new calipers when it's time to do anything. The garage I went to at the time indicated that they often had problems with those pins, I think they indicated that they would swap the calipers rather than just drill the pins out and order new pins (corner shop, so waiting for parts in the mail, not too desirable). The pins on mine kept seizing up, until enough of them rusted away so as to open them up (I did finally replace with new, so as to restart the problem).
Also the pads like to seize in place and then require hammering to get out. No fun driving with no front brakes.
I say this as it may be better to have "frequent" brake jobs, as you might still have frequent problems if you somehow get past this. My Tundra sat too much and suffered all the same brake problems as my dailies, if not more.
Also the pads like to seize in place and then require hammering to get out. No fun driving with no front brakes.
I say this as it may be better to have "frequent" brake jobs, as you might still have frequent problems if you somehow get past this. My Tundra sat too much and suffered all the same brake problems as my dailies, if not more.
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My dad was an engineer who did work on his own cars but had zero interest in cars. Not uncommon for our parents’ gen. I broke his fuel line on a Buick 350 4 bbl and like David Copperfield he got some tubing, flared it, and bent it into the correct shape in time to watch All in the Family.
He used to tell me, “Your car is not that delicate.” I think that advice applies to brakes. Yes you can be hard on them but a user isn’t going to cause pulsation, meaning babying them isn’t necessary…stomping on them all the time also is not necessarily. But I too doubt the user can harm the brakes or cause the warped sensation.
If we go back far enough to age 19, I thought that if one never let the pads go down to metal, new rotors would never be needed. I actually do apply this theory to wear sensors. Replaced them on the BMW but never on the Lexus or GM….
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
It doesn’t take a lot.
I track street rotors on BMW, OEM (NOT OE) and they do 40,000mls without blink. Of those 40k, 5-6000 is with racing pads.
This is rotor that had to deal with pads that caught fire (Check color). I had maybe 3000mls on this rotor. Did around 35,000 before I took it off to upgrade calipers to Brembo ones (rotor was still fine):
The problem is the quality of Toyota brakes, not driving.
The 2020 elantra has been sitting significantly... 1500 miles in 6 months. The first few stops can sound like a lathe coming in on a first cut to uneven metal. 
A few harder than normal stops to get all 4 brakes in action usually corrects it 95%.
Sitting can be hard on brakes. These are org. rears and Element 3 front rotors and pads.
I do my own services not because I like to (I hate brakes) but because its usually more thorough than people who do it in a time is money type flat rate pay system.
The $$$ savings is a bonus too.
That comment isnt to throw shade on any Bitog'ers in the auto repair business. If any of you lived near me I'd probably bring the fleet to you.
A few harder than normal stops to get all 4 brakes in action usually corrects it 95%.
Sitting can be hard on brakes. These are org. rears and Element 3 front rotors and pads.
I do my own services not because I like to (I hate brakes) but because its usually more thorough than people who do it in a time is money type flat rate pay system.
The $$$ savings is a bonus too.
That comment isnt to throw shade on any Bitog'ers in the auto repair business. If any of you lived near me I'd probably bring the fleet to you.
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Btw I took these pics at a Chevy dealer yesterday as I’m into brakes. The GM OE rotors are baked in a process called Ferretic Nitro-Carburizing.
I noticed it when I installed new rotors on the Enclave in 2018. The rotors have the appearance that German cars do. They look grayish white when going on and the pads wear away the coating, which prevents corrosion. I do notice GM’s coating isn’t as effective as BMW’s.
You can see that the rear disc on this Tahoe has a large unswept area near the hat. Over time that will be a lip which gets larger and rusty. It was my experience over 13.5 years of ownership and 3 sets of rotors on the Buick. The BMW on the other hand sweeps the rotors nearly edge to edge. No rust, no lip, even 9 years later. Japanese cars are also particularly bad imho where they do not use the full surface area of the rotor and have huge rusty lips near the hats.
You can already see the area/stripe near the hat and the vehicle likely has 10 miles.
I noticed it when I installed new rotors on the Enclave in 2018. The rotors have the appearance that German cars do. They look grayish white when going on and the pads wear away the coating, which prevents corrosion. I do notice GM’s coating isn’t as effective as BMW’s.
You can see that the rear disc on this Tahoe has a large unswept area near the hat. Over time that will be a lip which gets larger and rusty. It was my experience over 13.5 years of ownership and 3 sets of rotors on the Buick. The BMW on the other hand sweeps the rotors nearly edge to edge. No rust, no lip, even 9 years later. Japanese cars are also particularly bad imho where they do not use the full surface area of the rotor and have huge rusty lips near the hats.
You can already see the area/stripe near the hat and the vehicle likely has 10 miles.
Long soft braking builds more heat and sitting at stop lights with your foot on the brake and pads clamped against the rotors causes pad deposits and uneven brake rotors. Our Atlas is on rotor #4 in 8 years/70K miles. Mostly all in-town stop/go driving. Sportwagen with BBK sees brakes smoking and is driven like a race car...thing has smooth brakes.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
In my time as a Toyota tech at a dealership I’ve seen numerous Toyota with warped rotors. My mom’s Camry recently started doing it too and the brakes aren’t that old and nobody is hard on them. I’ve had to do lots of warranty brake jobs for either brake vibrations or squeaking. Just seems to happen on most Toyota but the RAV4 and Tundra are especially bad about it. I don’t feel it’s operator error
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Same here, my last Tacoma I drove 10 yrs and 88K. When it turned 10 I had to get a inspection, still had 60% according to the "we want to sell you more printout" But remember I coast to traffic lights. Brake pad stand in line to go on my vehicles. They are assured a long life.
Your best route would be to go with Duralast Elite pads and Duralast Gold rotors. The pads are lifetime warranty and the gold rotors are 3 years warranty. They perform great and it's very cost effective. No point in paying OE parts again and again.
In addition, before you slap the rotors on, I would check the runout on the hub.
In addition, before you slap the rotors on, I would check the runout on the hub.
Do you check runout with a dial gauge as part of the standard replacement protocol? Just curios.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
Yes under warranty I do because they want you to fill out this sheet for each rotor and it takes forever but yes I do for the warranty ones.
Wrong , actually you can have both
Over tighten a wheel with a impact and see if you,don't get warped rotors , it happens either that way or with hard and heavy braking
