never heard that before. Ive had several yotas over the years and never had a caliper issue till this 4runner where I had a caliper that was sticking., but at that point they were 18 years old and original.
ive since replaced with TBU, stock yota pads and stainless brake lines front and back. Went TBU because I drive lots of steep hills that have lots of moose ( who walk out in front of cars like no big deal) and I want to stop the best I can.
I have tired other pads, but they were "dusty" and did not notice much improvement over the Toyota pads.

The TBU is the way to go. It will serve you well.

IMHO the 3rd gen 4runner's calipers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast or where ever the winter road service folks throw down (insert your favorite brand of obnoxious chloride de-icer here) wrecks havoc on the caliper piston seals.

I've gone after trying to maintain the calipers on my '96 (S12WE) with a vengeance to no avail. Drain-n-fill the MC every oil change, press back pistons whenever possible, etc. Pretty sure it's not an internal fluid issue. Se la vie. I'll simply throw calipers on now if any hassle pressing the pistons back and not worry about it anymore. It's a maintenance feature.

IMHO I think the slight under design (rotor heat sink) exacerbates the issue and just brings the calipers into a high wear-n-tear corrosive induced environment.

Yup, TBU gets that heat under control. If your driving conditions warrant the TBU, great way to go.

Cheers!

P. S. And that's where the Tundra S13WE (199) upgrade really comes into play. From what I've read it uses a very similar stock 3rd gen sized caliper but allows a significantly larger rotor (heat sink) without having to mess with the worry of caliper rub on the wheel rim or backing plate trimming for caliper fit. Need to do more Forum search on my part but that definitely seems an interesting way to go.