[Jed]

I keep hearing that the OEM pads on the 4th gen are ceramics in the front and semi-metallic in the rear.

Does anyone know for sure?

[kylebacc]

Subscribed. Want to know why the difference if this is the case.

[Jed]

Well, the front brakes do approximately 70% of the braking work, so maybe that has something to do with it. At this point, I'm just trying to determine if the 4th gen does come with ceramic pads in front.

It appears that the OEM pads are made by Beck/Arnley and branded as Sumitomo.

[ggunn9]

I'm not sure I have anything of value to add to this thread, but I just replaced my front pads and before I replaced them I had no brake dust on the wheels and now I am cleaning my wheels every 4-6 days. I got the mid grade pads at the auto parts store.

I will never do that again!

I will spring for the high dollar pads from now you.

Can anybody tell me why this happened?

[eskimochaos]

Originally Posted by ggunn9

I'm not sure I have anything of value to add to this thread, but I just replaced my front pads and before I replaced them I had no brake dust on the wheels and now I am cleaning my wheels every 4-6 days. I got the mid grade pads at the auto parts store.

I will never do that again!

I will spring for the high dollar pads from now you.

Can anybody tell me why this happened?

You answered the question yourself. pay $hit get $hit

[ofcbarbrady]

I don't think ceramics came stock. If you wanted ceramic, you'd have to buy aftermarket or the TRD pads. I just put the TRD pads on a few days before I did my Toytec Ultimate.......what a difference they made.

[kylebacc]

Originally Posted by eskimochaos

You answered the question yourself. pay $hit get $hit

Interesting way of putting it. I'd of gone with something more along the lines of you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by ofcbarbrady

I don't think ceramics came stock. If you wanted ceramic, you'd have to buy aftermarket or the TRD pads. I just put the TRD pads on a few days before I did my Toytec Ultimate.......what a difference they made.

What did you pay for those?

[ofcbarbrady]

Originally Posted by kylebacc

Interesting way of putting it. I'd of gone with something more along the lines of you get what you pay for.



What did you pay for those?

I think I paid $80 for the front set and $85 for the rear --- bought them from both Champion Toyota in Texas and Sparks Toyota in SC (each only had 1 set in stock).

[Jed]

Originally Posted by ggunn9

I'm not sure I have anything of value to add to this thread, but I just replaced my front pads and before I replaced them I had no brake dust on the wheels and now I am cleaning my wheels every 4-6 days. I got the mid grade pads at the auto parts store.

I will never do that again!

I will spring for the high dollar pads from now you.

Can anybody tell me why this happened?

Ceramic pads are low dusting and the dust they do make isn't nearly as dark as the dust from organic or semi-metallic pads.

I think it just might be true that our 4th gens came with ceramic pads on the front as original equipment. In my research, I've found that there are a lot of OEM ceramic pads installed on new vehicles.

[riceandpho]

so ur saying that the trd pads will fit the sport edition calipers wit no problems? i am asking this kuss i have a sport model and its time for some new brakes, should i change the pads, or rotors or both?

[123GO]

Sorry I wasnt a member when you asked this 5yrs ago...lol
IMO "Never" change your Toyota rotors unless you feel vibration when braking or grooved too bad to turn.
I've never even turned mine. Just clean them with brake fluid & 00 steel wool.
My last 91 pickup (Tacoma) had 182k with all 4 OEM rotors and still smooth as silk when stopping after 23yrs.
The metal in the aftermarket rotors are soft compared to Toys. Toyota makes rotors like we did before the 70's and they last unless a brake sticks and over heats them warping them or brakes groove them from not changed in time....KEEP THEM!

[Asmara]

I put ceramic on the front and semi-metallic on the rears and kind of forgot about it. A few years later and I noticed that the pads in the front were getting low. Still plenty of life but time to replace them.

I ordered the parts to do the front and back (but I hadn't looked at the back). They sat in a closet for a while and then I decided to do the brake job. The day before I decided to do the job, I hear the horrible metal on metal grinding from the the back when I stopped. The semi-metallic wore out faster despite doing less of the braking. Tore up a rotor.

Lesson learned. Use the same type of pads front and rear.

[rsco]

Originally Posted by Jed

I keep hearing that the OEM pads on the 4th gen are ceramics in the front and semi-metallic in the rear.

Does anyone know for sure?

I've been trying to find out for a week now...

I looked up any and all documentation I could find online.
I called a few dealerships and asked them and used the vin on my Canadian 2005 4Runner V6 Limited to look up if the stock pads were ceramic or semi metallic, no information found.
I also asked if the dealership if the OE replacement pads (sumitomo, made in Japan!) were ceramic or semi-metallic, of the dealerships that answered, the score is - ceramic 2 : semi-metallic 2, so no consensus there. The sumitomo packaging doesn't reference their pad composition and the internal Toyota lookup system doesn't show the pad composition either, so it would be hard for the parts guys to know.

I also asked Toyota over the phone if the factory pads or the Sumitomo pads at the dealership were ceramic or semi-metallic. Toyota said they couldn't find out for me. I am a little surprised Toyota can't even find a way to determine the pad composition of the factory pads that new 4runners came with. I know they document all parts for liability reasons among others.

So I have resurrected this thread.
The truth is out there. I want to believe.

[snowboardwcu]

for the life of me i can't figure out why you guys put so much time into figuring this out. if you hate dust, put ceramics. if you like stopping, use metallics

FWIW, i did the 5th gen swap recently and chose hawk ceramics for the front, ebc semi-metallics for the rear. how i came to that decision: with fronts doing the majority of braking, ceramics and lower dust was a better option for me. however, i do A LOT of stop and go everyday on my commute. i figured having the ebc's in rear would give me a better response for those quick, harder stops i have to occasionally make. only drawback is the ebcs are dirty AF. but she stops like a dream, so no worries with the mix-n-match

[rsco]

Originally Posted by snowboardwcu

for the life of me i can't figure out why you guys put so much time into figuring this out. if you hate dust, put ceramics. if you like stopping, use metallics

My reasoning is as follows.
I have wet cold rotors during the half year it is winter in Canada, many chinooks here as well with salt and slush everywhere. I'm aware that semi-metallic pads have preferred friction properties on cold wet rotors, for me this means they bite sooner where a different pad formulation may need additional time to wipe the rotor surface with a rotor rotation or two and build up a little bit of heat in the process before desirable bite is delivered. This delay is undesirable for me.
With this in mind, my inquiring mind wants to know that Toyota chose from the factory. My 4runner's previous owner had the brakes done on warranty at the dealership, I'll assume the same type of pad was used during the repair.
So, if Toyota equipped the 4runners with semi-metallic pads, I will not choose ceramic pad. If Toyota chose ceramic pads, I would like to know that so I can use that information to compare functionality of one pad type to another for informed decisions in the future. I may have 50 years of driving left in me! I'm trying to learn.
I am strongly leaning towards a semi-metallic pad for my purposes. If toyotas replacement sumitomo pad is semi-metallic, I think I'll buy them. I drive less than 5000 miles per year so these pads should stay with me for many years, might get something optimal for my needs.
I like to tinker and learn as my hobby with my 4Runner and motorcycles so I take the slow and complicated path but I have fun in the process.