231mm Tundra Brake Upgrade, 16" - 3 split spoke wheel

[Brian1973]

I do some towing of a 3000lb boat/trailer and am going to upgrade brakes soon as I'm getting the vibration now... I'd rather go with the bigger pads of the 231mm (insert Tim the ToolMan grunts!). I have read some through the forums and looked through this article: Gen 3 Toyota 4Runner Tundra Brake Swap: Off-Road.com

I see some ppl swear off spacers... My tire shop says spacers would be the easiest thing to do and they don't see why spacers would be any problem... seems the lugs are long enough to deal with a 5mm spacer per that article.... grinding doesn't bother me either (will do all 4 plus spare that is also split spoke)... will just take truck in after done with the job and have them rebalance all the tires...

Some input?

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Sounds like a good plan to me, with one suggestion and one question...

Suggestion, from what I have read... Replacing the front studs with a set from the rear gives you extra length for an extra thread or two. I have only read this, so confirm for yourself.

Question, to tag along with your thread (for you and/or for others)... I have considered doing the wheel-grind option when/if doing this mod in the future. I only wonder about wheel balancing issues afterwards. If you are careful when you do it, I don't see a big problem, but I also don't balance wheels. If the surface grinding is not done professionally, is it most probably going to turn out fine and plenty easy to balance; or, would it be very easy, even for a very carefully done home-job, to completely screw up a set of wheels?

 

[USMC0351]

I could be mistaken, but I was asking about doing the 231 TBU with the factory 3 spokes awhile back, and IIRC you can grind away part of the calipers for a fit. Again, I could be incorrect, but I'm fairly sure and this would prevent any balance issues with wheels

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

I could be mistaken, but I was asking about doing the 231 TBU with the factory 3 spokes awhile back, and IIRC you can grind away part of the calipers for a fit. Again, I could be incorrect, but I'm fairly sure and this would prevent any balance issues with wheels

I've heard of that route too. Grinding off some of the caliper surface makes me really uneasy! What are the thoughts from others?

 

[USMC0351]

I think it was only about 1/4", and I'd rather do that than remove metal from the wheels (just sounds like a weak point). If so, after a little rough grinding it could be smoothed out, and some anti-corrosion measures taken ie: paint. I haven't done the TBU so I'm not the expert so other opinions would be more valuable.

 

[JayRolla]

People always say tire spacers cause more wear on ball joints and other suspension components but then they run a coil with a top out spacer that causes more damage than any wheel spacer would. I run 1.25" spacer up front and dont have any issues. You can run a 5mm like stated to clear the rim. Do what ever you feel more comfortable with.

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Good points Jay.

Personally, when I get to this mod, I think the easiest and safest route is to put the longer rear wheel studs up front and then add a 5mm spacer.

 

[afg10000]

x2 JayRolla - Spacers ($100). Super brakes. done. Plus, I think the truck looks a little better if you have the Limited flares and spacers. I would buy different wheels before grinding mine down -

 

[Supermoney]

I've grinded down some caliper on my Audi so I can fit bigger brakes and so have tons of others on all sorts of platforms, I wouldn't be worried about taking some off if you need to fit your wheels.

 

[Brian1973]

Grinding the caliper sounds like a more reasonable answer than wheels... guess I will see when I get to the job...

I would guess there wouldn't be that big of structural integrity issue with grinding the wheels the little bit that is required. Keep in mind doing all 5 of your wheels though since you may swap them around or one day need to use your spare!!! I would think if you have an easy going tire shop that knows what you've done, they may just take a grinder to the back of the wheel themselves if you have really thrown the balance out of whack to get it closer to correct.... or so they don't have to clip a 1 lb weight to one side of your rim... haha I'm no tire balancer but the fact that the grinding is done toward the inner part of the radius of the wheel as opposed to the outer probably also makes it less likely that you will destroy your wheel???

Here's what I've found for anyone that wants to add to it... the bolt on thicker spacers are available on Amazon for about $80 (w/free shipping) for TWO.... I see 1" and 1.25"... saw on one of the other posts someone said they used 1.25" and this type of spacer comes with the wheel studs you will need... couple questions I'd have about this route are:

1) is the 1.25" needed to compensate for the current wheel studs as opposed to the 1"? Seems you bolt this type of spacer on and would imagine the current studs can not be protruding past the spacer

2) Maybe this is silly and I may be thinking waaaaay too much into this, but what about front end alignments? don't they rely on your wheels being the same distance apart on the back axle as they do on the front???

Now, if you go the 0.25" spacer I have heard some get those from $10-$20 (I think that is a 2pc set?)... Autozone sells the rear studs for about $3/pc.. sooooo, 6 studs per wheel = $18. So it looks like the 1-1.25" spacers run ya about $40/wheel and the 0.25" spacer job costs ya about $25/wheel...

Grinding caliper cost ya a few minutes of time I would guess so I may try that route first before opting to continue to spend money

 

[JayRolla]

Grinding the caliper sounds like a more reasonable answer than wheels... guess I will see when I get to the job...

I would guess there wouldn't be that big of structural integrity issue with grinding the wheels the little bit that is required. Keep in mind doing all 5 of your wheels though since you may swap them around or one day need to use your spare!!! I would think if you have an easy going tire shop that knows what you've done, they may just take a grinder to the back of the wheel themselves if you have really thrown the balance out of whack to get it closer to correct.... or so they don't have to clip a 1 lb weight to one side of your rim... haha I'm no tire balancer but the fact that the grinding is done toward the inner part of the radius of the wheel as opposed to the outer probably also makes it less likely that you will destroy your wheel???

Here's what I've found for anyone that wants to add to it... the bolt on thicker spacers are available on Amazon for about $80 (w/free shipping) for TWO.... I see 1" and 1.25"... saw on one of the other posts someone said they used 1.25" and this type of spacer comes with the wheel studs you will need... couple questions I'd have about this route are:

1) is the 1.25" needed to compensate for the current wheel studs as opposed to the 1"? Seems you bolt this type of spacer on and would imagine the current studs can not be protruding past the spacer

2) Maybe this is silly and I may be thinking waaaaay too much into this, but what about front end alignments? don't they rely on your wheels being the same distance apart on the back axle as they do on the front???

Now, if you go the 0.25" spacer I have heard some get those from $10-$20 (I think that is a 2pc set?)... Autozone sells the rear studs for about $3/pc.. sooooo, 6 studs per wheel = $18. So it looks like the 1-1.25" spacers run ya about $40/wheel and the 0.25" spacer job costs ya about $25/wheel...

Grinding caliper cost ya a few minutes of time I would guess so I may try that route first before opting to continue to spend money

Whatever spacer you run make sure it's hub centric.

 

[denvermaxd]

Grinding the caliper sounds like a more reasonable answer than wheels... guess I will see when I get to the job...
...
Here's what I've found for anyone that wants to add to it... the bolt on thicker spacers are available on Amazon for about $80 (w/free shipping) for TWO.... I see 1" and 1.25"... saw on one of the other posts someone said they used 1.25" and this type of spacer comes with the wheel studs you will need... couple questions I'd have about this route are:

1) is the 1.25" needed to compensate for the current wheel studs as opposed to the 1"? Seems you bolt this type of spacer on and would imagine the current studs can not be protruding past the spacer

2) Maybe this is silly and I may be thinking waaaaay too much into this, but what about front end alignments? don't they rely on your wheels being the same distance apart on the back axle as they do on the front???

Now, if you go the 0.25" spacer I have heard some get those from $10-$20 (I think that is a 2pc set?)... Autozone sells the rear studs for about $3/pc.. sooooo, 6 studs per wheel = $18. So it looks like the 1-1.25" spacers run ya about $40/wheel and the 0.25" spacer job costs ya about $25/wheel...

Grinding caliper cost ya a few minutes of time I would guess so I may try that route first before opting to continue to spend money

What did you end up doing? I'm facing the exact same dilemma right now. I've got all the parts for the 231mm Tundra upgrade, and can't decide whether to:

• grind
• buy 1.25" hubcentric spacers
• new studs + 1/4" 'shim' spacers

 

[quackerhacker]

I know this thread is old, but since I just created my account today...I figured I'd contribute back to the community. I'm able to run 16" Tacoma rims off a 2012 on my 3rd gen and the tundra calipers clear fine. Although I'll have to change the way the rims are balanced to complete the upgrade (see how close the weights are in the pic).