4th Gen Average Longevity of Front Brakes

[gaslight]

You can get ceramics from Toyota?

I was told today by NAPA that the OEM pads are ceramic. If you go to some websites like Tirerack.com they will also tell you that the OEM is ceramic and are suggested by Toyota.

I have 60k on mine and most of the pads look ok except one. A few weeks ago when I flushed my brake system I noticed the the passenger side front outside pad was real low. I knew I would have to replace it soon. Something happened in the past month that caused that pad to wear down real quick. Right now its metal on metal with no pad material in between. I think that pad was getting stuck and rubbing quite a bit while I was driving. There was plenty of brake dust. I knew something was wrong one morning when I started to drive and I could hear a rubbing noise.
I am going to pick up the cheapest ceramic pads I can just to put something on there because it has really chewed up the rotor. I need to buy a little time until the new slotted rotors I ordered come in. Tomorrow I will try to find out why that one and only pad wore down completely. When the new rotors come in I will put on new ceramic pads on the front end.

 

[gaslight]

Now after experiencing how much of a pain it is to remove those pins from the caliper I recommend you soak them for a while in PB Blaster and then swing away with a hammer and punch. After you beat the snot out of them you are better off having bought new pins. You can get a set of 4 for less than $10 at Napa. The old ones get real rusty and stuck in the caliper.
We are not the only ones with this problem. On a Tundra forum I read of many others having problems with those pins. They are actually called caliper housing bolts if you want to find them at NAPA.