5th Gen Calipers

You might want to hold off and see what RR Racing releases using a Wilwood Big Brake Kit.

No word on pricing yet but they posted this to the GX Forum:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-1st-gen-2004-2009/875431-ceika-big-brake-kit-anyone.html#post10103926


​​​​​​​

I would say a BBK is well worth the investment. I put the Stoptech ST40 bbk kit onto my 3rd gen and made it feel almost like my RX7 in terms of being able to stop. Although the size difference from the 2wd base model to these were huge. I'm going to transfer this same kit over to my 4th gen. I just have to order new rotor hats for them to fit. I do plan on maybe doing the 5th gen rear calipers after doing some more research. These brakes are way more spongy than my 3rd gen with more mileage but then my brake system has unknown maintenance on it.
 
I wish something like this was a little cheaper:

TR.340.4 TA 4 PISTON FRONT BIG BRAKE KIT fits 2005-2018 TACOMA $1800
https://sosperformance.com/products/tr-dot-340-dot-4-tu-4-piston-front-big-brake-kit-fits-2000-06-toyota-tundra

NjhDOUVERDU5MDU1RDI4MzY3MzY6MWVhNzQyY2JkMDAzZGNhMThmMTdmZjk0YjVlZjQ2N2Y6Ojo6OjA=
 
I've gone through so much BS dealing with brakes lately and coudlnt find any Info for a 4th gen brake upgrade.

Can you confirm you originally had the 319mm rotors on front. Then upgraded calipers and can now use the 338mm rotors? And rears and just direct swap??

Thanks.
 
I put the question out over on 5th gen guys about calipers failing & not to many guys are saying anything about ours failing so.......... something is clearly happening
 
Bought centric calipers and everything. Installed them in August of last year. This morning, horrible steering wheel shake. Pulled over, and long behold, 3 of my pistons on my passenger side are frozen in the extended position.

I'm calling centric to complain, clearly these calipers should at least last a year, and under 10,000 miles.
 
Just installed 5th gen centric calipers yesterday. Let's see how long they last. Not feeling confident with these new posts.
 
I wish something like this was a little cheaper:

TR.340.4 TA 4 PISTON FRONT BIG BRAKE KIT fits 2005-2018 TACOMA $1800
https://sosperformance.com/products/tr-dot-340-dot-4-tu-4-piston-front-big-brake-kit-fits-2000-06-toyota-tundra

NjhDOUVERDU5MDU1RDI4MzY3MzY6MWVhNzQyY2JkMDAzZGNhMThmMTdmZjk0YjVlZjQ2N2Y6Ojo6OjA=

If you add up the price of new oem 5th gen calipers/pads/rotors/ss lines it pretty much comes out to this price. I don't know much about stop tech, but I'd just be concerned about their durability and longevity vs new oem Toyota components...
 
Whatever

Did full Centric 5th gen upgrade. Bought from CarID.

Met a forum member here and saved quite a bit of money. My biggest omplaint are that the Calipers rusted immediately and now look like crap. Functionally, there are some noises and squeaks but the car stops a whole lot better.
 
Napa calipers made it to Alaska and I installed them in about 2 hours. Bled them using a water bottle until no bubbles came out. Bed in the new Akebonos and happy to report no evidence of warped rotors.

Probably could use another bleed at some point as my experience tells me that the fronts are an absolute royal PAIN IN THE ASS to bleed. May also get lazy and just have the dealer do it.

Castings appear to be identical to Centric. We will see how the internals hold up. Another user on here reported NAPA seizures so this could be a reoccurring job.

Lifetime warranty so I really don’t care since it won’t cost anything.
 
Napa calipers made it to Alaska and I installed them in about 2 hours. Bled them using a water bottle until no bubbles came out. Bed in the new Akebonos and happy to report no evidence of warped rotors.

Probably could use another bleed at some point as my experience tells me that the fronts are an absolute royal PAIN IN THE ASS to bleed. May also get lazy and just have the dealer do it.

Castings appear to be identical to Centric. We will see how the internals hold up. Another user on here reported NAPA seizures so this could be a reoccurring job.

Lifetime warranty so I really don’t care since it won’t cost anything.


The annoying this is that this happens and you have to buy new brake pads at the minimum. I'm stuck buying new pads and a rotor for one side. Ended up finding some OEM ones off ebay from a wrecked 4runner. Got both of them for 180 shipped.

Might order the Napa ones to have as backups since I didn't have to turn in cores. I always have a shop bleed my brakes after I'm done. I've bleed them so many times now, that I just literally can't do as good of a job in one time as a machine can. I don't have the patience for it.

Sad to say, I'd easily spend 1,000 to know that my calipers would never freeze up again. I'm living in the OBX of North Carolina right now....salt and sand everywhere. These calipers lasted me all of 8 months
 
The annoying this is that this happens and you have to buy new brake pads at the minimum. I'm stuck buying new pads and a rotor for one side. Ended up finding some OEM ones off ebay from a wrecked 4runner. Got both of them for 180 shipped.



Might order the Napa ones to have as backups since I didn't have to turn in cores. I always have a shop bleed my brakes after I'm done. I've bleed them so many times now, that I just literally can't do as good of a job in one time as a machine can. I don't have the patience for it.



Sad to say, I'd easily spend 1,000 to know that my calipers would never freeze up again. I'm living in the OBX of North Carolina right now....salt and sand everywhere. These calipers lasted me all of 8 months



I’m with you on this one. I picked up the Napa Eclipse with a lifetime warranty. Would rather not have to use it, but after the last pair seized, I will be pulling my pads at least once a year (maybe every 6 months), just to check and make sure they ain’t seized. They put down anti-ice chems here in the Pacific Northwest and it corrodes a lot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My thoughts on why these calipers seize is for one brake fluid is hydroscopic, meaning it readily adsorbs mositure/water from the air and I would be curious if those that are having this issue often is flushing the brake fluid when installing new calipers(?), if not this maybe the problem and also if anyone has removed/inspected any of the seized pistons to see where they're corroded at causing them to seize, is it on the inside of the piston bore or around the outside where the caliper casing, piston meet and behind the rubber dust boot, if inside the bore, then I would think it's water contaminated fluid, inside the rubber boot then water is getting passed the boot, in this case I would try and get some brake grease behind the boot where the piston and caliper casing meet on any new caliper I install.

If everyone would try and find out where the seizing is happening maybe we could figure out how to stop it, either as mentioned grease at the piston/casing jucture or flushing the old brake fluid when installing new calipers and maybe every 6 months or doing both the grease and flushing.

I just can't fathom that there isn't a cure for this issue.

I haven't had this issue "yet" and hope I never do, but if I do I will get to the bottom of where the seizing is happening and come up with a cure for it one way or another!!
 
Just replaced mine. I looked closely and the front caliper pistons were rusting pretty badly, all around the edges and in the center. I don't have a compressor so I might not be able to get the pistons out easily to check the outside of the piston, but none of them were seized. Putting together notes to post, along with images.
 
My thoughts on why these calipers seize is for one brake fluid is hydroscopic, meaning it readily adsorbs mositure/water from the air and I would be curious if those that are having this issue often is flushing the brake fluid when installing new calipers(?), if not this maybe the problem and also if anyone has removed/inspected any of the seized pistons to see where they're corroded at causing them to seize, is it on the inside of the piston bore or around the outside where the caliper casing, piston meet and behind the rubber dust boot, if inside the bore, then I would think it's water contaminated fluid, inside the rubber boot then water is getting passed the boot, in this case I would try and get some brake grease behind the boot where the piston and caliper casing meet on any new caliper I install.

If everyone would try and find out where the seizing is happening maybe we could figure out how to stop it, either as mentioned grease at the piston/casing jucture or flushing the old brake fluid when installing new calipers and maybe every 6 months or doing both the grease and flushing.

I just can't fathom that there isn't a cure for this issue.

I haven't had this issue "yet" and hope I never do, but if I do I will get to the bottom of where the seizing is happening and come up with a cure for it one way or another!!



I plan on doing a brake fluid flush every 30k, so we’ll see if that helps. I’ve had mine flushed regularly and the lower inner pistons have seized on 2 pairs now, so not totally convinced that a more aggressive flush cycle will fix it, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Last pair lasted me 3 years before they seized (well, that’s when I noticed it anyway). Could it be that corrosion is entering from the outside? I noticed a lot of rust on my last pair.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My thoughts on why these calipers seize is for one brake fluid is hydroscopic, meaning it readily adsorbs mositure/water from the air and I would be curious if those that are having this issue often is flushing the brake fluid when installing new calipers(?), if not this maybe the problem and also if anyone has removed/inspected any of the seized pistons to see where they're corroded at causing them to seize, is it on the inside of the piston bore or around the outside where the caliper casing, piston meet and behind the rubber dust boot, if inside the bore, then I would think it's water contaminated fluid, inside the rubber boot then water is getting passed the boot, in this case I would try and get some brake grease behind the boot where the piston and caliper casing meet on any new caliper I install.

If everyone would try and find out where the seizing is happening maybe we could figure out how to stop it, either as mentioned grease at the piston/casing jucture or flushing the old brake fluid when installing new calipers and maybe every 6 months or doing both the grease and flushing.

I just can't fathom that there isn't a cure for this issue.

I haven't had this issue "yet" and hope I never do, but if I do I will get to the bottom of where the seizing is happening and come up with a cure for it one way or another!!
So I tried to post this question over on 5th gen but being the stuckup mofos no one posted if their calipers had any failures . As a matter of fact I haven't seen anyone post about any failures with so.. you might be on to something ! :deadhorse::frusty:
 
It seems that some 5th gens are having issues, but most of them seem to be
in areas with a lot of snow and salt on the roads.

See this thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...5th-gen-brake-calipers-doing.html#post2014498

The consensus so far seems to be that 5th gen calipers sometimes seize, but it's not necessarily common. One poster wrote that aluminum calipers with steel pistons plus salt = battery... so of course you'll have problems. :keyboard:

One plausible theory. I'm not sure what the material of caliper/pistons are, maybe someone can chime in.

My thoughts on why these calipers seize is for one brake fluid is hydroscopic, meaning it readily adsorbs mositure/water from the air and I would be curious if those that are having this issue often is flushing the brake fluid when installing new calipers(?), if not this maybe the problem and also if anyone has removed/inspected any of the seized pistons to see where they're corroded at causing them to seize, is it on the inside of the piston bore or around the outside where the caliper casing, piston meet and behind the rubber dust boot, if inside the bore, then I would think it's water contaminated fluid, inside the rubber boot then water is getting passed the boot, in this case I would try and get some brake grease behind the boot where the piston and caliper casing meet on any new caliper I install.

If everyone would try and find out where the seizing is happening maybe we could figure out how to stop it, either as mentioned grease at the piston/casing jucture or flushing the old brake fluid when installing new calipers and maybe every 6 months or doing both the grease and flushing.

I just can't fathom that there isn't a cure for this issue.

I haven't had this issue "yet" and hope I never do, but if I do I will get to the bottom of where the seizing is happening and come up with a cure for it one way or another!!

Here are some photos I took when I went to change my front pads (saw the rust and that they were seized) and photos taken right before they were taken off for the new hardware. Pretty crusty.

Forget the rust on the caliper, note the rust on the piston rings. Yikes.
YW21hJ2l.jpg


Crustastic. What a mess.
iVyEPukl.jpg


Nothing like new hardware!
YfGDh40l.jpg


So yes, I do believe in preventive maintenance, someone mentioned (in another thread, I can't find it) that it wouldn't be a bad idea to inspect them every 6 months clean out any road "debris/gunk/etc" (between the pads and the piston) and lube the sliding pins. Of course, most of us would but the majority of owners would never.
 
Last edited:
So I tried to post this question over on 5th gen but being the stuckup mofos no one posted if their calipers had any failures . As a matter of fact I haven't seen anyone post about any failures with so.. you might be on to something ! :deadhorse::frusty:

The other take on that is they're still running relatively low time/low mileage/new calipers so they're not seeing it yet.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
278,310
Messages
3,554,077
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top