All New Brakes... And They Suck!

Dark Runner

Dark Runner

New member
So I just rolled over 130,000 miles and it was time to give the runner some new brakes. About 3k miles ago I replaced the rear brakes (shoes and drums) with Wagner Thermoquiets when I had to replace my differential. Yesterday I decided to replace the front pads and rotors with Wagner Thermoquiet pads and Wagner rotors. I've been told by almost everyone in the automotive business that Wagner was the best aftermarket brake company and that a lot of auto part stores have discontinued Brembo because Wagner is so good.
I, however, beg to differ. These Wagners suck! Now, first of all, I would like to point out that I have a very heavy foot and as a result of that, I have to brake pretty hard more often than the average driver. After having the new brakes on for about 5 hours, and thinking they were fine thus far, I began slowing down from 70mph while exiting the highway and as I got to down to about 50mph my brakes turned into mush. When i finally came to a stop, not only could I smell burning brakes, but I could see smoke coming from both of them. Now in all my years of owning Toyotas (a Camry, a Tacoma and my 4Runner) I have never had an overheating issue with any of them which is making me consider returning the Wagners and spending the extra arm and leg to get the OEM Denso pads and rotors.
So finally here's my questions:
-Does anyone know of a possible better solution?
-Is there a place/website that I could find the OEM Denso brakes cheaper?
-Is there something I could have done wrong while installing them?
-Could I possibly need new calipers?
 
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Dark Runner said:
So I just rolled over 130,000 miles and it was time to give the runner some new brakes. About 3k miles ago I replaced the rear brakes (shoes and drums) with Wagner Thermoquiets when I had to replace my differential. Yesterday I decided to replace the front pads and rotors with Wagner Thermoquiet pads and Wagner rotors. I've been told by almost everyone in the automotive business that Wagner was the best aftermarket brake company and that a lot of auto part stores have discontinued Brembo because Wagner is so good.
I, however, beg to differ. These Wagners suck! Now, first of all, I would like to point out that I have a very heavy foot and as a result of that, I have to brake pretty hard more often than the average driver. After having the new brakes on for about 5 hours, and thinking they were fine thus far, I began slowing down from 70mph while exiting the highway and as I got to down to about 50mph my brakes turned into mush. When i finally came to a stop, not only could I smell burning brakes, but I could see smoke coming from both of them. Now in all my years of owning Toyotas (a Camry, a Tacoma and my 4Runner) I have never had an overheating issue with any of them which is making me consider returning the Wagners and spending the extra arm and leg to get the OEM Denso pads and rotors.
So finally here's my questions:
-Does anyone know of a possible better solution?
-Is there a place/website that I could find the OEM Denso brakes cheaper?
-Is there something I could have done wrong while installing them?
-Could I possibly need new calipers?
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Bring the wagners back, if you complain im sure that they will take them back. Try brembo they always seem to make great brakes. idk about the oem stuff.
 
It sounds like the brakes weren't bedded in properly, and have glazed over. I know there's some debate as to whether or not you need to bed your pads in, but having worked in the automotive repair field for the past six years, I can definitely say from personal experience that it makes a huge difference.

It also isn't uncommon for brake pads to smoke and fade during initial use. How hard did you push them before this incident? How do they feel now that it happened?

I generally start out with several moderate (but not HARD) stops from 30mph without coming to a complete stop (avoid coming to a complete stop, as this will basically cook the pads on the rotor). After that, I do a few moderate stops from higher speeds (45-70mph) then drive around braking as lightly as possible to allow the brakes to cool. This allows the pad and rotor to seat together properly and should keep the brakes working properly and noise free for quite awhile. You do have to be careful not to overheat the rotors/drums during the break in or you'll be replacing them/having them turned (especially with performance pads-- yep I've made that expensive mistake before).

Check your rotors out- are they blue or blue-ish gold in color? If so, they've been overheated and glazed. I'd suggest replacing them as well as the pads, or having the rotors turned and scuffing the pads if you can't get the store to warranty the parts.
 
and FWIW, aftermarket brake parts are a crapshoot, I've never really been too impressed with Wagner.
 
Yes, I think you got some good advice above. Properly bedding new brakes is often overlooked by guys who do the job themselves. You don't need to kill your brakes to bed them properly. IMO, the best way to bed them is to make a series of moderate stops back-to-back about six times from a speed of about 45 MPH. Some guys like to vary the speed, but keeping it consistent has always worked fine for me.

BTW, Wagner does make very high quality brakes and rotors. Raybestos is another good company with good brakes stuff. Both of those companies are also OEM supplies to major car companies.
 
Thank you all for all the advice! I did bed the brakes. Ive discovered that for some reason, on toyotas, if you dont do it properly they click when you brake in reverse. I guess the part I can't figure out is why they overheat so bad compared to stock rotors
 
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