1996_Valencia_Owen
Banned
^Such a nasty woman.
Brakes - Why do they suck so bad!
- Thread starter Jdholder
- Start date
Jetboy
New member
Your 4runner has larger brakes than your excursion.... it stops a LOT BETTER. The feel is indirect. It's a consequence of a more complex breaking system. More than probably any sports car too. Because it does more complex things than a sports car brakes. Has to be to allow things like crawl control to work.
I don’t have Crawl Control.
Excursion rotor size is exactly the same as 4Runner. And swept area is same. Now, I’ll admit the Excursion was twice as heavy, but the pedal feel was significantly better in the Excursion. Anyway - different beast I know.
Seems that there isn’t a solution for the soft pedal feel. A shame. I’ll live with it.
Thanks for the input.
Jhalko
New member
Um, I’ve found that if someone thinks every one else is the problem they should perhaps do some reflection of themselves.
:kiss:
Good luck with your brake problem.
Yeah, not everybody. But certainly a few. My bad.
WhiteBoomer04
New member
(I have had my 4R since new, in 04).
I've always thought the brakes were lacking in the 4Runner. Not the performance so much as the feel. I did install SS braided lines and it made some improvement to the feel, possibly response too, but hard to quantify.
Now I'm on 37's, so I drive very conservatively because its takes more to pull up my heavy rolling beast.
I've always thought the brakes were lacking in the 4Runner. Not the performance so much as the feel. I did install SS braided lines and it made some improvement to the feel, possibly response too, but hard to quantify.
Now I'm on 37's, so I drive very conservatively because its takes more to pull up my heavy rolling beast.
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DesertCanyons
New member
Soft break pedal II
So many people giving you a hard time... I think it's because they've all heard this before, many times.
But you'd think they could spell too and brakes right... I'm not picking on anyone. I see this nearly every time someone writes the word, "brakes". And if you're trying to save keystrokes by abbreviating too, just use a 2. I'm just having fun here. Don't take it the wrong way.
:bash:
No, the T4R doesn't stop fast. I've driven an Excursion a few times recently and that big behemoth is a pig. It barely goes down my driveway.
I've locked up the brakes in City traffic before and mine stutters and chirps like it's not sure it wants to work, but it stops in time, every time (so far, so good). Not sure what the rapid vibration is but people have told me that's the ABS working. I do believe I've gotten it to skid once or twice though, something ABS is supposed to eliminate.
If the T4R stopped any faster the nose dive would throw you out of your seat.
:
Take your soft pedal out on a long flat road and getting it going 60 mph. At a marked location, hit the brakes hard and see how many feet it takes to stop. Compare that to the specified stopping distance. What is it, 132 feet?
So many people giving you a hard time... I think it's because they've all heard this before, many times.
But you'd think they could spell too and brakes right... I'm not picking on anyone. I see this nearly every time someone writes the word, "brakes". And if you're trying to save keystrokes by abbreviating too, just use a 2. I'm just having fun here. Don't take it the wrong way.
:bash:
No, the T4R doesn't stop fast. I've driven an Excursion a few times recently and that big behemoth is a pig. It barely goes down my driveway.
I've locked up the brakes in City traffic before and mine stutters and chirps like it's not sure it wants to work, but it stops in time, every time (so far, so good). Not sure what the rapid vibration is but people have told me that's the ABS working. I do believe I've gotten it to skid once or twice though, something ABS is supposed to eliminate.
If the T4R stopped any faster the nose dive would throw you out of your seat.
:Take your soft pedal out on a long flat road and getting it going 60 mph. At a marked location, hit the brakes hard and see how many feet it takes to stop. Compare that to the specified stopping distance. What is it, 132 feet?
Jetboy
New member
127 feet for the 4runner. 167 for a 2005 excursion. Grand Cherokee is 122. For comparison I think the best ever recorded by motor trend was 90 feet from a Corvette. Most super cars are around 100.
The feel is the same as a LC200 and a Lexus rx350. I drove all three today. It's how Toyota programs it. The feel is all synthetic. So it's just something to get used to. Brake lines or upgraded rotors and pads won't change it. If it feels different from other toyotas there may be something wrong with your 4runner.
The feel is the same as a LC200 and a Lexus rx350. I drove all three today. It's how Toyota programs it. The feel is all synthetic. So it's just something to get used to. Brake lines or upgraded rotors and pads won't change it. If it feels different from other toyotas there may be something wrong with your 4runner.
borfoo3
New member
Toyota brakes have always felt spongy. Its just how they are set up.
Our 2017 Land Cruiser (LC200) had spongy feeling brakes, so does my brother's 2015 LC Prado. I did SS brake lines on my 4Runner with new pads and didn't help the feel.
Stopping performance has always been good though and that's what counts.
4RunnerAquasport
Senior Member
I put some Power Stop pads and rotors on awhile back. They feel better and stop pretty damn quick. Of course this is subjective with no stopping distance data comparison. But at 5980 lbs (cat scale), I have not once been disappointed.
I was driving NC mountain roads last fall and really pushed them. I did feel a little fade and could smell them getting really hot on one steep curving grade, but being a flatlander, I was a bit out of my element. I was being unsafe for such a heavy truck and learned my lesson. I have noticed a quick pump or two helps firm up the pedal. But when I have had to panic stop, they worked fine. The Power Stops aren't cheap, but they help with my piece of mind. Good luck OP.
I was driving NC mountain roads last fall and really pushed them. I did feel a little fade and could smell them getting really hot on one steep curving grade, but being a flatlander, I was a bit out of my element. I was being unsafe for such a heavy truck and learned my lesson. I have noticed a quick pump or two helps firm up the pedal. But when I have had to panic stop, they worked fine. The Power Stops aren't cheap, but they help with my piece of mind. Good luck OP.
1996_Valencia_Owen
Banned
In other words, the exact opposite feeling as special snowflake OP.
Is any more evidence needed that subjective whining sucks more than 4Runner brakes?:boxer:
Is any more evidence needed that subjective whining sucks more than 4Runner brakes?:boxer:
jrandom
New member
Yeah but I bet you have ATRAC and ABS. Have you looked at your brake master cylinder? It is a spaghetti bowl of hydraulics/solenoids.
You are speaking apple and oranges when comparing this brake system to really any other. Particularly anything that is manual or partial assist.
While I tend to agree the pedal is certainly spongy, it is 97% predictable, even in panic stops. The least predictable, and this is not all the time, I find is doing slow light brake stop, you will feel the pedal sink slightly as you near a complete stop.
EDIT:EDIT: oh and BTW if you say something sucks without empirical evidence, your are going to get lip back, from a bunch of folks. So you should consider what you said to incite the "trolling" before you start calling folks out. Just sayin'
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DesertCanyons
New member
Stopping distance
My Corvette stops in 89 feet... But where can I put the bike rack? :happy:
Good info, thanks for posting. My 1995 Jeep GC always felt like it wouldn't stop. It took a long distance to stop so you had to drive accordingly. It had disc brakes all around. I drove that car for nearly 20 years and never hit anything.
I've been driving a 2018 Ford Excursion Limited for work lately. We use that and a Tahoe to get up to mountain sites with gear and people. The Tahoe has 4WD. Not sure if the Excursion comes with it but the one we had didn't. These are rentals so "they can go anywhere". :tape:
The Excursion is full of gadgets and electronics. None of it is intuitive to operate, IMHO. When these start to fail someday it will be a classic "fix or repair daily" (FORD). That's why I like my simple T4R.
My Corvette stops in 89 feet... But where can I put the bike rack? :happy:
Good info, thanks for posting. My 1995 Jeep GC always felt like it wouldn't stop. It took a long distance to stop so you had to drive accordingly. It had disc brakes all around. I drove that car for nearly 20 years and never hit anything.
I've been driving a 2018 Ford Excursion Limited for work lately. We use that and a Tahoe to get up to mountain sites with gear and people. The Tahoe has 4WD. Not sure if the Excursion comes with it but the one we had didn't. These are rentals so "they can go anywhere". :tape:
The Excursion is full of gadgets and electronics. None of it is intuitive to operate, IMHO. When these start to fail someday it will be a classic "fix or repair daily" (FORD). That's why I like my simple T4R.
c10bonanza
Member
I think you mean WITHOUT empirical evidence. Or perhaps you meant with ANECDOTAL evidence.
Yes, my headline was dramatic. Designed to gain attention. But so far there are no solutions to how bad the pedal sucks. One would think that Toyota being this technical giant, designing a complex braking system that allows for all of these different off-road modes and technical wizardry, could also design a pedal that actually inspires confidence through linear feel.
But alas apparently they can’t. And the Toyota apologists appear in full force.
By the way, I know it can be done, many of my cars have full traction control, launch control, ABS and incredible brake pedal feel. Apparently Toyota just decided it wasn’t important on this truck.
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comtn4x4
Senior Member
I notice you're driving a less than stock vehicle. I'm pretty sure Toyota designed the performance of it's vehicles around a specific stock set of parameters. The modifications you (And most of us) have added have numerous and wildly varying affects. The additional weight, wind resistance, rolling resistance, and height that you have modified your vehicle with are affecting that "stock" performance. Each of us has our own breaking point when it comes to the attributes of the 4Runner. Yours appears to be the breaking. I encourage you to find a solution to this problem and post it for the rest of us.
Until then allow more breaking distance or switch to a different platform.
Until then allow more breaking distance or switch to a different platform.
That’s why I was asking the intelligencia of this site, to see if a solution had been found and documented - so I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. I like this platform.
comtn4x4
Senior Member
I'll venture to speak for everyone on this site. I may get roasted for it. "We" as a whole like this platform also. However, what most don't like is pitching a turd Ford or trash talking Toyota.
