Tundra Brake Upgrade time?

sirhcx

sirhcx

New member
So Ive had a bit of a sticky piston issue going on with my brakes for the last couple of years thats been just been a small annoyance at most. Well now the Spring is finally well under way, one of my pistons decided to stay stuck until I was able to pull over and mash on the brake. Needless to say, the smoke and the large amount of brake dust is more motivation than I need to finally replace the factory calipers after 235k miles of loyal service.

All that being said, Ive read plenty of the articles on what to do but cant find a solid answer if these rims will work after the upgrade or is it safer to just go with direct replacement?

TRD Off-Road Wheel - 2nd Gen
Part# 42611-AD031 (42611-AD030)
Dimensions: 16x7 +30
0011692_69461_228.jpeg



Im currently running these

4Runner 3-Spoke Wheel
Part# 42611-35140 (42611-35130)
Dimensions: 16x7 +16
0011561_69356A_228.jpeg
 
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the wheels in lower picture wont work and the link that thenightman posted is very valuable.
One thing to keep in mind. The stock spare wheel will not fit the TBU. IF you get a flat in front you have to put spare on back and move back to front. Or carry a spacer to use the stock spare., or some just have spacers on front anyway. Maybe thats not an issue with the 199 caliper....was with the bigger.

My spare is a wheel that will fit, stock 5 star, and I set it up that way not only for the TBU but now I do 5 wheel rotations
 
3bears said:
the wheels in lower picture wont work and the link that thenightman posted is very valuable.
One thing to keep in mind. The stock spare wheel will not fit the TBU. IF you get a flat in front you have to put spare on back and move back to front. Or carry a spacer to use the stock spare., or some just have spacers on front anyway. Maybe thats not an issue with the 199 caliper....was with the bigger.

My spare is a wheel that will fit, stock 5 star, and I set it up that way not only for the TBU but now I do 5 wheel rotations
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up! Guess I'll get my fronts swapped and run mismatched for a week. Oh and already got a 5th 5-spoke for the spare swap as well.
 
I have those 'snowflake' wheels (AD030/31, your first pic) on mine, and while I am running 1" adapters on it now, I did run them without spacers or adapters with the 231mm Tundra brakes earlier on. Everything fits just fine.

And concur with the above, the stock 'double tri-spoke' style wheels will not fit with the larger brakes without a pretty good sized spacer.
 
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JohnMc said:
the stock 'double tri-spoke' style wheels will not fit with the larger brakes without a pretty good sized spacer.
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Do you think a 1.25” spacer would provide enough clearance for the split-spoked wheels?
 
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cl4Rk said:
Do you think a 1.25” spacer would provide enough clearance for the split-spoked wheels?
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Refreshed my memory, all it took for them to fit was a 1/4" spacer (which was a bit iffy in terms of thread engagement with regular lug nuts). So 1.25" spacers - no problem at all.
 
If you are replacing the calipers anyway then 100% agree do the TBU. I also have the Tacoma TRD wheels on my 4Runner and they clear the larger 231mm calipers with no issue. To be honest there's not a whole lot of benefit going to the 199mm calipers since you won't gain extra stopping power.
 
gamefreakgc said:
If you are replacing the calipers anyway then 100% agree do the TBU. I also have the Tacoma TRD wheels on my 4Runner and they clear the larger 231mm calipers with no issue. To be honest there's not a whole lot of benefit going to the 199mm calipers since you won't gain extra stopping power.
Click to expand...
Are you comparing 199mm to stock or 231mm?
 
My brakes sadly has the vibration while heavy braking so I might consider this in the future instead of replacing just the disc and pads. How much would this project cost on average guessing?
 
A few weeks ago I installed the 231mm caliper on my 2000 T4R with no clearance issues. No spacers needed with my new wheels. Replaced the original 15" wheels.
 
I noticed a huge difference in stopping. Go with the 231mm if you can. You won't regret it. Just do some more homework and ask questions so the 231 fits with no issue.
 
Bad Luck said:
Are you comparing 199mm to stock or 231mm?
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The 199mm to stock. The surface area of the pads isn't much more than the stock 4Runner pads. The difference though of the thicker rotor will help with the common warping issue. Going to 231mm increases the surface area of the pads dramatically allowing for shorter stopping distances and helps when towing.
 
gamefreakgc said:
The 199mm to stock. The surface area of the pads isn't much more than the stock 4Runner pads. The difference though of the thicker rotor will help with the common warping issue. Going to 231mm increases the surface area of the pads dramatically allowing for shorter stopping distances and helps when towing.
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I disagree. The 231 brake pad backing plate is bigger than 199 brake pad backing plate, but the brake pad material is very close to the same size between 231 and 199 (at least for OEM pads). You can see the two side by side in this post: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3378920-post1.html The 199 and 231 brake calipers both have the same size pistons. I do think the larger rotors are the biggest advantage to either upgrade.

Side rant: A lot of people complain about a softer pedal, but that's just how hydraulic systems and fluid dynamics function. When you increase the brake caliper piston size you increase the amount of fluid required to move the piston out the same distance as the smaller OEM caliper piston which is why people complain of a softer/lower pedal. In order to keep the same pedal feel/distance you would need to increase the master cylinder piston bore proportionally to the brake caliper piston increase.
 
Bad Luck said:
I disagree. The 231 brake pad backing plate is bigger than 199 brake pad backing plate, but the brake pad material is very close to the same size between 231 and 199 (at least for OEM pads). You can see the two side by side in this post: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3378920-post1.html The 199 and 231 brake calipers both have the same size pistons. I do think the larger rotors are the biggest advantage to either upgrade.

Side rant: A lot of people complain about a softer pedal, but that's just how hydraulic systems and fluid dynamics function. When you increase the brake caliper piston size you increase the amount of fluid required to move the piston out the same distance as the smaller OEM caliper piston which is why people complain of a softer/lower pedal. In order to keep the same pedal feel/distance you would need to increase the master cylinder piston bore proportionally to the brake caliper piston increase.
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I compared my brake pads coming off to the ones that were going on and they are larger. No photo but the pads are both longer and wider. I would have been disappointed if they were the same size! I don't know for sure that the 231mm are bigger vs the 199mm pads, but it would seem rather silly for Toyota to put on bigger calipers with the exact same pad size. I don't know of any advantage of doing that.

I didn't have the soft pedal, maybe mine was already soft to begin with? I have heard of many complaining about it though. These brake lines can also be tricky to bleed, I didn't get a good bleed until I did it with the engine running and I have the old brake booster system, not the brake pump system that was introduced in 2001.
 
gamefreakgc said:
I compared my brake pads coming off to the ones that were going on and they are larger. No photo but the pads are both longer and wider. I would have been disappointed if they were the same size! I don't know for sure that the 231mm are bigger vs the 199mm pads, but it would seem rather silly for Toyota to put on bigger calipers with the exact same pad size. I don't know of any advantage of doing that.

I didn't have the soft pedal, maybe mine was already soft to begin with? I have heard of many complaining about it though. These brake lines can also be tricky to bleed, I didn't get a good bleed until I did it with the engine running and I have the old brake booster system, not the brake pump system that was introduced in 2001.
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My brain must not be working today. I completely misread your very clear first response lol I agree that both 231 and 199 are larger than stock. I've flushed the old brake fluid out, replaced all my lines with braided, then replaced upgraded to 231 mm calipers and rotors and replaced the rear wheel cylinders and shoes. I bled all the brakes key on and even used techstream to activate the abs pump. I don't feel like my brakes are soft or a significantly low pedal like some people claim, but I can definitely tell the difference when I drive a stock 4Runner. Maybe people aren't adjusting their rear drum brakes correctly? Who knows. I definitely see the brake hoses being part of their problem if they are original. I'm glad I didn't get a 01/02. VSC/TRAC sounds like an added headache that I would rather avoid. In hindsight I wish I would have got an SR5 and avoided the multimode transfer case completely.
 
Bad Luck said:
My brain must not be working today. I completely misread your very clear first response lol I agree that both 231 and 199 are larger than stock. I've flushed the old brake fluid out, replaced all my lines with braided, then replaced upgraded to 231 mm calipers and rotors and replaced the rear wheel cylinders and shoes. I bled all the brakes key on and even used techstream to activate the abs pump. I don't feel like my brakes are soft or a significantly low pedal like some people claim, but I can definitely tell the difference when I drive a stock 4Runner. Maybe people aren't adjusting their rear drum brakes correctly? Who knows. I definitely see the brake hoses being part of their problem if they are original. I'm glad I didn't get a 01/02. VSC/TRAC sounds like an added headache that I would rather avoid. In hindsight I wish I would have got an SR5 and avoided the multimode transfer case completely.
Click to expand...

Stainless steel brake lines are the next item on my maintenance list too. I haven't done mine and my brakes are ok, but have a lot of travel compared to other vehicles I drive. Normal for old Toyotas though. At least it's not as long as the clutch pedal travel!
 
To anyone reading: I did the 199mm upgrade 12,000 miles ago and the difference between that and stock is night and day in every respect. NIGHT AND DAY. I dare say the 199mm upgrade won't leave you disappointed at all, unless you're doing severe duty towing, racing your 4Runner around a track, riding your brakes downhill with huge tires, etc.

My brake pedal feel did get softer, but it doesn't matter since the neck-snapping performance of massive stopping power makes up for it. In fact, the softer pedal makes coming to an ultra-smooth stop even easier.

Be sure to use good rotors, OEM pads and do a proper bed-in procedure.
 
Be careful just swapping the fronts if you will have newer tires there! you always want better traction in the rears or you can spin out very easily!

I swapped the fronts temporarily like your plan and totally lost control on an on-ramp. I got very luck as no one was around and there was tons of road space.

New tires go on the rear.
 
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