Upgraded front brakes, NOT the Tundra mod and it's awesome.

Remember guys, the rotors aren't actually warping. What is instead happening, is that a glaze is being built up during heavy braking, and then the vehicle is parked prior to the glaze drying in a uniform pattern on the rotor.

A great way to reduce or prevent this effect, is to properly bed the brakes, and then be gentle on brakes for about 10 minutes prior to parking the vehicle. This happens all the time to track cars in between sessions.

In the 4x4 world it happens to most rigs after they come down a mountain pass or steep incline.
 
experienced this as well. when traveling downhill, i could feel the brake pedal to be pulsating so i inspected the oem rotors and found a lot of teeny weeny block dots and could feel them as very small bumps. so i decided to manually sand my rotors to remove the black dots which were easily removed.

Remember guys, the rotors aren't actually warping. What is instead happening, is that a glaze is being built up during heavy braking, and then the vehicle is parked prior to the glaze drying in a uniform pattern on the rotor.

A great way to reduce or prevent this effect, is to properly bed the brakes, and then be gentle on brakes for about 10 minutes prior to parking the vehicle. This happens all the time to track cars in between sessions.
 
This can definitely happen, but that's not what happened to me. I have spent a lot of time on a race track and am very familiar with proper bedding procedures. I tried to re-bed my brakes when I first bought my 4Runner that had warped rotors... nothing happened except the vibration got worse as rotors heated up (as expected if there is warpage). Then when I installed new brembo blanks I bed those in right away and it was fine for 9 months... then the warpage started to come and I re-bed again just in case it was pad material and again it just got worse as rotors got hot.

I wish I had a setup to measure rotor runout...

Also, if it truly was pad material left on the rotor then the TBU folks would still be reporting brake vibration. But you almost never see that.
It's not always possible to re-bed "warped" (since I lack a better word for improper distribution of glaze) brakes. The below articles touch on this, and further explains why rotors aren't warping the way most folks think they are.

One source

Another

Yet another
 
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This can definitely happen, but that's not what happened to me. I have spent a lot of time on a race track and am very familiar with proper bedding procedures. I tried to re-bed my brakes when I first bought my 4Runner that had warped rotors... nothing happened except the vibration got worse as rotors heated up (as expected if there is warpage). Then when I installed new brembo blanks I bed those in right away and it was fine for 9 months... then the warpage started to come and I re-bed again just in case it was pad material and again it just got worse as rotors got hot.

I wish I had a setup to measure rotor runout...

Also, if it truly was pad material left on the rotor then the TBU folks would still be reporting brake vibration. But you almost never see that.
Just a guess but maybe because the tundra rotors are thicker and can disapate heat better while the 4runnee routes are this and heat soak quicker.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Remember guys, the rotors aren't actually warping. What is instead happening, is that a glaze is being built up during heavy braking, and then the vehicle is parked prior to the glaze drying in a uniform pattern on the rotor.

A great way to reduce or prevent this effect, is to properly bed the brakes, and then be gentle on brakes for about 10 minutes prior to parking the vehicle. This happens all the time to track cars in between sessions.

I used to have this problem a lot on an Inifini that I used to own. When it would build up a lot, I would go out to a parking lot, put it in reverse, slam on the gas and build a little speed. Then I would slam on the breaks and it would take a lot of the glaze off.

I do mountain driving in my 4Runner and don't have any issues with the breaks. However, I am getting ready to buy a trailer and will upgrading to the TBU at that time.
 
I never considered the brake upgrade as a Canadian driver along the I-20 checked my brakes at 80 MPH to a 20 MPH or even less within 3-4 meters (9-12 feet) and I am impressed with stock toyota brakes. The 4runner came to a steady almost stop after he checked my brakes. Also worth noting the shifter automatically shifted to N position: Probably a safety thing?

This dumb animal with Ontario plates was behind an 18 wheeler uphill on the right lane, I was on the left lane doing 80 uphill. His 4 cylinder Accord pulled right in front of me at about 50 MPH. I assumed he was trying to pass the 18 wheeler but NO! he slowed down and I had 80 MPH still. He probably saw me behind him getting closer, he slammed the brakes right on! So did I. Glad no other car was behind me at that time. All my family members were at sleep with seat belts on!

Kudos to Toyota and Hell to that Canadian Driver.
 
Modern rotors don't warp, but it is possible to have an issue with runout, either at the caliper or hub, that creates the same pulsing while braking phenomena. That is not the typical cause of most brake-related concerns today, however, it is a distinct possibility when using cheap rotors or having them installed improperly; including wheel installation (pattern and torque).

I agree with and practice engine braking as opposed to riding the brakes, even in an automatic, yes, and I often pop OD off to slow the truck in traffic or just on the street. Long downhill descents and I will use 2nd gear and sometimes 1st to keep my brakes cool and available. I miss having a manual shift but I don't miss clutching in LA traffic.

Bedding brakes is pretty important, just like properly breaking in rear end gears (pardon the pun) but nobody seems to advise or pay attention to how to property break in brake pads and everyone complains that their brakes are burning!

Personally I feel the 13" factory 4runner brakes are good enough for my driving needs. I'm not jumping on the TBU bandwagon, but red calipers are in my future coz bling bling baby.

This is a great topic of conversation
 
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Modern rotors don't warp, but it is possible to have an issue with runout, either at the caliper or hub, that creates the same pulsing while braking phenomena. That is not the typical cause of brake-related concerns today, however.

I agree with and practice engine braking as opposed to riding the brakes, even in an automatic, yes, and I often pop OD off to slow the truck in traffic or just on the street. Long downhill descents and I will use 2nd gear and sometimes 1st to keep my brakes cool and available. I miss having a manual shift but I don't miss clutching in LA traffic.

Bedding brakes is pretty important, just like properly breaking in rear end gears (pardon the pun) but nobody seems to advise or pay attention to how to property break in brake pads and everyone complains that their brakes are burning!

Personally I feel the 13" factory 4runner brakes are good enough for my driving needs. I'm not jumping on the TBU bandwagon, but red calipers are in my future coz bling bling baby.

This is a great topic of conversation
Agree 100% with everything said here.
 
It's not always possible to re-bed "warped" (since I lack a better word for improper distribution of glaze) brakes. The below articles touch on this, and further explains why rotors aren't warping the way most folks think they are.

One source

Another

Yet another

I read the articles and I'm open to the idea of 3rd gen T4Rs not having "warped" rotors. What I find true is that there are extremely few cases of people having brake vibration issues that went TBU and still have vibration issues.

The other reason I love my TBU is that stopping distance got way better.
 
I read the articles and I'm open to the idea of 3rd gen T4Rs not having "warped" rotors. What I find true is that there are extremely few cases of people having brake vibration issues that went TBU and still have vibration issues.

The other reason I love my TBU is that stopping distance got way better.
Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that the TBU tutorial has a fantastic bedding-in procedure right on the front page. TBU's are also generally installed by enthusiasts who understand how important proper mounting, installation, and driving habits are.

All this being said, I'm not sure I would do a TBU again, if I were to buy another 3rd gen. I admittedly got a little spooked reading just how it affects the vehicles ABS system. That, and I was never unimpressed with stock rotors and pads. Where I think some folks run into issues is with cheap, aftermarket pads mated up to old rotors. That's a recipe for pedal vibration.
 
I don't have experience with high quality aftermarket rotors but I would advise everyone to stay away from low-buck non-OEM rotors. Over the years I have tried the cheapies and always found they didn't last as long as OEMs. This is on Toyotas and Hondas. My understanding is the cheapies are made of different steel compositions in different countries than OEM and don't handle the heat cycling as well, thereby resulting in the shuddering feeling common during highway exit speed decel.

Bottom line, buy OEM Toyota or $$ upgrades.
 
Where I think some folks run into issues is with cheap, aftermarket pads mated up to old rotors. That's a recipe for pedal vibration.

This has been my thoughts. My all OEM (and original) are great. I've often suspected it is aftermarket that people have problems with.
 
If I had to do it again, I'd still go ahead with the TBU as I've been quite happy with the results. When I pulled the trigger though, I was already looking at a new set of everything essentially, so the only real significant difference in cost between replacing with OEM spec and going to the 231 TBU was the cost of the calipers. I also just happened to finish off the whole shabang with a new pedal cover (part # 47121-12011). Also agree with the worn out pads and rotors contributing to pedal vibration, since that was certainly the case for me before.
 

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