Beartracker

I'm in Clay County WV and thats in south central part of the state. You will see more Tacoma's on the old mining and logging roads around here then you will on a large Toyota sales lot,Lol. Lots of Bear runners and coon hunters around here. Yea I know, sounds like a bunch of hill-Billy's but we are just good old Boy's having fun in our way.
When it comes to building lights into your bumper I'm lost. There are tons of ideas on here and other sites if you do a search or you can go to the Hella site and look at there lights.
After my brakes are done I want to ad some fog lights cut into the bumper. It's just a matter of money now. Want to loan me a couple a hundred??, Lol Mike

mkgarrison5

you can mount them in the holes in the black part of the bumper man. just gotta figure out which ones will work without cutting. look at the hella ff75's and see what you think....... we go bear hunting on the coast here in NC throught swamp sh$t... it gets bad but its fun and yeah a lot of yotas and jacked up chevys!

Beartracker

Just wanted everyone to know that I got my pads and rotors at 5:00 pm today by UPS. That was great service ! I just ordered these two days ago and it was free shipping too. My mechanic will probably not get to them until next week. I'll let you know how it goes and how I like them. Mike
PS By the way, The out side of the box that the Hawk pads came in says "Low dust pads". We will see...

mkgarrison5

yeah keep us posted.. ill be shopping for brakes by summer.. thanks mike!!

mwc951

And we got the best shine money can buy!

Beartracker

White lighten, old Blue by my side and a corn fed broad is the only way to go on a Saturday night,Lol. Aint got much to do with brakes but it sure can put a "stop" to loneliness. Mike

mikehinthehouse

I have the brembos solids and ceramics put them on in January... all was well until last week they are now warped again?????

Beartracker

It sounds to me like you have another problem there besides the rotors and the brakes.One thing I can say here and keep in mind that "I'm no expert" but one thing Hawk does say is that they do not make or they do not suggest ceramic brake pads. They are to hard on the rotors is my understanding.
They stop you real well but not without a price in wear to the rotors. Even at that I can't believe that there is any reason for your rotors to go bad that fast unless there is something else wrong, Mike

VR23

Oh thats great....now I'm really stuck what to . I've been dealing with the vibrating dash since I got the truck 70K ago (almost undriveable coming down hills). I've been following the forum for all the brembo/tundra/what pad to use recommendations and was leaning to the brembo solids and akebono ceramics. Now I read this and am not sure what to do.

With all the issues with the 4runner rotor warping, this forum really needs a definitive writeup under the tech byline as to what to do. Something that works, either the Tundra upgrade or a rotor/pad combination that will solve the problem in most cases (yes I know that each vehicle is different). There have been so many posts on this forum about this one issue its tough to figure out which way to go.

BTW, I appreciate all the info on this site and sorry about the bit of a rant for my first post.

mikehinthehouse

I dont know if it is my driving style or what... I do alot of city stop and go.... I am a lil dissappointed ive heard others with nothing but good to say about this set up... dunno what im gona do... guess just save up and do the tundra upgrade

CJM

Toyota rotors are to soft, I highly dislike them. Not to mention they cost a buttload. I say they are soft b/c even the rotors I have gotten form napa lasted longer.

The brakes yota uses are actually very hard, I know this b/c they use the same compositions for most of thier pads. My camry had 75K on a set of pads and they barely showed much wear, same with my friends truck.

The combination of softer rotors and hard pads=no good.

Ceramic pads are to hard imho, less dust means less pad wear which means harder material. Combined that with a soft yota rotor and oh well..

Brembo is a proven name, people dont alaways agree with each other on whats best. But brembo been around a long, long time and is used by many people who do drag and auto x that I know, the rotors are trashed after about 20k but the stress, heat and friction involved in some are amazing. Parts store rotors may be fine for some, not everyone.

I have found hawk brand pads or baer are the two best, thus far I have done my truck and it had ceramic pads on it and yota rotors and it stopped much better. In theory you want a softer pad and a harder rotor, softer pad bites the rotor better and harder rotor doesnt warp.

Beartracker

Your right, this stuff can turn your head in circles from different opinions. If you do as much research and ask as many questions as I have it will help you reach an answer. Opinions are just that and nothing more but talking to mechanics who do this stuff everyday and see and hear it all is the one I'm going to trust. Also most of the guy's on sites like this will give you an honest answer from there experiences. Most agree that ceramic is not the way to go for most instances just like slotted or drilled rotors are not the way to go if your going off road. If you go to this link it may give you some better insight info about the whole brake thing, Mike
http://www.raceshopper.com/tech.shtml

Beartracker

It could be just a jinx like i had with a Chev. 3/4 ton ,4x4 suburban. Bought it new and ordered what I wanted right from the plant and it cost me a small fortune. Then I had it raised , a 12,000 waren winch and lots of other goodies. Every 6 months I replaced the brakes and went through 3 transmissions. My buddy had an older model Suburbon and never had any problems at all. Lasted him many years. They never did figure out what was wrong with the brakes orr the tranny problem.I know this don't help you but your not alone, Mike

VR23

Thanks for the reply Bear. I now have two questions. First off, for the Hawk pads everyone talks about, are they referring to the "HPS" or the "LTS" pads?

Secondly, for the Tundra upgrade (to the 199's) does anything have to be done with the brake line or can I simply swap in new rotors (Brembo), Tundra (199) calipers with pads and be done? No other fiddling or changing parts? I have the 16 wheels btw.

Beartracker

As for the Hawk pads my 2001 Tacoma 4x4 calls for the "SKU pads". You can buy some really heavy duty pads for a few bucks more but I wasn't paying attention as usual and ordered the next ones down. They sure look heavy duty to me!,Lol.
As for the Tundra rotors I can only tell you what I have read. I'm sure some of the guy's on here can tell you all you need to know but it's my understanding that you need at least 17" rims for the rotors to fit. Mike

mikehinthehouse

I hope its not "jinxed" iim gonna get my rear brakes checked.. somewhere on here or on another yota forum I read that someone else was having the vibrating issue and it was in the rear brakes... i hope this is what the problem is... hopes very much considering I just put all that money in the front brakes!!!!

Beartracker

Mike, Sure hope you git it fixed without costing to much. I hate to say this but if the front is doing the shaking then I'm betting it has something to do with the front rotors or brakes. It could also be many other things besides brakes.Mike

mkgarrison5

so bear, how do you like your brakes so far? you said you have to have atleast a 17 inch rim to get brembos?? correct me if i am wrong.

Beartracker

My mechanic is going to put my rotors and brakes on tomorrow morning. At least thats the plan right now. We do allot of favors for each other and is not going to charge me for doing it but he has a couple of jobs he has to finish up first.
Someone asked about me about converting his Tacoma to the Tundra rotors and brakes and he only has 16" rims. I told him that I thought he needed at least 17" rims for the Tundra setup to fit and that I was not sure about that because I'm no expert on that setup. Mike

mkgarrison5

oh ok mike, gotcha.... let us now how the new brakes work out. i have about 30% left on my OEM brakes.. i may not need rotors this time around (atleast i hope not)