i have an 2002 tacoma extra cab v6 with 38,000 miles that just went through its 4th set of brakes in the front while the rears maintain normal wear. the dealer can't seem to figure out whats wrong, i have even had new calipers and roters. this time they never even sqeeked and i happened to notice my brakes barley worked and went it to get them checked and had less than 10% left. what should i expet from toyota. i will add the truck doesn't go off road and has never towed anything.

 

It sounds like your Load Proportioning Valve is out of whack. This is under your bed and varies the rate of rear brake vs. front brake applied. It is designed to ship more braking to the rear when you are hauling loads. You want it set so that the rear locks up just after the front.

 

Yeah, something isn't right here. The dealer needs to start taking drastic action (replacing big parts if they cant figure it out). My 98 Tacoma needed front pads at 40K miles, and it still had 30% left.

Push the dealer harder.

 

You should get 30k easy out of front pads. What mileage did you change the first set? Check to make sure the back brakes are adjusted correctly. Does the ebrake pull out really far? It should only pull out a certain amount of clicks. Thats all I got, not sure what else it could be.

 

Just leave it with the dealer and tell them you don't want it back until it's fixed and make them give you a rental car, something isn't right. Call up the HR people at Toyota if you have to, if you talk to the right people they are very willing to help you out.

Fink

 

the dealer has my car, they gave me a purpal kia rio to drive, they have run presure tests, checked the load porpotioning valve and replaced it once, they say they checked it all and can't figure it out. when i droped it off and waited a hour and a half for the service manager that was supposed to be there he came out and was very rude with me, i now have an open case with toyota corporate because being this will be my fifth set of brakes at 38,000 miles there is a problem. the first set wore out at 12,000 miles and each time after they have lasted less than 10,000. each time i get the truck back they tell me it has been fixed and i has not because i am still going through pads, each time they blame a different part.

what kind of deal do you think i would get on a new truck since i am having these problems. i also have had new air conditioning, rear shock, headlight, water pump, window regulator, side view mirror, and still love toyota's.

 

Try coasting to stop lights and signs...

 

I see a new 2006 Taco or 4Runner in your future. Hardest decision to make is what color you would like. Enjoy!

 

bump.

 

bump.

 

bump.

 

That's a tough one. On the one hand, they can't know if it's fixed till you drive it 10k and see. But then it sucks when it turns out it isn't fixed. How about your driving style? (Hate to ask, but have to.) Do you ride your left foot on the brake pedal? Do you always stomp on the gas then wait till the last minute and stomp on the brakes? Do you live in mountains and ride the brakes down the hills all the time? Stuff like that. It is indeed possible to wear out a set of pads in 10k miles with really bad driving habits.

Assuming that's not it, then whenever I've seen people eating up brakes quickly we look at things like the surface of the rotors (or drums) to see if there is something about it that either would wear down the pads, or to see if it might tell us something by its condition or wear pattern. For disc brakes, I've seen many occasion where improper maintenace (for example) caused the caliper to not want to move back, dragging the pads all the time - once saw a set of HUGE deisel motorhome brakes completely shot at 1500 miles because someone lubed them wrong. Rust on the slide pins or around the seals on the caliper pistons is another one that can cause them to bind and rub and wear prematurely. Perhaps a defective brake line or flex hose, or simply a kink in one, or even a bad master cyl not letting the pressure return to the reservoir.

One would assume your dealership mechanic is looking at all these things, but then again, they can be famous for not paying attention to the problem and just replacing parts...

 

i got it back today with new trd pads, my driving style is normal, no hills, towing, brake riding, they say nothing is wrong that they just ware out fast.

 

I see that you are in Bellevue. Which dealership are you taking it to?

I have had GREAT experience with Auburn Toyota... they figured out the problem with my truck that two other dealerships said was non-existant.

I know its a drive from Bellevue, but in my personal opinion its worth it. I refuse to go to Seattle Toyota as I have had some bad experiences with them. I take the 45 min drive to Auburn whenever I need Toyota Service....

I have a '01 Tacoma, just shy of 50k miles and am just now replacing the pads/shoes. Something is WRONG... you must insist that they will figure out what is wrong... or guarentee your pads for 20,000 miles or something.

Just my $ .02

 

Did you ever get this fixed?

 

i ordered new powerslot rotors to go with trd pads