whats this business about over extending the master cylinder? I did my front brakes today, new discs and pads, and I completely flushed out the fluid with new ate stuff, and I push it down all the way when I bleed them and they seem to work fine. Also when I do my MR2 pads, which is often, I press down all the way.

 

I've read in quite a few places that using the pedal bleeding method has the risk of damaging the seal on the master cylender as it can easily be forced beyond it's normal limit. The problem is what lies beyond it's normal limit may be rough from contaminants or corrosion thereby scratching the seal. You can buy a power bleeder but I just use a Mason jar, some tubing and a shop vac

I have, however never bled my brakes after replacing front pads either.

 

I've abandoned my desire to upgrade my brakes via the Tundra route (too many $$ at the moment) and figure this was the most appropriate thread for the following. I have now decided to go with the blank Brembo rotors and new pads for the front. I'm in BC and the cost of these rotors is almost $100 ea. I wanted to go for the Performance Friction Landcruiser pads, but can't find them offerred anywhere. In response, the supplier offerred the following and I'm curious as to what the best route to go is;

1)PBR metallic
2)Apex Kevlar
3)Raybestos Ceramic
4)OEM Toyota pads

The Ceramics were the most expensive quoted (~$10 higher than the others)and I don't have a price on the yota pads. I would appreciate any comments from other users who have experiences with any of these.

 

Flushing whenever you do a brake job is not a bad idea. It is recommended to do it every 30,000 miles as one of the brake fluids jobs is to "collect" condensation in the system.

I have always just done it every brake job as this is what I got used to with motorcycles. I usually siphon out the old fluid from the reservoir, fill it with new fluid and start bleeding.

For some reason I have always used speedbleeders on all my vehicles but never got around to installing them on the Taco, so have either had to use the two-man or powerbleeder methods.

A good write-up on why you should change the brake fluid can be found here.