I have a 2003 Corolla made in Japan and I need to replace the front pads and rotors. Is there a difference in brake parts from a Japanese made Corolla and one made in the USA?
Thanks.
by 2003Toy, April 21, 2010
I have a 2003 Corolla made in Japan and I need to replace the front pads and rotors. Is there a difference in brake parts from a Japanese made Corolla and one made in the USA?
Thanks.
How do you know it was built in Japan?
The VIN number begins with a J. Plus it has a sticker on the driver side door from stating "Made In Japan".
Nope. The OEM pad kits have the same P/N for J-VIN (Japan), 2T-VIN (Canada), and 1N-VIN (USA) made Corollas. Same with the calipers, but rotor numbers are harder to pin down (for some reason, there are a couple of numbers - but nothing specifically pointing to where the car is made at). Fortunately, they are all the same size - 10.825in or 275mm in diameter. Since the bolt patterns are the same and the swept area is the same (pad and caliper dictated), there should be no difference in this part regardless of where the Corolla is made, as long as they are intended for the North American market.
My recommendation is to replace the OEM rotor with a Brembo blank. I've done this to both my Corolla and Matrix, coupled with a high performance street pad (Hawk HPS or Porterfield R4S) and have been immensely satified with the result. I know on the Corolla (8th gen) - Brembo seems to be the OEM manufacturer of the rotor, as the stamping is identical to the Toyota OEM. Buying from a retailer that sells Brembos instead of buying through the dealership - saved me quite a bundle in money for exactly the same rotor.
Nope. The OEM pad kits have the same P/N for J-VIN (Japan), 2T-VIN (Canada), and 1N-VIN (USA) made Corollas. Same with the calipers, but rotor numbers are harder to pin down (for some reason, there are a couple of numbers - but nothing specifically pointing to where the car is made at). Fortunately, they are all the same size - 10.825in or 275mm in diameter. Since the bolt patterns are the same and the swept area is the same (pad and caliper dictated), there should be no difference in this part regardless of where the Corolla is made, as long as they are intended for the North American market.
My recommendation is to replace the OEM rotor with a Brembo blank. I've done this to both my Corolla and Matrix, coupled with a high performance street pad (Hawk HPS or Porterfield R4S) and have been immensely satified with the result. I know on the Corolla (8th gen) - Brembo seems to be the OEM manufacturer of the rotor, as the stamping is identical to the Toyota OEM. Buying from a retailer that sells Brembos instead of buying through the dealership - saved me quite a bundle in money for exactly the same rotor.
Thanks for the info. This is what I needed to know. I will look at Rockauto for pads and rotors since they have good prices even with shipping included.
The Brembo rotors and pads are expensive for my budget but if I could afford them...
Thanks Again.
I'd shop around for the plain, vented Bremo rotors - you can find them for a very good deal. Some places charge a huge premium for the Brembo name, but for their OEM style rotors - pretty inexpensive.
On the Corolla, I got a set from Tirerack.com for about $32 each. The Matrix, I got from the same place for about $56 each. Pads, Toyota OEM, would have run be about $35-$45 a set. I opted to get Hawk HPS - runs about $70-$90 a set, little more expensive, but the brake feel is greatly improved. Been running those and Porterfields for several years, actually hard to get used to OEM style pads.
I tend to shy away from house brands and really inexpensive rotors - though every once and a while you'll get a good set. If they make a big deal of being D3EA compliant - I'd be wary. That only means that the rotors meet minimum federal specs for performance.
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