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Brakes And Rotors

by Bull6791, May 4, 2015



Are there any brakes and rotors out there that are better than the TOYOTA OEM. I know the TOYOTA OEM brakes are are supposed to be excellent but I just wanted to see if there was any brakes and rotors that were even better then TOYOYA OEM.

THANKS

Yes, there are.

Dom

What would they be.

As far as non-drilled/slotted rotors go, Monkey Wrench Racing swears by Centric's Premium rotors... For best stopping performance, EBC aramid fiber based Yellowstuff and Hawk ferro-carbon based HPS brake pads:

http://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/index.php?cPath=182_302&osCsid=kc3jjb9iri5tobp816sug9f943

Centric offers an ever better Cryogenically Treated Premium rotor.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=2029730&cc=1432915&jnid=547&jpid=12

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1432915&parttype=1896

For better pad and rotor life, as well as reduced dust, Akebono Pro-ACT Ultra Premium Ceramic pads would be hard to beat, although I'd do just fine with $10 closeout ceramic pads.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1432915&parttype=1684

Depends on your definition of "better".

What are you looking for, more aggressive braking? Less brake dusting? Quieter brakes? Longer lifespan? Something you want to add to the existing brake system (ie, keep everything OEM sized) or are you looking at big brake kits or rotor upgrades?

There is a number of discussion on this forum that touch on those points. Just do a quick search and see what other owners like to run on their cars and why.

Fish

I always wanted to try the HAWK HPS. I just do not know if they are good for my daily driver car.

Another one I heard that was good is AKEBONO PROACT. Advics are also supposed to be good.

I like the rotors that came with my 05 Corolla when it was new. I just do not know who made them.

I can't make up my mind between BREMBRO BLANKS and CENTRIC PREMIUM rotors

Fish have you ever tried ADVICS rotors. I was wondering how good they were.

Thanks.

If want to try them - then the best way to find out is to actually try them out on your car. You can read thousands of reviews online, but unless you put them on your car, you won't know what they will be like for you. Everybody's experience is slightly different - usually due to how the pads/rotors are broken in and what driving conditions they are exposed to.

Hawk HPS are compounded as a street pad. So they will work well both hot and cold. Their bite is different than the OEM composite pad, so if you are not used to it - may be hard to modulate the brakes at first. Some owners don't like them at all - depends on the driver's personal preference.

As for OEM brake pads - Toyotas use a number of manufacturers, including Centric, Akebono, and ADVICS. OEM Rotors are either Brembo or Centric, though I believe it was more likely Brembo for 8th gen and Centric for 9th gen - just looking at the castings.

In any case, Brembo blanks and Centric premium rotors are pretty equivalent - both are well made and generally priced better than OEM. I've run Centric/PowerStop pads and rotors and Brembo rotors on all my cars. No issues whatsoever. I personally like Hawk pads, but my wife doesn't like them (higher initial bite, lots of dust, squealing when cold) - so she gets Centric/PowerStop pads.

Never tried ADVICS - but word on the internet is that they are actually repackaged Brembo rotors, though visually to me, they look a lot like Centric premium rotors.

Bottom line - couldn't go wrong with any of those brands you have listed - all are well known and found to be of good quality.

Fish

I agree with you I should put the HAWK HPS on and give them a try. My fear is when I put them on I will not like them for same reasons your wife does not like them and also I am not used to them.

Fish I used TOYOTA OEM before and really liked them.

You said your wife gets centric/ stop tech pads.

How are stop tech pads. I never used them.

Thanks.

Given what you just posted - the Hawk HPS will likely a bad choice for you. If you are happy the way OEM pads work, then the braking feel you'll get with the HPS may not be your liking.

Some owners get used to driving one vehicle, almost exclusively. Because of this, even mild variations in the car's driving behavior can be troublesome. I'm used to driving a number of different vehicles for both personal and work reason, so I don't really get bothered too much if the vehicle drives significantly different than whichever vehicle I have at the time as my daily driver.

StopTech and PowerStop are part of the Centric corporation. Friction material, especially in the ceramic composite, is pretty close between the three. If I had to place them in any order, I'd have to say that StopTech would be the most aggressive of the three, then PowerStop, then Centric - for pad bite. This also indicates how they perform, in terms of dusting and squealing - StopTech tends to dust more and occasionally squeal, compared to PowerStop - which dusts slightly more to about the same as Centric, and is pretty quiet for the most part.

Nothing beats the OEM pad for dusting and noise - but you will trade some braking performance in the process. Since most people aren't running their car's hard enough to push the brakes to their thermal limits - most will never see the added performance potential of these aftermarket pads. That's why something like Akebono and Centric premium are so popular - they provide O.E. like performance with an aftermarket part.

Before you get too far down this path - be a good idea to see what is already on the car. For this generation, Toyota had two main OE suppliers. One made a surprisingly decent performance pad, the other is your basic OEM pad. You can tell if your car has the "better" OEM part by looking at the color of the backing plate on the pad - if it is green, its the higher performance ceramic composite. If it is black - then it is just the basic organic ceramic composite brake pad. Reason I add this, many with the green-painted pad got the black-painted pad as a dealership installed replacement and hated the pad and resulting braking performance. Those with the basic black-painted pad that got "upgraded" with the green-painted pad found that their braking performance was surprisingly good compared to the previous pads.

Not sure if Toyota replaced them all with one or the other, or if they changed suppliers and painted all the backing plates one color of the other. But know this was still the case with both of my Matrix generations - the green-painted backing plate was a just a great pad. I'd actually prefer that than buy a comparably setup aftermarket - but since I couldn't find any in the short time I needed pads, I opted to get PowerStop pads on the car.

Fish

04465-02070 This is the part number for the Toyota green brakes I know of. We're these the brakes you were referring to that we're good.

If these brakes are good I will use them.

I am guessing since these are TOYOTA pads use TOYOTA rotors.

That part number covered both green and black painted backing plates, Toyota sold both under the same part's number. You'll have to get the box in your hand and see what color the backing plate is. If they are green - you are good to go. Note that the black painted is still good - but for the money, I'd pick an aftermarket pad in that case.

Again, this is also assuming that the current vendor isn't just painting them one color or another (though it is an unlikely scenario). Unfortunately, both pads are pre-burnished and chamfered - so you can't really tell which friction material is better just from looking at the friction side. Not sure if country of manufacturer will help, as I've seen the green painted backing plates made in both the US and Japan, same part's number.

Just ask the parts counter person - see if they can pull up a set and have you look at them.

Fish

I think i will try the centric/power stop set up you

Use. You said it worked good for you.

How was your experience with akebono proact and what rotors did you use with it.

Thank.

You are free to try anything you want - though I'm not sure why you want to try something else as you seem to be pretty happy about the OEM setup and have reservations about any changes in car behavior.

Have used Akebono on another Honda I used to have. Rotors were the OEM rotors. Setup was OK (think it was the plain OE ceramic replacement pad, not their performance ceramic), braking was a lot smoother than OEM, but braking distances were significantly longer than I expected for given pedal pressure. Basically it meant that I had to step on the brakes harder than before. No big deal, just that adjustment I mentioned before with any braking component change.

Fish

Since the TOYOTA green brakes are better than the black I will have to see at the dealer if I can get the GREEN brakes or not.



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