The OEM front pads are a composite ceramic material - should be pretty quiet compared to anything you can get aftermarket. Organic would definitely be "softer" - but you'd loose some high temperature stability and overall dusting resistance.

That said, I'm surprised that you found the drums to be out of round. Drums are pretty tough to distort like that, takes a very specific set of conditions to do that. Did they happen to mention by how much they were egg'd out? Even if you drove a lengthy highway commute with the parking brake engaged - unless the rear end was immediately quenched in ice cold water at the end, they will still be perfectly round.

Turning down rotors are the same way - did they mention how much run out they measured? Factory specs do allow for some surface refinishing, removing the tiniest bit of material to allow a new pad to properly transfer some of its material to the rotor face, to ensure a even transfer layer for proper braking action.

With pretty much any rotor out there, if it is warped enough that it has to be turned down to get back into spec - you are way further ahead if you just outright replace them. The different between a brand new rotor and one that is too thin is on the order of a couple of mm of material. Depending on how badly "warped " the rotor is, they can easily get that rotor too thin (still outside the minimum thickness, but now much easier to warp again - especially if they don't get the surface finish correct).

On my 8th gen, even with the typical treatment, eg. rotor scored, turn down 0.060" - then fast cut at 0.002"-0.008" to get the correct RA - if I did that to a brand new rotor, I've just shortened it life by half.

Assuming they put on new OEM pads - there really isn't a big procedure to bed those in - just drive normally, avoiding abrupt and lengthy high-speed stops. Those pads are already pre-sintered, so they bed in almost immediately.

But much of this is also dependent on the rotor face finish. If the shop didn't get the right surface finish - usually referred to as roughness average (RA) - in the approved range (usually between 40 to 80 microinches) - then the pad bedding process can be disrupted. For RA, lower numbers usually preferable - I personally shoot for 50-60 with a ceramic or organic pad, lower for a more aggressive one - but anything lower than 20-30 - basically just grinding material, no need to go that rough. Problem is - you cannot visually tell the difference between 40 or 80.

I have to assume that they used the OEM pads and installed the pads correctly. That leaves just the work they did on the rotor. If the finish RA is off or if they didn't cut enough material or removed too much material - you'll get weird braking behavior - like excessive noise, squealing, hard braking, inconsistent braking, pulling, etc.

I'm assuming that they used the machine that turns the rotor on the vehicle itself:

- advantage is that it is pretty goof-proof, as it trues itself to the vehicle

- disadvantage, the tech has to be 100% that the other components, like the hub, are all inside of spec - otherwise everything will be off

Probably better off with the replacement rotors - hopefully they will spot you the cost of new pads and discount the rotors as they get more messed up when they turned them down.

As for pushing the caliper back when installing new pads - on Toyota's ABS setup, be a non-issue. You will not damage the system, little different than some other setups out there. Just treat it like a non-ABS system.

OEM rotors are likely sourced from Centric or Brembo. OEM can be pretty pricey, unless they give you preferential pricing. Centric plain, vented rotors - might run between $80-$90 a piece. More of less, depending on where you get them.

Last time I got one of those Powerstop kits - front and rear rotors, ceramic pads, all hardware included for around $200 shipped. Not super aggressive pad material, just a touch harder than OEM, so not much of an adjustment to driving compared to something like a Hawk HPS or Porterfield HPS performance pad.

Yup, can't hurt to ping on their boss. Some of these young-bloods are straight out of school and think they know everything there is to know about working on cars. Occasionally you'll run into one that is on point and is quite good at explaining what needs to be done now, what can wait, and why.

Yeah, Toyota ABS is a non-issue so far. I should point out that this assumes that you regularly flush out the brakes systems, to limit the likelihood of fluid contamination. For most people - this shouldn't be an option - in your case, since the car is so new - should be a non-issue as well. If the brake fluid is highly contaminated - there is a chance that some of that debris will be pushed into the ABS pump/valving and cause them to stick or otherwise take damage. Some systems are more sensitive than others to this debris - from what I've seen, Toyota setups are pretty forgiving compared to other makes.

Granted, the bleeder option mentioned as the "right" way to do it. Though there are some articles that actually say not to crack open the bleeder before pressing in the caliper. Two reasons: 1, there is no guarantee that the fluid displaced by the caliper will only exit via the bleeder, some might make its way "upstream" which sort of defeats the purpose of cracking the bleeder in the first place. 2, you run the risk of introducing air to the system. Meaning spongy brakes if they don't bleed the brakes afterwards. Tech has to spend more time on the braking system.

Either way won't really matter if you plan on flushing the brakes afterwards - as for typical usage - but the time you burn through brake lining, the brake fluid is probably up to be flushed.

I've done all of mine (ABS equipped) by just shoving the piston back slowly. So far - zero issues with ABS (knock on wood).

Awesome! Glad to hear that did right to you in the end. In a perfect world, should have been done the right way the first time, but at least they owned up on the work and made it right.