Well, i've bitten the bullet and i'm going to do a full brake upgrade.

Up front, i've ordered Tundra Brembo Rotors (plain face) from tirerack for $112 shipped.

I'll match up some OEM front pads from trdparts4u (about $60) along with some remanufactured calipers (199mm) from autozone ($140). the rear 4runner shoes (1999) and tundra 199mm front pads (for a 2001) were $109.61 online, shipped from strap22 on yotatech (phil at toyotapartsales.com).

2001 Tundra Remanufactured Calipers from Autozone (two)
2001 Tundra Brembo Rotors from Tirerack (two)
2001 Tundra OEM Pads (199mm) from a dealer (one set)
2001 Tundra Brake Pad Retaining Pins from a dealer (4)

In the rear, I'm just putting OEM shoes from trdparts4u and a sonoran steel stainless brake line. while I have the drums off, I'll have them resurfaced and clean everything up. the rears are the original set of shoes, and still have lots of material left, but that's really due to the lack of function for quite some time. I've had some pretty bad brake performance fade and i just discovered that i have a leaky rear seal on the passenger side. I'll swap both seals out while i'm doing the brakes.

Update 1:

I called the local advance. they can get them in tomorrow morning, they will price match autozone at $69.99 each + $50 core (instead of $85 each), and i can return them to any store for the core credit. price is $153.28 after core refund.


The total upgrade price will be $375 for everything except the stainless lines, including all shipping, core refunds, etc. That's OEM reman calipers w/ a lifetime warranty, new rear OEM shoes, new front OEM pads, and brembo blank rotors - a serious upgrade over stock runner stuff.

The total to just get new front rotors, pads, & rear shoes would be about $225. For $150 upgrade on the calipers, I get better, non-fading, more powerful brakes. Not bad at all.

I'll have the calipers tomorrow, then the shoes/pads, and rotors hopefully by monday. I'll probably pull the fronts and swap calipers this weekend, bleed them out, and swap suspension stuff around, then next week all I'll have to do is put on the rotors and pads and go for a drive.

Update 2:

ok, done...

I have pics, but i left the camera at home, so they'll have to get uploaded later. i started at about 8:30 or so last night and got into bed at 5 after 1. ufff. that's hard on an old man.

I pulled the calipers and took some good comparison shots. The calipers on my 99 limited were stamped S13WM and the 199mm tundra calipers are S12WE. They are the exact same dimensions in every aspect except for the inner "void" where the pads rest. On the tundra caliper, that void is about 1/4" larger to accomodate the wider rotor. The rotors are halla beefy and really nice. The tundra pads have a lot more surface area for friction as well. I didn't even have to trim the dust shield since they are the same size as my OEM calipers. I got everything on and had a BIG problem - contact between the wheels and calipers! I had to clearance the highspots on the caliper closest to the hub, but that was really nothing w/ a variable speed grinder and a 80-grip paper wheel. I touched up the clearanced spots w/ some flat black just to protect it from rust. I bled everything out, then moved to the rears.... uff. The driver side was OK, and I just cleaned and adjusted it. On the passenger side - it was a different story. I not only had a rear seal leak that has coated everything in 75W90, but i also have a rear caliper piston dust boot that's squirting fluid. that means that i have a leak at that piston! arrrrgh! I guess I'll be changing the rears soon too. Now i'm glad that i didn't get those $$$$ shoes from the dealer. Anyway, I got things cleaned up to decent shape and put everything back together and went for a drive.

WOW!

Very nice! my front rotors were in bad shape and grooved, but the stopping power has NEVER been this good, even w/ OEM 4runner pads and stock resurfaced rotors. I'd say that over new stock stuff, the stopping power has increased at least 20% and probably more like 30%. over the performance that i was having w/ my crappy rotors - well over 50% increase. before i had to put the pedal to the floor to stop with any force at all. now all I have to do is tap it to about 30-40% and it will stop on a dime!

overall, I was going to have to replace pads and rotors anyway, so the extra $200 for new calipers that allowed me to upgrade to thicker rotors and pads w/ more surface area was WELL SPENT!


Update 3:

pics...


























Update 4:

(from Fingers' old thread)...

4.7" pads = D812 = 199mm calipers = 2000~early 2003.
5.3" pads = D976 = 231mm calipers = late 2003~present plus front brake TSB changes.







In my opinion, the BEST pads are OEM - no doubt. the other "raybestos" type long-life pads typically last quite a while, but they chew up your rotors.

Why do you think midas can do a lifetime brake pad job for $50 or something crazy cheap? it's cause you have to go in and have your rotors resurfaced ever 6 months (paying about $25-$40 each) just to keep them from vibrating and squealing. that takes life out of the rotors and the pads actually wear them down more cause the pads are extremely hard compared to the soft rotors that they sell. You'll weat out a set of rotors in a couple years, then to keep your "lifetime brakes" in good standing, you have to get rotors from them at about $250 a set. Then the snowball continues down that hill...

There's a reason for hard metal rotors and soft non-metallic pads. My OEM rotors have lasted 154k miles and still have life. It's on it's second set of pads with plenty of life. there's not may aftermarket brands you could say that about...