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Toyota Tacoma brake upgrade

Posted by on December 11, 2014

Upgrading the Tacoma’s brakes

If there is one complaint I have with my Toyota Tacoma, it would have to be the brakes. Over the 3 years and 60,000 miles I have driven my 95 Tacoma, I have replaced the front calibers twice, rebuilt the rear drums twice, and have installed new front pads and rotors no less than 3 times. I know of, and even tried, the Tundra front brake upgrade for the truck.  But the offset of my current wheels did not clear the larger calipers, so I took the grinder to the calibers and while I thought I had outsmarted the problem, a week after the upgrade, brake fluid began to seep out of the caliper bodies. I had taken a little too much off the caliper walls. I went back to the original Tacoma rotors and calipers.

Tacoma brake upgrade

The front brakes on the Tacoma take a good amount of abuse from the extra weight of the truck, mud and such.


I could purchase and install wheel spacers. But that would push the tires even more out past the fenders. I could purchase new wheels with a different offset. But that’s more money than I want to spend. Currently we here at Augie’s Adventures are in the maintain phase of the 20 year old truck with plans to acquire a brand new Tacoma in the next year and retire the old beast.
However, the warped front rotors could not be dismissed any longer. With each push on the brake pedal the truck would come to a pulsating stop. I needed an alternative to the OEM, I did not feel like putting the same stuff on and have them wear down and warp in a matter of a few trips.

The Trips

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In all fairness to the Toyota engineers, it may just be the little bit of extra weight I have added to the Tacoma that is partly the cause of the early death of the brakes. With the added weight of the bumpers, skid plates and larger tires the empty truck weights in at 4,000 pounds compared to the factory delivered curb weight of 3400 pounds. Now fill the bed of the truck with my “let’s go fishing, kayaking, hunting and camping stuff” and you can quickly see the brakes are getting a workout.

Tacoma brake upgrade
I found the possible solution at rock auto.com in the form of severe-duty brake pads and slotted and drilled rotors from Powerstop. The cost of the extreme truck and tow braking system from Powerstop was very reasonable at $128.00 from rockauto.com

Tacoma brake upgrade

A simple few tools are needed for a brake job.

Tacoma brake upgrade

The slotted and drilled rotors should greatly help with dispersing the heat and eliminate warping.

The install is the same as with any other brake pad and rotor job. Nothing too complicated, take out the old and slide in the new. The whole job took me just under two hours doing the work in the parking lot of my apartment using the highlift jack on the rock rails to jack up the truck.

Tacoma brake upgrade

Not the recommended way to lift the truck to replace the brakes, but it worked for me. Notice that I did use the curb as a wheel chock.

So far, I’ve driven the truck at prolonged highway speeds with quick stops for speed traps, in stop and go Washington DC commuter traffic, down the sandy beach and through the surf while at the Outer Banks. And as I leave for a weekend of deer hunting in Western Maryland which means more driving in the mud and snow, so far the brakes are pulling straight and the rotors seem to be still spinning true. The Powerstop extreme rotors and pads are doing their jobs.

 Driving against the running tide on Ocracoke Island and deep snow and mud in the mountains may partly be the cause of the short life of my brakes…..maybe….