Brake Shudder .... A Toyota Curse?

Experiencing brake shudder while descending grades w/ 22 TRD OR Crew Max SB.
I'm easy on the brakes, and stay off them when practical. Also, carrying moderate loads only, thus far.
Doesn't feel like the rotors are warped bc there's no shudder most of the time-- just longer mountain descents.
Anyone else? Was really hoping Toyota would conquer this, a problem I've had with several Tacomas (switched to StopTech rotors with more mass and some sort of heat treating.) My mechanic's 2nd gen Tundra also suffered same.

 

People say the previous gen had shitty brake rotors. Me personally after 30k have no issues. Others have gone 70k + on OEM rotors others have changed them out at 10-20k. Luck of the draw I guess. Take it in now before it’s too late since rotors are a wear item and not covered by warranty unless it’s early on.

 

I’m at 81k on my OEM rotors with quite a bit of towing and off-road use - got around 70k out of the OEM pads. I do get vibration while braking on long steep descents while loaded or towing but all returns to normal when they cool. I think of it as a reminder not to cook the pads coming down the hill…

I’ll swap over to these rotors sometime over the next year or two and see if they help.

https://dirtydeedsindustries.com/store/ols/products/toyota-tundra-sequoia-frozen-rotors-slotted

 

We see numerous vehicles of all makes and models that suffer from warped rotors at my shop, mostly complaining after they’ve travelled from northern AZ down to the PHX area, I’m not sure if rotors are just cheaply made or if people just simply drive faster now, I’m very conscious of how I use my brakes and I’m sure you are too, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided for whatever the reason

 

Do a couple of hard stops and see if it helps. Like 60mph to 5mph three times in a row.

I had the same issue with my F150 rotors around 20k miles and it went away and the brakes lasted until 90k. Only reason I changed them was because the front pads wore unevenly(inner pad faster than outer), otherwise I could have kept going.

 

it seems like every tundra I have owned has warped rotors at some point, Im easy on them as well, only light towing, etc.

I found a place here that has aftermarket and they give you 5 year 55K mile warranty, so I went with those last time.

 

I'm not convinced it's a Toyota problem. I've seen plenty of people recommend Toyota brake parts. Others swear they have problems.

I believe there are other things that can cause it ... like severe over tightening of the lug nuts.

 

I have had the same problem on multiple vehicles 6 and different manufacturers. Im starting to believe they are just making rotors lighter to save weight of using cheaper steel to save money. One thing I have done that helps is not drive through the car wash when the rotors are hot. I have heard this can contribute and I have less warp since I made this change.

 

I had this on my 2nd gen Tundra twice and once on my Sequoia as well.
Sold the Sequoia after I swapped the brakes but will be looking to swap the brakes again on my 2nd gen Tundra to something else.

Too bad it sounds like the issue continues with the 3rd gen.

 

Have that issue on my two month old Tundra Hybrid. less than 2500 miles. No hard breaking...

 

Just got my truck back for the same issue. They had to cut the rotors. They said they were warped. I have 17k currently.

 

It’s all in how you drive it. Lots of high speed hard braking will cause any truck/suv to develop a brake pulsation.

 

that’s not going to fix shit, you’ll be going back within 5k miles, tops

 

I hope not, but I am still going to try to get the rotors replaced.

 

yes, replacement is the only way to go, cutting doesn’t do shit, you wind up paying more since they don’t last and then labor twice .

 

It was done through warranty this time around but that’s why I want them replaced now before they make me pay.

 

I’ve helped another Tundra and a 100 series LC with mods in my driveway. Both service their vehicles at the dealer, and both had lug nuts that were wildly over-torqued.

 

I never use brakes on downhill… use S4 or S5 at 70 mph. It should be plenty to hold speed on steep 7% grades. The engine will go into fuel cut so it won’t use any fuel going downhill. The hybrid should also do this if it works like how the Prius works. Don’t use cruise control because it uses the brakes to slow down which will overheat them and cause brake pulsation.

 

I had this problem with my 2015 after that truck’s first trek to Colorado.

17k miles on my ‘22, one trip through the mountains under its belt, and nothing so far.

 

So I experienced shuddering brakes this past weekend when driving down a steep grade. I was slightly alarmed to say the least, since my truck is still under 1k miles. It went away one I got to the bottom and drove around a bit, I attribute the shuddering to warping or pad material buildup on the rotors due to heat.

I have always been very conscious of brake usage on long downhill drives (due to a movie I saw as a kid with Patrick Swayze, I think it was “black dog”), and will typically downshift/engine brake to take the load off the brakes. On my previous truck (3rd gen Tacoma) I would use cruise control on these downhill sections as it would downshift to keep itself at the desired speed. The tundra’s cruise control however uses the brakes to maintain its speed going downhill, which I was not used to. I wonder if I used cruise control while in tow mode if it would favor engine braking?

 

At one time, cutting/resurfacing the rotors was a viable part of brake replacement as I am sure, like everything else, things were over-engineered and brakes were put on a vehicle that was well under what the max weight would be for the particular rotor. With any vehicles I've been involved with, this isn't a viable alternative anymore as taking even the most minute layer off of the rotor does exactly the opposite of what the rotor needs to do, dissipate heat. By removing mass, again, no matter how minute the cut might be, you are reducing that mass and skewing the "mass helps with heat dissipation" equation in the wrong way. Referring back to dealership days, we eventually began to flat out refuse to resurface rotors on certain vehicles, one of the ZJ (Grand Cherokee) models IIRC was a culprit. If you replaced the rotors when it needed pads changed, no issues. If you made even the slightest cut, took even the most minute layer off of the rotors, the vehicle was back within weeks, sometimes days, with a pretty good shudder/pulsation under braking and we'd end up replacing the rotors.

 

100% this^

the brake shop I go to said they don't cut rotors at all anymore, total waste.

 

14k miles here and mine has started as well. Plan to bring it up to dealer when I bring it in for 15k service.

 

Just had the same issue here at around 16-17k. Took it into the dealer for the 20k maintenance today, and they said that the rotors are covered under the warantee, but in order to have them replaced, they are required to try a resurface first. They said that when they start to warp again, bring it back and they will replace all 4 rotors and pads under warantee as a continuation of the same issue. I know the resurface will shorten the life, and the fix may only last a few weeks to a couple months, but I understand that they should at least attempt to repair them before just throwing new parts at the problem. The labor is on them under warantee anyway, and so are the parts when the eventually replace them.

 

Where are you located? They cut my rotors at 17k but they are still doing the same thing but my dealer refuses to try to have them replaced under warranty.

 

I have a 2 gen, and I was having the same issue. Recently swapped out for cryo treated slotted rotors and stainless brake lines. Immediately the pedal feel is stiffer and much more pronounced. I havent had a chance yet to do any long distance down hill braking, which is where my problems would show up, but so far Im thinking the swap has been worth it.

 

I'm in Massachusetts. I'm currently sitting at Acton Toyota of Littleton right now, waiting for them to finish cutting these rotors.

 

The dealer tech just resurfaced the rotors, took it for a test drive and didn't like it. They are now replacing all 4 rotors and pads under the warantee at about 20k

 

Ive learned to live with the toyo shudder...even my wife's RX 350 had it at 19k miles. I'll just wait for cryo treated rotors and swap them in. No complaints with pad life, just rotors are abysmal

 

But why would you wait. They are covered under warrantee till 3/36