Front Brake Servicing Opinions and Advice (1 Viewer)

[PharmerDan100]

As background, about a year ago my front passenger brake caliper came off completely while braking/exiting the highway. Grinded the inner wheel a bit, but otherwise no major issues. I re-installed the caliper with appropriately torqued new bolts and have gone on multiple trips since then. However, every once in a while I'll hear a squeak/rubbing sound coming from the front passenger side and I think its the brakes.

Now that I have a big trip coming up I finally want to address it. Initially I was planning to inspect and just replace the pads. But after reading more on here, I see a mix of opinions on this. Now I'm thinking I may need to also either "turn" the rotors, or completely replace them. But if I go that route, I'll need to remove the entire hub and also repack and/or replace the bearings as well. The problem is, I recently had new bearings professionally done about 2 years ago (at 190,000 miles), prior to the brake issue. Currently at 200,000 miles. I would prefer to not redo the bearings since they're perfectly fine right now and I'm not sure I can DIY this better than the shop that did it for me.

So what would you guys recommend I do here? And the poll is more for just in general what you guys normally do.

 

[hoser]

Helpful to show pictures of the front rotor surface and also measure the total rotor width. If the rotors need turning, some shops can turn them on the vehicle.

 

[GerLC100]

Pull the pads, grease all contact points of the pads to the caliper with high temp grease/ copper paste or similar, reinstall and see if the squeak is gone.
That would be a quick and low cost first shot.

I'd do that first and go from there with the questions above.

Replacing parts:
I personally went with DBA rotors and pads, but not sure what the price difference to OEM is...

 

[bucfl]

Some shops will do a free brake inspection; try that as well. It may be the brake plate [forget actual name] rubbing at times. I would not turn the rotors but replace with matching pads to get the best results. I went with NAPA Premium rotors and pads and have great results with braking.

 

[PharmerDan100]

Had a chance to get the wheel off and poke around.

Uneven pad wear, passenger outer pad approaching 3mm :/

Rotor seems viable for "turning" coming in at 31.75mm

This is the position of the pistons before I pushed em in. The outer passenger side protruded significantly further than inner side. I was able to use the presser tool to push them back in.

Gonna be replacing this hardware kit. One metal tab broke on each of em, and also they were missing the plastic anti-squeal shim that goes between the pad and metal retainer:

Do you guys think it'd be ok to just do new pads, new shim kit, and have a shop turn the rotor?

 

[kbfj621989]

If the rotor surface is not grooved or does not has a lip, I would not resurface. I had o’reillys resurface some OEM Toyota rotors previously on a different vehicle only later to have them warp and cause pulsation. Save the money and buy new rotors when needed.

As stated above, if the shop can do it in situ then I would maybe consider it as it would save you from repackaging the bearings. I’m speculating that the shop who did your bearings did not torque the brake caliper bolts correctly?? Scary.

Agree with new hardware and shims. Preferably OEM.

As also noted above, check the brake dust cover to make sure it is not bent and causing the noise. Maybe it was bent slightly when the caliper came off.

 

[bucfl]

It may also be time to service your calipers. My slide pins were ceased and would not come out, only rotate. I also had a similar issue with stuck pistons not functioning properly and having uneven pad wear. I replaced the calipers and went with NAPA Eclipse semi loaded and no issues for 8 years now.

 

[Jack90210]

Agree that the calipers absolutely need servicing, or you'll continue to experience uneven pad wear. Either diagnose and fix the cause, or replace the caliper (I've had good luck with NAPA calipers and OEM pads). Also, caliper pistons should be inspected/cleaned before pushing them in (and the bleed screw should be opened before they are pushed in).

Good luck, we're all counting on you

 

[PharmerDan100]

I decided to just clean and re-grease the old pads. My rotor looks good to my untrained eye. Didn't see any obvious warp or groove.

I tried cycling my pistons back and forth. After fully pressing them in and pumping the brake pedal a couple times, I noticed one kinda lagged behind the other... not sure if that's a major issue?

Anyway, I drove back and forth to test out the brakes. No squeal or rub and stopping power felt fine. I'm not sure what the issue is/was. I'll keep an eye on it. Gonna save my new pads and shims for when I eventually have time to do new rotors and repack the bearings. This will suffice for now.

 

[nissanh]

Those 4 piston calipers hardly need any service. Out of all toyota 4x4's I got only a stuck piston in the 4runner! I could have pressed it in like you did and might have solved the issue but ended up installing a reman Cardone caliper.
There are no sliding pins in the front so it is out of the question. My 1990 Hilux got factory 4 piston calipers still and untouched for all this time.