As a follow-up to a previous post of mine, I was having some concern about the poor modulation/feel of the brakes on my '99. The stealership test drove it and declared it was good. I knew better. I swapped the crappy Raybestos pads (the PO had some shadetree doofus install 20K or so ago) with OEM and bled the calipers and the brakes are very much improved. My wife should be able to come to a stop without snapping passenger necks. I'm going to have the stealership or someone with the special tools completely replace the brake fluid and I expect it will end up like new. I'm also chucking a new set of rear Raybestos pads the PO included with the sale. Just doing my part to rid the world of some worthless crap.
Raybestos, bad--OEM, good
- Thread starter GDA62/100
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I've heard bad things about Raybestos pads, too. The OEM pads are pretty good. I know Akebono is one of the OEM pad makers. Checking their US website, they say the LX/LC OEM pads are ceramic.
http://www.akebonobrake.com/oem/friction_materials/index.html
http://www.akebonobrake.com/oem/friction_materials/index.html
Last edited:
Ray's pads used to be the hot ticket back in the good 'ole days... I would stick with OEMs like Jim mentioned.
I went through this ordeal with the other vehicle I own as noted in my sig. The OEMs were wearing out every 15K miles so I installed Rays stuff for several years with no problems... but something changed when I hit the 110K mark---ultimately I went back to premium grade OEM pads and rotors.
Raybestos probably has been sold several times.. maybe it landed in the hands of Wal-Mart.
I went through this ordeal with the other vehicle I own as noted in my sig. The OEMs were wearing out every 15K miles so I installed Rays stuff for several years with no problems... but something changed when I hit the 110K mark---ultimately I went back to premium grade OEM pads and rotors.
Raybestos probably has been sold several times.. maybe it landed in the hands of Wal-Mart.
Yeah, only the name is the same. I've had good luck w/ the Porterfield R4s street performance pads on my 4runner...stopping power is excellent w/ quality rotors (using brembo slotted). OTOH, when I got them (and was living near the coast in CA), the cold braking power (first time you hit the brakes when driving) seemed to be lacking. Part of that might have been the weak 4 cylinder brake booster, as I don't have that problem here in AZ (even when it's cold) after swapping in a larger booster. So I'm not certain how the R4s pads would do with the 100's electronic booster.
I stuck with OEM pads, partly because the front pads/calipers changed for '03+ (not sure how they changed, though), and also because they work pretty good. If braking power was lacking like on the 80 series, I'd be more inclined to use different pads/rotors. The OEM 100 rotors barely show any signs of wear at 60K mi (front or back), so they should easily last until 90K+ with my light-foot braking habits. Also, very little brake dust compared to my honda pads.
I stuck with OEM pads, partly because the front pads/calipers changed for '03+ (not sure how they changed, though), and also because they work pretty good. If braking power was lacking like on the 80 series, I'd be more inclined to use different pads/rotors. The OEM 100 rotors barely show any signs of wear at 60K mi (front or back), so they should easily last until 90K+ with my light-foot braking habits. Also, very little brake dust compared to my honda pads.
I am sure you can do it as well or better yourself even without the Toyota handheld unit.
Some good links on fluids, bleeding and brake pad/rotor "bed in" in this ... Front rotor thread from the FAQ