Cracks in brake pads, should I replace?

Hey all, just wanted to bounce this around on here and see what everyone thinks.

These are oem toyota pads, maybe a year or 1.5 years old. All 4 have some cracking starting at the center of the pads. Should I be concerned with this?
Pass side:

Driver side:

 

Looks to me more like the outer layer (toward the camera) is flaking off, not a through crack.

 

Ok. I have never seen this before on oem pads so I may have jumped the gun on it being cracked. I’m currently wrangling engine mounts but I will investigate more once I am done

 

Thread is two weeks old, but I just saw it.
My truck was at the dealer for state inspection this month and this is what my 4 year old pads look like. These are OEM rotors and pads. The cracks are the same as Murphinators, perhaps a bit worse.
Safe or not? i have new rotors and pads to swap myself, but hate to put them on if not necessary. There is still a lot of pad left.
They passed them, but were hoping I would let them replace them.
What’s everyone think?

 

Interesting timing on these two posts, because I just pulled my wheels off to do a tire rotation and found the exact same thing with my pads. 2006 Toyota Tacoma with 201k miles, I replaced pads and rotors 35k miles ago with OEM

$85 04465-04070 Toyota Genuine Front Disc Brake Pad Kit

04465-04070 Ceramic pads in 2020. I'm wondering now if Toyota made a bad batch of these?




Anyone else notice any shuddering? I originally replaced the pads and rotors not because they were worn, but because it was shaking and shuddering under braking. The problem went away when I replaced them but came back about 3k miles ago. And lo and behold this...

Also, I believe the calipers are original to the truck, and a friend of mines says they might be a cause, but I'm less likely to believe both sides are shot at the same time.

 

I was also experiencing some vibration and shuddering with my brakes. I am really disappointed with Toyota replacement pads (4 years old). I have been told that most dealers sell a “value line” and you have to request factory installed parts if you want what originally came on your vehicle.
I went with PowerStop rotors and pads this time. Next brake job I’m replacing the calipers

 

Wow crazy, I need to check on mines.

 

Every time I look at the pictures of OP's brake pads, I like them even less. If they were mine, I probably would replace them. If the rotors are OK, I would just put on new pads.

For dozens of years, I have used Performance Friction carbon metallic pads whenever they have them that will fit one of my applications. They really, really stand up to ugly use and heat. My late brother, who was a SCCA race driver recommended them to me. He was able to get two, sometimes three, races out of a set. That is fine praise, because he would completely tear up a set of whatever the so-called best was in one race before he started using them. On top of wearing longer, they stopped his cars better and didn't wear the brake rotors any worse.

He raced in Class C unlimited and also Showroom Stock.

 

I ended up upgrading to a Powebrake big brake kit. I always went with oem pads/rotors because with after market I always seemed to have bad squeaks, or they would wear out super fast. I was pretty satisfied with the R&D Powerbrake put into their setup so I just bit the bullet and went for it. Sorry to hear about your brother. Semi Metallics definitely work great if you don’t mind the dust. The current pads in my bbk are semi metallics but for the stopping power I will deal with the dust haha.

It definitely seems like there was a bad batch of brake pads made. I’ve never had this happen on any of my other oem pads I’ve installed. It seems mine wasn’t nearly as bad as others on here and judging by their photos it does not appear to be a superficial surface crack.

 

Definitely replace

 

It seems most all brake parts are coming from a country with less than desirable quality standards these days. I am sure they are coming from China but I have had good luck with the last few sets of Power Stop drilled and slotted brake kits I have installed. They seem to be decent quality at a fairly decent price. Bounce the price off of Amazon where you choose to get them though.

 

Or they aren't cracks, just an overmolded flakes on the outside.

Shuddering could be caused by pad deposits on the rotors. You can adjust your driving habits (like putting the trans in neutral and not holding the brakes at a long stoplight) or get slotted rotors which will clean the friction surface. I run Stoptech slotted rotors on my Tacoma and Raybestos slotted rotors on my 4Runner, both with Advics ceramic pads. No shudder on either.

 

This is some odd advice... "don't do the thing that every driver on the road does in every other vehicle".

 

^That's ripe, coming from a manual transmission driver.

The heat soak causes pad material transfer, resulting in vibration commonly misconstrued as "warping". I didn't design it.

There are nationwide chains like Midas that make a living replacing brake parts every couple of years on the unwashed masses.

 

I checked my pads thoroughly after replacing. They most definitely were cracked.

 

^Got more pictures in detail? Did you cut one across the crack to see how deep it was?

 

It’s always a 3rd gen guy. LOL…. Y'all 3rd gen cats are wild.

 

^Not wild enough to buy a Chevy it seems.

 

I will look when it stops pouring down rain today to see if I still have one of the pads.

 

Mechanic here. I see these cracks all the time on various brake pads. Most of the ones here are minor. When there is some real separation then I worry about it. This is common, and happens to more than just tacomas.