Stop Tech vs Powerstop vs ____

For stock size rotors, most all aftermarket sold as a ‘performance upgrade’ are really just drilled/slotted OEM style blanks. Most are not a redesigned rotor engineered for better performance. The only two brands I am aware of that redesigned the stock size rotor for improved performance is StopTech and DBA, both offering improved cooling internals. Cracking aside, taking a stock design rotor and removing material via drilling removes mass of the rotor, giving it less thermal capacity, which is a performance downgrade.

 

^^ this.
Mass to draw heat away from caliper (and therefore away from fluid lines) is good.

My opinion: Rotor ventilation (slots, holes, etc) is only "better" if you are having repeated heavy braking where you need the rotors to cool faster between cycles (like on the track driving).

 

5th gen 4Runner/ GX460 is the way to go for a real upgrade as the rotors and caliper pistons are larger. You want 2010-2015 for direct bolt in as they made the caliper bolts larger in 2016. 14wa castings. I am doing these on my wife’s GX470 right now.


one correction to your info - the stock Tacoma calipers are 4 piston, pretty much all Toyota truck front calipers have been 4 piston since inception.

 

I've got DBA rotors with Akebono Ceramic brake pads. I definitely felt a difference after getting them installed. Swapped them off my friends truck before he traded it in. The price tag on the rotors are little high, but I wanted to throw another option out there for you to look into. Even if you don't get the rotors I highly recommend Akebono Ceramic brake pads!

 

I'm using

$192 Power Stop K137 Power Stop Brake Kit For 2007-2014 Toyota FJ Cruiser, 2005-2022 Toyota Tacoma 6 Lug, 2003-2009 4Runner 12.56" Rotors - Front Carbon-Fiber Ceramic Brake Pads & Drilled Slotted Rotors Replacement, K137

Power Stop K137 Front Brake Kit with Drilled/Slotted Brake Rotors and Z23 Evolution Ceramic Brake Pads, so far so good, work well, stop a bit bettter and less dust, been on for about 3 months, can't complain. i pull a 2000lb flats boat regularly also.

 

Well I heard enough good about stoptech to go with their cryo slotted rotors. I appreciate all the feedback on brakes, and for giving me heads up on what to avoid. Also went with TRD pads. Hopefully itll all be installed next weekend

 

Great combination and you’re gonna love it. Came up on a panic stop the other day...it did not disappoint.

I chose to do the dynamic break in as i know a good stretch of road w little to no cars and got them broken in a day.

 

I think I know a parking lot big enough for the break in, just have to hope theres no hooligans doing donuts or drag racing there lol

 

I'm a first gen with tundra upgrade so not apples to apples. I had hawk pads and they were terrible, yes I did the proper break in. I them switched to ebc green stuff with their blank rotors and love them.

 

A general mechanic told me he likes PowerStop. This sounded good to me, because as a general mechanic, that means he's had good luck putting a shit ton of them on all different Make/Model vehicles with no comebacks/issues, possibly including his own vehicle(s).
And the price is good.

But now I'm having second thoughts because of the mixed comments I see about them here.

I've got about 6mm or less life left on my pads, and already turned my rotors on a lathe to get rid of pedal pulsation.
There's only so much metal you can remove from a disc, before it gets thin. Then, if the pad wears out, the piston can pop out the caliper.
So I should probably replace the rotors too during next brake job, because why not.

I'd like to try StopTech, they sound good. And TRD Ceramic pads, to give it a shot and see what ceramic is like.
Though in terms of the grey visible brake dust of a regular pad, my wheels aren't that hard to clean (Sport 5-spokes).
It'd be worse if the wheels had a ton of thin spokes like some street cars, those are much harder to clean.

I've just leaned away from them because of the price. But that's more of a me issue, than a StopTech issue.
They say you get what you pay for, and that higher price means higher quality. So maybe that's a good thing.
It just means I need to find a better job or payraise, that's all.

In regards to what someone said earlier about brakes being fine if ABS doesn't kick in, I kind of agree.
The only time I was able to achieve brake fade on a street car, was after one max braking attempt to engage ABS, from 60mph.
Which I did as a test.
It meant that during first brake, the calipers out-braked the tire. It lost traction because it couldn't handle the brake force.
But the second time around, ABS did not engage, because the brakes had faded and could no longer lock the tire up.

However, nobody in real life is slamming on the brakes twice in a row, as hard as you can, from 60mph to 10mph back to back.
If you are, you're driving the car wrong.

I don't know about armor, since my truck is stock. No shit ton of added weight in the form of an overland setup.
Me personally, if I end up getting a steel rear bumper, I'd look for something whose features include having a similar weight to stock.
I get that aluminum ones are lighter than steel, but also much more expensive, along with other pros and cons to them.

I wanted bigger calipers, maybe for the bling factor. I couldn't understand how the Audi B7 A4 uses 321mm calipers for a 2.0T 4-cylinder,
and the S4 had 345mm calipers, as a sedan.
Yet meanwhile, the Tacoma, a freaking truck, has smaller calipers. That probably weighs more and for sure has bigger tires.
I will mention though, those Audi calipers are aluminum and not that bad regarding unsprung weight.
Something I've noticed with Toyota, is that although the calipers are a cool-looking 4-piston, they seem to be heavy as shit iron.

People say newer 4Runner calipers are a good upgrade, but upon looking into this, I read that 4Runner owners have had some type of problems with their calipers and wanted even newer model ones than the 4th or 5th gen.
Me not owning a 4Runner, not being on their forum(s), and thus not being well-versed in those cars or any issues their parts might have, I could easily accidentally buy (for cheap) 4Runner calipers on eBay, not knowing they have an issue. IF they do.

That being said, if skipping the bigger caliper, maybe StopTech Cryo Slotted with TRD Ceramic pads might be enough for now.
Or PowerStop, depending on what people say. If trying PowerStop, fingers crossed hopefully they don't have any issues. Such as squeaking.
To address squeaking, I used to take brakes apart, clean them, lube the moving parts, and spray a Disc Brake Quiet product of some sort on the rotor face. That usually fixed squeaking. If it didn't, the next higher step was usually replacing with new parts, living with the noise, or switching to different brand parts.

The whole "take it apart and service it" thing is more of something you do with a performance car like a Mercedes E63 AMG, where the brake parts alone can be over $1k. Which makes it cheaper to try and clean it, then spray it with a can, to see if that works to remove the squeak first. Before dropping money on new parts.
Some people even buy cars like that, enjoy them, and then when they find out it needs brakes they sell it, because of the parts price.

 

Safe to say these are 6 lug rotors even though the image shows 5 lugs? I figure they are using a non-specific file photo of the rotors in their advertisement. Don't want to get tagged with a return on these heavy items.

 

I have the Stoptech BBK and love it. They ran a sale on the kit for my 08 Tacoma and I jumped on it. Huge performance upgrade.