Does anybody know anything about the following TSB?
# TSB #BR00199 -- NEW FRONT BRAKE PAD KITS ARE AVAILABLE TO REDUCE FRONT BRAKE GROAN OR GRINDING NOISE ON VEHICLES WITHIN CERTAIN VIN RANGES. *TT (NHTSA ID #604941, APRIL 23 1999)
I think my vehicle is affected but I can't seem to find the full text of this TSB anywhere online.
Hee. I actually have a copy of it on my hard drive. The TSBs can be found on camrymanuals.com .
This particular TSB applies to V6 Camrys and mine's an I4; so much for that theory.
Does the noise appear during hard breaking and not light application? I use Akebono ProAct ceramics, they are OEM for many manufacturers. Quiet even without the stick-on noise shims (later ones come preapplied).
Hi John, thanks for the reply. It happens during light to moderate braking, and only during the last 8 feet or so of the car's travel. I don't notice the sound/feeling during heavy braking but it was my perception that the left front wheel locked before the right one when I slammed on the brakes as an experiment on a wet road.
My pads are Toyota-branded made by Akebono. They seem to have lots of material left on them and look to be wearing evenly (not wedge-shaped). There's no undue resistance when I spin the wheels while the car is in the air.
I know there's a slight unevenness in one or both rotors because I can hear it when I brake heavily on the highway. I don't think it's enough to increase stopping distance substantially though.
I put the winter tires on today and the noise seemed to get worse for a few stops and then it returned to the same volume. I think I'm going to try putting new rotors on. The pads have plenty of wear left - do I need to change them at the same time?
Maybe Toyota got rid of those pesky NBK junk pads and spent the bucks on Akebono. These should be fine..
One of those Toyota calipers seized on me. But your noise sounds like a different reason (no noise on mine during light-mod braking). I swapped the fronts out for NAPA rebuilt calipers and so far so good. The rotors I used were Raybestos Raymold (red box) for about $20 each. With the excellent Akebono pads no noise. Flushed yearly with Castrol GT LMA, Valvoline Synthetic, or Valvoline Pyroil DOT-3 (last week) using Motive Product's PowerBleeder
Are the calipers pins free to move? You should not need to exert more than light thumb pressure to get one to move. Particularly the one with rubber bushing. These are always the first suspects when looking at a simple mechanical device like a caliper.
You may also want to flush the brake system. Moisture migrated through the rubber hoses will leave some air in the lines when heated. Activated my ABS due to uneven brake force but no groaning. The original Toyota DOT-3 fill (CCI junk probably) did that even before the initial two-year service date was up. Flushed with Pyroil that time and fixed it.
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