I have a 2002 Tundra, and along with many thousands of other 00-02 owners, my rotors warp every 5,000 miles. This is a major screw up by Toyota. They know it, but won't do a recall to make it right. Is there anything that we can do to make them do the right thing? I'm sick of it.
I have had my truck in 5 times for brake issues. Three of which were under warranty, and the two others were "courtesy" fixes. I'm just about ready to take this to the next step, but the only ones that will win are the attorney's.
Did they replace the rotors and/or calipers? What I know of the problem, it was limited to the earlier production years and Toyota did have a fix for the problem that consisted of different parts. If all they've been doing is turning (shaving) the rotors, they are now thinner and more prone to warping.
It could also be caused by mitigating factors such as improperly torqued lug nuts. The knuckle-draggers at the tire places are notorious for such when using air wrenches & some haven't even been trained to tighten up in a crossed x pattern. Even after having tire shops mount fresh rubber on my rims, I'll pull over into the nearest parking lot and re-tighten the lug nuts with my own wrench. Its hard to find good help these days ...
Another cause of warping is parking the vehicle when the rotors are very hot. The portion under the pads is insulated by the pads and does not cool as quickly as the rest of the rotor exposed to the air. This uneven cooling induces very high stresses in the metal that can result in warping. Aggressive and even normal stop 'n go urban traffic patterns can lead to hot rotors (speed just don't get high enough for air flow to help dissipate the accumulated heat). This may or may not be something you can do something about in changing your route, etc.
There are aftermarket replacements that some folks have had good luck with but I'm not privvy to the details. You can register on
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and find others who have addressed theproblem and they may have suggestions that will work for you.
Its your money, but you'll be adding blown transmissions, failed fuel pumps and the like along with the brakes that give you trouble (ask me how I know).
When I have to get tires mounted by someone else, I take my over priced snap on torque wrench and show them how to use it - one place told me they had to torque the lug nuts on a honda to 120 foot pounds - company policy. Manual sez 80 fp. I watched them use torque sticks and tighten the first lug nut all the way down and then on to the next closest one - sad - ignorance more than malace. Beware of knuckle draggers bearing impact wrenches.
Company Policy does NOT overrule Manufacturer's torque specs. I have had the occasion to see this very ruling by a small claims court judge where one lug stud stripped AND the same rotor warped on a Corolla.
The official fix, if within the warranty period, was for the dealership to install new design calipers and pads. In order to do this, the hub had to be pulled, new backing plate installed, new hydraulic tubing, and a new wheel bearing. If you didn't get this work done, get it done. If your truck is out of the warranty, but you did have this complaint during the warranty work, try to get the dealership to get the OK from the Toyota district rep to pay for the new caliper. The rotors are the same, but get resurfaced or replaced during the work.
Alternately, you can buy the calipers and tubing, have another shop cut away part of the existing backing plates, and install the calipers.
Or, you can try high performance pads. Hawk and Performance Friction are two makers of better pads for the Tundra's original caliper. The industry standard designation for the pad size is D812. If you have the new caliper, I am very happy with my Performace Friction pads for this D976 size (no Hawk pads for this size yet). I'm using SP Performance slotted rotors, I'm not a fan of drilled rotors, and these are working well. Any top quality rotor should work well. I don't think cryogenically treated rotors offer any advantage.
I am not sure the rotors are actually warping. Has anyone measured with a dial indicator excessive runout caused by warping? It might be that pad material is melting and sticking to the rotor unevenly. This causes grabbing that people assume is warped rotors. Turning the rotors removes the material, but doesn't cure the problem--it'll recur. Correctly tightening the lug nuts is important, but not the main cause of this problem.
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